CERTAINLY UNCERTAIN

I thought that it was a long weekend this weekend, but it turns out 
it's next weekend. These state-specific public holidays don't even 
show up on the callendar mailed out by a local real-estate firm, 
let alone the generic ones bought at the shops that tell you all 
the holidays happening around the world but not where you live.

I've penciled in taking one of my railway holidays on the weekend 
after that, but it really seems like you can only rely on about a 
week's notice for when a line's going to be closed, so I don't 
know. I'd like to take a trip somewhere today now that I know the 
roads aren't crammed with holiday traffic (besides the school 
holidays), but too many jobs to do, including with getting back a 
vehicle which I can use for such impulsive escapes.

The Jag situation went full-circle and I'm back to figuring out how 
to fix it myself. The mechanic eventually concluded that they'd 
need to charge me a five-figure fee to fix the suspension issues, a 
cost which they didn't adequately justify except by saying that 
they didn't really want to do the job. But a little research 
revealed that not only were the quoted costs completely out of 
proportion, the job was actually somewhat easier than I had in mind 
as well. Still with some tricky aspects, but not requiring the 
custom tools that I mistakenly thought were required. Certainly not 
remotely worth what the mechanic was going to charge (which was 
also way over what they've charged for similar jobs before - I 
think they've simply got fed up with working on my poor old Jag, 
plus they're busy enough now that they can pick their work).

Of course that made up about three weeks down the drain waiting for 
their conclusion. Then another week while I slowly reclaimed my 
positivity about Jag ownership by uncovering the false assumptions 
I'd made about the repair proceedures. Now this weekend I can 
finally plot out a long list of parts to order. With luck maybe 
I'll get them next week and finally be able to make a start! It 
won't be quick though, at my typical working pace, allowing for 
protracted periods of alternate head scratching and swearing.

 - The Free Thinker