Then and now.....

And a regular item from now on, how I started a mechanic and what I do now. See if you can decide which I enjoy more :)

Then:
The story starts waaay back in 1983 when I joined The Army.....thats THE ARMY as in the British Army. I'd already done my selection tests and was keen to join up as a Paratrooper. Thank the lord for the extremely switched on officer who firmly steered me away from that ..... "Don't be so bloody stupid!" and after several minutes of me mopeing around and deciding my life was pointless unless I could join The Parachute Regiment he prevailed upon me to join REME ( Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers)
After finishing my basic training it was time to learn all about engines and gearboxes and stuff.
I arrived at Bordon to start my training.....all 11 months of it. First thing to be learned was that we wouldn't even see an engine for weeks. First we had to learn maths, technical drawing and physics. Jeez, I thought I was training to be a sodding mechanic!!
When we FINALLY got to SI or spark ignition engines, we were issued our toolboxes and finally felt like REAL mechanics.....how wrong we were.




Now:
I make my jolly way to a car with an "electrical problem". Apparently his headlights have broken. After a pleasant 65 mile drive I arrive at the service station where he's waiting with the afflicted vehicle. It takes only a few minutes to find out that his mysterious electrical problem is in fact 2 blown bulbs. Both dip beams have failed. He assures me that due to some strange planetary configuration they both failed instantaneously and mere minutes ago, hmmm, I remain unconvinced. After replacing both bulbs with new ones from the service station he was parked in we both waited with baited breath to see if they would mysteriously blow again....well  his breath was baited, mine was anything but. strangely enough neither bulb failed as we watched and I left him making his merry way home. It amazes me how many people are convinced ( or try to convince me ) that both headlight bulbs expire simultaneously in some sort of suicide pact. Its amazing how cynical this job makes you :)