Old Habits And Pay Back

Old habits die hard and pay back when there was no debt owed. Where to begin. I had to curtail my blog yesterday, as I was fast running out of time, plus, it was turning into a long one and I am mindful of testing the attention spam of my peers, not that I'm saying they are short, as such, just that I know time is a premium and there is always another blog to read.

The title words, though two subjects, are intertwined. A few blogs ago I mentioned how I had helped someone on EBay. They had a Jaguar up for sale but it had a fault, the gear shift was stuck in 'park'. I was watching the item with a view to buy but also had my eye on a couple of others. I messaged the seller with a possible solution to his issue. He tried it and it worked. He offered me first refusal on the car as a 'thank you' but I declined as I was really looking at something else. Anyway, good deed done.

The car stayed on my 'watch list' even after it was sold. A few days later it was 're-listed'. My other possibilities had since fallen through, so I made an offer. It was a low one and subsequently someone else bid higher and the auction ended for the second time. Low and behold if it didn't get re-listed for a third time (Not that unusual, not everyone is honourable in their dealings) Again I put in an offer. It was another low one, as I was wary that the car had been stood for over a year and the chances were that it would have succumbed to the dreaded 'Tin worm' rust. The seller messaged me and said he was going to let the listing run for another day and then would let me know. A day passes and I get a message to say my offer has been accepted. Whoop.

While this has been going on I have also managed to buy two other cars. 'Quick flips' as we like to call them. So from having nothing I now had three. Again, whoop. So, Saturday was spent working on a Renault Clio (Front discs, pads and a down pipe gasket) Sunday took me and the good lady on a field trip to collect the Jaguar. Always an unnerving drive back. One of the rear brake calipers was seized on and needed some gentle persuasion to get freed up, air in the tyres, water in the radiator and a gentle thirty mile drive home and all was good. Purring once more like a good kitty should. The rest of the afternoon was spent cleaning a Ford Ka.

Monday took me back down to the garage to have a proper look underneath the Jag. No surprises, a small amount of surface rust, nothing a wire brush and some under seal won't solve. The 'stuck' gearshifter is due to a broken 'brake pedal' switch. A pain to change but a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things.

The Ka has sold and should be being picked up today. The Clio is waiting for my son's girlfriend/not girlfriend (It's a teenager thing) to get some insurance quotes. This was another mention in a previous blog. If, she can find cheap enough cover then the car is hers at 'cost'. It's really hard for young drivers now to actually get on the road, so if I can help, all the better.

The Jag will be with me for a little while longer as it needs the rear arches tending to (bodywork is not my thang) It's booked in at the beginning of September, so I will enjoy it till then.

Old habits, previous careers and skill sets we have acquired over the years are always still available to us. I'm not one for 'burning bridges' and if we have the opportunity to use those skills while we're hard at work building towards are future, then so be it.

As a sidebar, I am a self-confessed hoarder. Well, you never know when something might come in handy in the future (It may be years from now) and my 'hoarding' enabled me to pay

for my first years membership here and will pay for the second. I had a feeling I had a 'Brake pedal switch' from a previous encounter with a different model. After routing through numerous boxes I found it. Unfortunately it was a 'Non cruise control' version so would not do the job. However, while looking I came across a bag of relays labelled 'Land Rover' This would be from around four years ago. It just so happens that our other, latest acquisition, a Land Rover Discovery TD5, has a missing relay (the rear windows won't go up or down) I tried a couple of the newly found ones and 'Hey presto' working windows. Thrice whoop.

I seem to have both a complex and simple set of beliefs, for I am a simple person. I believe strongly in 'Paying it Forward' unconditionally. Altruistically. I don't believe you should expect something in return. Just do, whatever it is and be happy that you have helped someone, take joy from their joy, don't expect something in return.

As part of those beliefs I have been working hard on 'Following the path of least resistance' I'm not sure how to explain it, without it becoming confusing. Maybe the above as an example will work. Prior to January I was 'buying and selling' cars regularly. One of the problems was finding the ideal candidates. The harder you searched the less likely you were to find something or you would end up buying something out of desperation and later regret it. January arrives and I am no longer avidly looking. I now think it would be nice if something drops in my lap but it's not an issue if it doesn't, something will come along. So far it has, many times over.

I was thinking along the lines of 'I need' 'I want' or 'I must' now I am more happy to go with the flow. I never worry about problems because I know they will be overcome. I'm not fighting life anymore and by doing that I have more control over the direction I'm going. 'When' 'I can' and 'I will' seem to work much better.