ding dang dong

It didn't ring true. Our usual car service people had sold up, and the new people told us after a minor service that the brakes on the truck needed a lot of work: new front pads, machining of discs, back drum shoes and replacement arm thingy that pushes the pad against the drum. It was critical they said, a safety issue. The man drew a few diagrams on the back of the receipt to authenticate his story - he was well spoken, welsh, in clean overalls, and had shifty eyes. So I went to a tyres, brakes and suspension place because three out of four tyres were past their wear indicators, and the dudes there gave the brake system a going over. No problems found, with specific reference to the findings of the other place. It was the eyes - he will have to work on more convincing visual contact.
Have bought foogs a two month blizzard card which I will activate if WoW-BC runs adequately on his PC. Am looking forward to seeing him again, must acquire a keg of vitamin G to celebrate. Have a problem with Jen's laptop crashing whilst doing anything more complex than solitaire. The HDD now shows increasing bad sectors, and the onboard sound has died - it's three years old and I'm reluctant to pour anymore money down that redundant black hole. A new HDD and replacement sodimm ram will cost more than half the value of a new (better) one. Bloody computers.