A friend of mine sent me this excerpt today.
This is also why I hardly ever play the radio in my car:
>
> "Al, bent over the wheel, kept shifting eyes from the road to the
> instrument panel, watching the ammeter needle, which jerked suspiciously,
> watching the oil gauge and the heat indicator. And his mind was cataloguing
> weak points about the car. He listened to the whine, which might be the
> rear end, dry; and he listened to tappets lifting and falling. He kept his
> hand on the gear lever, feeling the turning gears through it."
> "Listen to the motor. Listen to the wheels. Listen with your ears and with
> your hands on the steering wheel; listen with the palm of your hand on the
> gearshift lever; listen with your feet on the floorboards. Listen to the
> pounding old jalopy with all your senses; for a change of tone, what a
> variation of rhythm might mean. That rattle - that's tappets. Don't hurt a
> bit. Tappets can rattle till Jesus comes again without no harm. But that
> thudding as the car moves along - can't hear that - just kind of feel it.
> Maybe oil isn't gettin' someplace. Maybe a bearing's startin' to go..."
>
> The Grapes Of Wrath
> John Steinbeck
Ken
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/// what is needed. It isn't that difficult, folks.
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