Dear LPG, 

I am old, but I still drive and feel very grateful to be able to do so.  I know that there are many pensioners who don’t, but I think that the reason that many of us older ladies that do can still drive out under their own steam, are able to do so is usually because they have a son or younger male friend or family member who knows something about the internal combustion engine. Failing that, over the years, they will have forged a really good professional relationship with an automobile engineer that you now trust implicitly and, although you may not travel as far from home as you used to, the one destination you will never forget how to get to be is his garage establishment. But things are getting more complicated.

I think that an organisation which keeps a car on the road is much like a GP surgery.  They are both in the business of maintaining very important bits of machinery (one organic and the other mechanical) but we older drivers who have no one else to turn to could not do without them.

I have known my ‘go to Mr. Fixer’ for at least twenty-five years now and depend on him for much more than just obvious car maintenance.  I think that the men of this world make it their business to know a lot more than we ladies do about what goes on under the bonnet and I know that it is comforting to have someone down the road who takes you seriously when you hear that funny click when you apply the brakes or see that funny red light that you have never seen on the dashboard before.

I remember a story about a car maintenance group who were in the business of inventing extra things wrong in their client’s cars so that they had an excuse to hype up their prices, and I am so glad not to have encountered an organisation like that.

I don’t know much about the workings of my car even though I have watched Phil tweak this and fix that on many an occasion, while he also finds the time to explain what he is doing in words that I can understand although he knows that I will forget everything he said by the next time I need his help.

ULEZ forced me to part company with my long-cherished beloved motor.  After many years, last October proved to leave me with a reason to say goodbye to her because the government gave me little choice and her replacement, although not so new has been an education.  It has so many lights, displays and other details included not to mention a need to talk to me at the oddest times, even when I am driving.   I don’t know where I would be without knowing that my mechanic always has the time to explain what is going on.

Today is National Automotive Service Professionals Day and whether your ’go to’ man (or lady) is an employee in a major brand car dealership organisation or a person who works independently down the road, today is the day to acknowledge his/her existence.

Though we elderly lady drivers are a very independent species we would be going nowhere without our car engineers.  Even though I don’t use my four wheels half as much as I used to, there is something liberating about knowing that I can when I want to.  For me, my car is my independence and I know that, like everything else in life, it could be taken away at any time, but while I am lucky enough to have one, I am glad to have Phil to go to.

So, on this National Day I would like to remind all drivers who have a Mr. Fixer who keeps them on the road to acknowledge the very important part that they play in our lives.  

AR, Downham  

AR admits that there is not a lot of information on this celebration day but think shares what she found… 

(►►►)