Wednesday, May 02, 2007

Its good to be Greek!

When I was in Brisbane I noticed that my car had an oil leak. It looked like transmission oil rather than engine oil but I couldn't see where it was coming from so took it to a mechanic. After looking under the hood and giving the classic sharp intake of breath, the guy said he thought my radiator was broken.... I asked him to show me but he said he couldn't without getting it up on the ramp, so I asked him to get it up on the ramp.

'I'm a bit busy', he said.
'Don't worry, I'll wait', I replied.

After walking around a shopping 'centre' that consisted of 3 shops, a Hungry Jacks (Burger King) and a petrol station, I went back to have a look. The car was still in the same place so I went for a wander again. After two hours the guy still hadn't got it on the ramp and suggested I leave it with him and he'd fit a new radiator by the following morning, for $300....needless to say, I took the car and found another mechanic!

At the next place the boss got one of his mechanics to take it onto the ramp and have a look. In the meantime he got me a coffee and just chatted away about surfing etc. At some point he took my name down, realised that my surname is Greek and told me that he is also Greek-Cypriot! He even got us some lunch while the car was being checked out. It turned out that it was just a cracked oil hose, which he replaced straight away. When I asked how much I owed him he just shrugged his shoulders and said don't worry about it. I told him I had to pay something so he took $20 (like 8 quid), which probably only covered lunch! Before I got on my way he offered me a place to stay if I'm ever in Brisbane again, and said I should join him for a surf.....lucky huh!

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