Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
comic strip overdue media

Saturday, August 30, 2008

I have my car back! Woo-hoo!

I had my car towed (via AAA and David's Towing (out of Nicholasville)) to Mitch's Auto Repair on Industry Road. I told them what I needed--brakes that were safe, but not a lot of unnecessary charges. They knew I was on a budget and if the estimate was over what I had I'd have to wait to have it fixed at least until Wednesday.

Well, it turned out the estimate was within my grasp, despite the fact that my rear driver side brake was, well, non-existent. Metal was grinding to metal and the brake finally broke entirely, which is why the fluid leaked. Some parts had just disintegrated entirely. He showed me what it looked like, and although I don't know anything about cars, I'm thinking powdered metal is not a good sign. I got new brake drums, hardware, well, everything that goes on a rear brake assembly, for both sides of the rear. The front ones are still okay, thankfully.

They did the whole job for $368--exactly what they estimated, including adding a quart of oil (my car has a slow leak and had been sitting, so I asked them to make sure there was oil in the car before I left), checking my other fluids, plugging a tyre that had picked up a nail, and...fixing the door panel on my driver side that's been falling off for nearly a year. I was afraid it would be more like $500. This left me some money to get some gas and groceries. Kenny and Tom were great. I would really recommend Mitch's Auto Repair [1253 Industry Rd # 120, Lexington, KY 40505, (859) 254-6398].

It's a little weird driving again. I'm getting used to how the new brakes are adjusted, and well, just driving after being a pedestrian for three weeks. It's good to be mobile again. The first thing I did was get some gas. Then I went and got a couple of friends from a restaurant, since my 'taxi service' was back in action. And it was very nice to go to the grocery late at night and not have to haul the heavy stuff home by hand.

Once I did get home I had to resist a very cute, laid-back calico cat that was outside my building who immediately ran over when I put my groceries down to see if there was anything for her. She obviously was used to people, unlike the feral (if well-fed) cats in the area, who run at the sight of any car or person. Alas, I have no cat food, no litter pan, and more importantly, no business having a cat at the moment, so I resisted pretty well. But it was hard, especially as she was obviously interested in going inside. She's pretty young, maybe a year, with nice patches against white. Sigh. No, I can't....

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