Unbear(ing)able

05-04-2010

Bank Holiday Monday. Nice weather. Sun is shining, sort of. Grey clouds that look like rain haven't started to spill yet. What do you know? I have a migraine.

The only upside is that it isn't one of the ones that will have me in bits all day long. Instead it is that nice throbbing feeling in the front of my brain with the tension built up at the base of my skull. You know, the sort that you can just about stay up and do normal things with but not the kind that means you will be truly enjoying your day off.

Bet it is gone by nine tomorrow morning. Just in time for my two hour long borefest that is the Orientation session as part of the company purchase.

Ah, good times.

Had to get another bearing replaced in the car at the weekend. I am thinking she has gotten to the stage that most of the parts are in need of a check/replacement since it is nearly ten years old. I have had three mechanics look at the engine and all say that she will run for a while long, so it is just the small bits that need a fixing.

Thing is I have decided that I shall be doing all my car replacements up North henceforth and screw the Republic with all its complaining that trade is going up North and not spending the money here.

I had a front bearing replaced two weeks ago. It cost just short of one hundred and thirty euro. That is all well and good except I had to bring it back a week later because the dude hadn't done the job right the first time.

Apparently the part alone cost in the region of ninety quid.

Going up the road at the weekend I noticed that another bearing was making noise. The lady friend's father figure had a few mechanic contacts that he said to try and we could get it fixed while I was up there if I just bought the part.

The part was a rear wheel bearing, slightly more expensive than the front ones. By slightly more they meant that instead of ten pound it would cost twenty five. Even if you convert that back into euro it comes nowhere near ninety.

Plus the cost of replacing it was twenty to twenty five quid.

For less than half price I could have gotten it done. As it happened I ended up only having to pay for the part as a neighbour of the lady friend's parents put it in for me at no cost.

But even if that hadn't of been the case, I still would only have had to pay about fifty pound to get a job done that cost twice that down here.

I think it might be getting to the stage that the only way folks will get value for money down here is if we just close the country for a week and open up again under a new name with a new currency.

Now, where did I leave those pills and coffee

Blue_jester