The characters around here

Motorcycle Man, age unknown, 5'3", stocky but not fat

Motorcycle Man lives across the street with an elderly lady who, for various valid reasons, we call "Gramma."  Gramma herself seems to be an elusive character, wary of strangers (maybe more so minorities*), venturing outside very little but leaving her garage and front door open quite often.  There are a lot of non-business-oriented pickup trucks that come to visit her.**  With her magnetized car ribbons, Gramma supports the troops, and to my delight, has now changed the magnetized car ribbon to promote organ donation.

I theorize that Motorcycle Man is either 

1a) unemployed, or

1b) works shifts of some sort

since he keeps rather irregular hours. 

There is absolutely nothing wrong with Motorcycle Man's motorcycle since he just  revved up and took off.  What Motorcycle Man likes to do is idle for about 3 minutes or longer every time he goes off.  Coming back, it's not as bad as it used to be.  Since Motorcycle Man doesn't keep a remote control for the garage door, he has to park in the driveway, open the front door, open the garage door, get on the bike, park the park, open the front door, close the garage door.  I can see the process it takes in that.  

When he leaves, though, Motorcycle Man likes to rev the engine a few times, stand around while the bike runs for about 5 minutes, sometimes even up to 15, and then if he feels like it, does a couple of laps around the neighbourhood, revs some more, lets the engine run, and goes into the house for something, leaving the bike on. 

One day, lawnmowers were out in full force while Motorcycle Man was idling, and we could still hear the bike.  Inconsiderate fucker.

Every time it rains, I think it's great, because it means that Motorcycle Man probably has to take the bus, or drive the car that says "GRAMMA."

* A florist once gave me Gramma's poinsettias to deliver to her when she got home from wherever because it was too cold to leave them outside.  When she got home, I rang her doorbell, carrying this gigantic flower package, and she took FOREVER to open the door, even when she got right to the window.  I don't remember a very audible thank you.

** My friend Jeannette puts it really succinctly when describing these pick up trucks as "the kind that should have a gun rack" because that's an excellent way of describing them.