Finally the truck is fixed. A job that was going to take a little more than one week has turned into three. Three weeks is not that long I guess, and it could have been worse. However, after being told that it would be just over one week, and assured every day that there was only one little problem, the three weeks have certainly seemed a lot longer than normal. So what happened to make it so long? First it was in getting the gearbox out. Three little bolts refused to let go and it was three days later, after pulling half of the truck apart so they could cut them out that the gearbox could finally be removed. Next came news of the parts. We thought they were all there and available, to be delivered within days. One and a half weeks later they arrive. It turns out that there are many variations of the same part and what they had was different to what we needed. Instead of sending them down straight away, a search was made throughout the country for the bit that we needed. I guess it came from the furthest corner to take that long. Finally with the parts arriving I was anxious to get the truck back. Walking six kilometres to the city and back each day through swirling dust acted as a great motivator to check on the progress of the repairs. Arriving at the workshop I discover everything closed. Checking the time, I was here at the right part of the day and everything else was open, so I was a little confused. The first day I let it go, but on the second day, with everything still fully closed and nobody answering their telephones, I thought it worth finding out what was happening. In asking around the news was that the entire workshop was on vacation. Worse was that their vacations extended past the day that they had told me the truck would be ready. Finally they came back to work, and started the job. Yesterday I was supposed to pick it up but it still was not finished. It turns out that not only were there many other cars being worked on, but also the workshop was so crowded that there was no room to get the truck inside so they could work on it. So after multiple delays, it looks like today is the day that I pick the thing up. I have not been by the workshop yet, but am heading over there in a few hours in good faith that it really will be ready. More news on that one soon.