A couple warning lights in our ’92 Geo Prizm came on sometime Saturday. They were on again Sunday morning, so I left the car at the shop that afternoon, using the after-hours drop for the key.

I rode my bicycle to the bus stop (about 3 miles) yesterday morning. Thought about riding all the way downtown (c. 10 miles) but I was not over the weekend’s cold.

The shop called fairly early yesterday morning, saying I needed a new alternator, estimated total cost about $300. Choice

1. Authorize them to go ahead and do the work, or
2. Ask our mechanic friend H to do it, which would certainly be cheaper.

I chose (1). H is good, and absolutely reliable. He is also cheap; it is difficult to give him enough money to avoid the feeling that we are exploiting him. The problem was that he is very busy, and with the best will in the world may not have been able to work on our car immediately. And immediately is what we needed. The next two weeks are going to be very busy, and we need to have both cars.

The shop duly replaced the alternator, and I rode my bike home from the bus stop and then went to retrieve the car, which seems OK. That is what I wanted. In fact we saw H at a colgaffneyis gathering that evening, and he does have a lot going on. Somebody asked him about another project, and he said he was having trouble fitting it into his schedule.

BTW, I did enjoy the bicycling. Closest thing to formal exercise I have done lately.