The machine that goes "Feep!"

Mrs Moore: What's that for?
First Doctor: That's the machine that goes 'Ping'!
First Doctor: You see. It means that your baby is still alive.
Second Doctor: And that's the most expensive machine in the whole hospital.
First Doctor: Yes, it cost over three quarters of a million pounds.
     --Monty Python's "The Meaning Of Life"

I don't have a machine that goes 'Ping!' but I do have a car that goes 'Feep!' when I lock it. Unfortunately, for quite a while, it actually hadn't gone 'Feep!' at all, since within a week of buying it, I managed to damage the trunk latch beyond repair. Somehow the spring that holds open the cheapo plastic catchpiece had failed, so I tried to close the trunk with said catchpiece closed, and snapped the thing off. Not realizing what I'd done, all I knew was that my trunk wouldn't close right, so I slammed it a few dozen more times. You know, if it ain't broke, force it. If it breaks, it needed replacing anyway. Finally I lifted the trunk lid up, inspected the catchpiece, and upon touching it with my finger, the offending broken piece of plastic tumbled out.

Oops. Needs replacing.

Unfortunately, replacing my front brakes and rotors took predecence over replacing a broken trunk latch, since I was less concerned about protecting the (lack of) contents of my trunk than I was about 88,000-mile-old brakes on the ice and snow of an impending New England winter, and the possibility of wrapping the newly-purchased car around one of the many telephone poles that line our tidy boulevard. But with the holidays ALSO impending, I wasn't exactly awash in cash, especially what with the car purchase. So I instead waited to get my Christmas bonus (woohoo!) and used most of it (d'oh!) to replace the brakes.

But then last week I took it back to get the part replaced, turns out it's too complicated to take apart, so they replaced the whole latch mechanism rather than the 4-cent plastic catch. Toss in an hour of labor, you're looking at close to $70. Bah. But the best part is the mechanic - he actually took the time to show me the rotors and pads he'd replaced when he did my brakes. This time around, he explained that in my urgency and fervor to close my trunk, I'd actually bent the striker (the crossbar that the catch latches onto), so while he was at it, he took that out, stuck it in a vise, and bent it back into shape.

And now I once again have my very own machine that goes 'Feep!'.