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.
