[Magdalen] Grrr-r-r-r-r... Update.

[M J [Mike] Logsdon]

It was merely a dying battery that needed replacing, and quick.  Mr Guthrie is right that there was something amiss with the slight leakage that led to even minimal corrosion, but my mechanic, in response to my query "Whatever happened to the batteries that would last ten years or more?", he said that they still exist as any old regular battery, but that today a battery's job is more than just providing electricity for a car; it also provides electricity for all the new crap that our cars involve and which are always drawing on it in ways batteries never had to deal with before.  Makes sense.  Mine was a 7-year battery.  He said the worry-free 3 I got out of it was on par for average battery service these days.

I also had the privilege of walking 30 minutes in a heavy drizzle / light rain to pick the car up when done.  Didn't actually have to walk, but I felt so compelled to get some exercise, I did it anyway.  Do my ankles hurt!
_________________________________________
"O perplexed discomposition, O riddling
distemper, O miserable condition of man!"
- The Rev Mr John Donne
(in a not-so-chipper moment)