Why I love it in south Texas.....
Yesterday I was driving from job to job, and noticed that my temp gauge was
going up. I pulled over and discovered that my top radiator hose had
cracked near the block. Not surprising, and not hard to fix, but I had
intended to get my radiator rodded for several months. Lots of blockage in
there.
So I took it to a radiator shop cleverly called "Radiator Shop". A guy I
knew that worked there named Willie came up to me, and I told him that the
top hose needed replacing and the radiator needed rodding. He nodded, asked
for the keys, and when I asked how much it would cost he said he didn't know
exactly, a hundred or two, and that he wasn't "going to bite (me)".
This happened a bit after 1pm yesterday, and he told me it might take up
most of the afternoon to get it done. I rescheduled several appointments by
cell phone, and then just wandered around.
Now, it happens that the "Radiator Shop" is right next door to a bar that I
frequent, but the bar doesn't open until 4pm. I did happen to seen the
owner go in for a check around 2:20 pm and went to talk wtih him. He told
me that I could stay in there until they got my truck fixed. Air
conditioning in there, and someone would be coming to open up soon. I
thanked him, went back to the Radiator Shop to tell Willie that I would be
sitting in the bar next door, and he told me he would come over when he was
done with my truck.
I sat in the bar, in the dark actually, for about a half hour when Katie
came in to open the bar. She saw me, blinked her eyes a few times, and then
asked me how I got in. I told her Michael had let me in because my truck
was next door getting work. She said okay, and I helped her open the bar.
She had to go to a convenience store to get ice because the ice machine was
broken, but she gave me the remote control so I could watch what I wanted on
the TV.
About 3:30 she gave me a drink. About ten minutes before 4pm, just short of
when the bar opened, there was a knock at the door. Katy went to the door
and asked who it was. "Willie, Radiator Shop!" She opened the door.
Willie came in, and told me that he had cleaned the engine compartment,
replacxed the top hose, rodded my radiator, inspected my hoses to make sure
no others were immediately going bad, filled my system 50-50 with
water-antifreeze, and then did another check to make sure everything was
free of leaks. I asked him how much I owed him.
He handed me my keys, and said "A hundred dollar bill and a beer."
I gave him a hundred dollar bill and bought him two beers. Then he had to
get back to work.
To make this slightly relevant, I should say that with friends and neighbors
like this, it's easy to eat low carb!