Just a walking in the rain, with my MS by my side

Took my Puch MS50V for it's MOT the other day. Only 143 miles since the last time so even I "Mr Everysilverlininghasanevenbiggerdarkcloud" felt it had a reasonable chance of passing. After the (successful) test I stood around chatting to the tester and his mate extolling the high quality Austrian build and reliability of the thing. Stepped forward nonchalantly to flip it into life with a half turn of the pedal. Nothing happened. After five minutes or so of panicky and sweaty activity I gave up. "Its never not started before" I said feeling that this sounded a little unconvinving. After ten minutes advice and suggestions the other two cleared off for a cup of tea and left me in the testing bay to try to sort it out. In the end I gave up and pushed it home through driving rain. Fortunately I did not see anyone I knew. I bet those two from the test place were watching me through the garage window as I left, sipping steaming tea and laughing. Blocked carb so perhaps I shouldn't leave it with petrol in over the winter.