Am mechanic

I am a free man. I suppose you could call me a retiree – again. But it’s not like that. Writing, leadership mentoring and Jen’s business are all things I am working on. But, and it’s a huge but (and I am so lucky to have this opportunity), any agenda is my own. I can do as much or as little as I like. And money can’t pay for that. Fabulous. Just Fabulous.

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Bradley Stoke shopping centre. Looking fab.

I could use today’s ramblings to talk about the US trade war that His Trumpkiness has randomly put in place. The fact that the US are having to find $12bn to subsidise their farmers (mostly soya bean) due to lose of revenue, has rather dented the ‘trade wars are good’, mantra. Since the US placed tariffs on all of their allies [to be fair the tariffs are also slapped on China and Russia (sorry, I forgot, the State that has invaded Ukraine, shot down an international airliner, messed in everyone’s elections and killed one of theirs with nerve agent on our soil, is in fact now a friend of the US’s)], US farmers are struggling to sell their stuff abroad. Did Donald not see that coming? And now that steel is now 25% more expensive for US companies, which may be good news for a few thousand steel workers in the Rust Belt, but not so good for the tens of thousands of US workers who make stuff out of steel (and aluminium), anything made of metal is becoming more expensive. Everything. No worries. Ordinary US folk had a massive tax cut in the recent Trump tax give-away, so they can afford to pay more for their washing machines.

US history has a liturgy of examples of how tariffs don’t work. How free trade is the only way. And that your own workforce has to adapt to the market, even if that means closing down unprofitable businesses. But, it seems, that the current administration knows better. I might be wrong, but this going to end in tears.

I am, by the way, a mechanic. Really. Recently I have fixed three things. First the habitation door on Doris which has both ‘stuck’ and locked itself when you shut it with too much force. I have tried to fix it before, but never really got it right. Anyhow, I’ve done it now, including losing a key piece without which the whole thing was useless, to finding the piece by complete chance just before I was about to run out into the traffic with my eyes closed. Done.

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Bex and I took a trip to London to sort out her Korean visa

Then I fixed the Ford Focus’s bonnet release catch. Ford, for some reason known only to them, put the bonnet release under the grille badge – using the key. The problem is the key/lock joins the release mechanism by way of hard wire – which breaks (actually the plastic bit at the end of the wire breaks), making the bonnet impossible to open.

It’s a common problem (thanks Ford). So, as with any would-be mechanic, I looked on YouTube and was briefed by the most boring man in Europe on what I should do, which included sticking my head under the front of the car and, with long arms, getting my hand between the radiator and the engine block and undoing some bolts. I have very long arms. And I just about made it, although my forearm looks like it’s been attacked by a bear. How short or large people can reach the bolts is a mystery to me. But obviously not to the dull man on YouTube.

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we took a trip to Birmingham to pick up some furniture we had left in one of Bex’s friend’s house

Finally I have fixed a leak on Doris’s air suspension, which has been like that since we bought her. I have tried many time to sort it, but eventually managed it by tightening an almost impossible to reach nut under one of the rear wheels. Now both air suspension bellows stay up, and Doris’s back end no longer looks like it’s had a stroke.

I think that’s enough for me. Books doing well. Still decompressing from school. And spending all my time ferrying (our) children about the place at ungodly hours.

Oh well…