I should have been a mechanic

Good things about being your own boss. No need to have early morning or late afternoon dental appointments anymore to make sure you don't arrive too late at work or leave too early. Still costs the same though, no change there. And its the same when you have a fault with your car. Build your day around being close to where you drop it off in the morning and pick it up when the job is complete.

Now I know nothing about cars - my knowledge wouldn't fill the back of a postage stamp but I wish I had trained as a mechanic. Finally got to the root of the problem with my faithful old Golf - a broken starter earth cable. Well of course anybody worth their salt would have recognised the symptoms, unfortunatley my salt is a bit wet in these matters. Anyway replacement of said starter earth cable a mere £12.00. Not bad you might think. Total bill before I got the car keys back - £84.60. I wish this was a typo but no. Eighty four pounds and sixty decimal pence please.

A four letter word added to 'me gently' was my reply, silently off course in case I didn't get the keys back. Not only did the service station gain to the tune of £60 for labour, and by the way it's a good wee garage who've served me well for a few years now - Manse Brae Service Station, Cathcart, but the Chancellor of the Exchequer got £12.60 of the total. More than the part itself cost!! Well I just hope it goes into better public transport because I'm gutted and skint into the bargain.