TeaBreak: Memoirs of a Motor Mechanic sponsored by 58 www.aftermarketonline.net JULY/AUGUST 2024 All set for the summer work break (almost)! Despite all the talk about planning a holiday I’ve rather let things get a bit on top of me of late. I crammed in more pre-holiday services for some of my regulars who are planning trips over the coming weeks and who wanted the family motor running smoothly. However, the daily demands of life are still there, not the least finding the time to write this column. Amazingly, the new editor still wants to hear my musings. I must admit, I enjoy swapping the spanner for a pen — yep, I still sketch out my notes first before getting out the laptop. As I said, it’s been a bit busy of late and I lost my notes for a time. Apprentice Jay (Mrs P says I must stop calling him ‘the lad’) found them just in time — written on the back of an invoice that was being prepared for someone who was coming in to pick up their car. He asked me why I didn’t use the laptop from the start… then of course he starts over about ‘IoT’ and ‘AI’. I’m not stuck in the past, but sometimes I feel I have enough to do to keep up with the present, let alone step into the future. I must admit that Jay really shows a talent for technology. I took him along to the UK Garage and Bodyshop Event last month and he came back with some really good ideas for promoting the business. I think my eyes glazed over when he started talking about getting us on “Insta” (think that’s what he called it). He mentioned Tik-Tok too, which on first hearing I thought was a new engine oil brand, but I’ve told him to see what he can come up and we’ll chat after the summer holiday. No sooner as I talked about the holiday — he is off with his family to somewhere in the Med — the phone rang and it was Mrs P. She wanted to know if I’d got Jay to help me sort out a booking for that bargain flight to Spain that she’d found online. ‘Remember, we talked about it last night!’ Oops, I forgot! Now, I must admit, Mrs P and I never really argue. I just tend to listen and that seems to work out fine. Anyhow, once again, she’s saved the day and come up with a solution. She has got the local travel agent to arrange a flight for her to go and stay at her sister’s place in Spain for a month. I’m going to shut up shop here when Jay goes and the agent is sorting me a ticket to follow on and be with Mrs P in a couple of weeks. Oh, I do love multi-tasking, especially when it’s someone else doing it. Business here should quieten down a bit now and it looks like we will have a few decent days of weather here at home now and again, so time to break out the garage picnic furniture and have a bit of a busman’s holiday first. Happy summer break everyone. Let’s catch up in the September issue.
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