it all started with a little bang

...actually, it all started with a little squeal. Then it progressed to a screeching. By then I had checked my calendar and picked a day to have my car's brakes looked at. Suddenly, overnight, it had become a grinding that got worse with every press of the brake pedal. Several hundred dollars later (including a rental for a day) and I was thinking that, yes, that other contract job I'd been offered was going to be pretty useful.

Someone asked me, just days before all this happened, if I knew a good mechanic. Well, yes, I did and I was happy to send some business his way. I told this person where he could find my good mechanic. "Is he any good", was his next question. Huh? Even if I didn't like you that much, do you honestly think I would rather give an unscrupulous mechanic (and there are many of them out there, I'm sure) more business? But, I like my mechanic. Saturdays are a little iffy, but mostly he is available. It is a small garage with just two people so there is no towing service, or courtesy car, but he does seem to be reliable. He explains only enough so that my eyes don't glaze over. I don't get the broken bits returned to me, like another garage used to do, but I'm fine with that. He knows what kind of work I do and takes that into consideration. If he finds something else that needs fixing immediately, he'll just go ahead and do it. If it can wait, he'll warn me to have it done in the near future. If it can't wait, but he is too busy, he'll call up another neighbourhood garage and send me there. He knows I am trying to sleep during the day, so doesn't bother me with phone calls to ask what he should do - I tell him to make my car better and leave him to it. Many's the time the car was left in the lot for me to pick up after hours; he knew I would return the next day to settle up. Try doing that with a big name automotive service centre.

Actually, my custom with Dan was sealed when another car I owned developed a problem with the battery. I knew it was the battery because, apart from the usual signs and symptoms, every time the car died and I recharged the battery it would work. But the charge didn't last very long. This happened when I was heading out to see a new client. It was a little embarrassing, being so late, then having to get her neighbour to give me a boost while I frantically called CAA for help. She was very understanding about it all. The big name automotive centre I tried was less interested in selling and installing a new battery than in performing a 'diagnostic test' to determine if the thing was indeed dead. And that would take time because there was a line up before me. They had a routine to follow. Just like when I needed a plug in my front left tire, a ten minute fix had to take 1 1/4 hours while they did their full feature routine (for which they charged extra). But it was a Sunday of a holiday weekend and I had little option. Anyway, I got my car to Dan's a couple miles down the road and he took one look at the battery and pronounced it as good as dead. Just to show me how little juice it had he attached some machine to it. In less than half an hour I was on my way and he was back at work on one of the other cars up on the hoist. The whole thing cost less than the 'diagnostic test' from Canadian Tire the other big name automotive centre.

Has anyone else noticed how many winter tire commercials are already on TV? I guess that will be the next big expense.

In other news, I have suddenly discovered just how funny The Big Bang Theory is. Apparently I have three seasons to catch up on. That would be two seasons of 23 espisodes and one season of 17, at approximately 23 minutes each. That is a total of 63 episodes. For 23 hours. I was up most of last night working on that by watching it on the internet.

One should not eat nuts while watching this show. Choking may occur.