Another Handsome Caller

Sadly, no ladies were about so he ambled on.

I had a lovely lunch today with some former colleagues.  It took us three hours, a pot of butternut squash & apple bisque with homemade cheddar scones and a plate of salted caramel brownies but we got the job of catching up done.

Tomorrow I'm taking my car to a mechanic for a second opinion which hopefully will not be the same as the opinion from the dealer's service department.   That assessment determined that I needed new hood struts, my power steering was going out, my water pump and heater core were near death and I had fluid leaks from nearly every possible source in the upper engine.  They would be happy to fix it all for the tidy sum of $3,468.00 plus tax and "shop supplies".  Since I have my car serviced regularly it would seem that all that stuff failed since my last oil change which is distressing.  When I asked how all those things weren't noticed or suspected before now I was told that the guy that changes the oil, etc. doesn't do in-depth diagnostics even though I routinely ask them to.   "You mean when he opened the hood he didn't notice that he had to hold the hood up because the struts were failing?", I said.  "And when he moved the car into the service bay from the parking lot he didn't notice that the power steering was having trouble?", I asked.  "And what about the puddle of leaked coolant that you tell me was all over the engine compartment?"  Hummmmm??  Suffice it to say that there were no satisfactory answers so it's off for another opinion.   I have my fingers crossed.