dark highway, no lights

Driving along a very dark highway last night, to Baan Tung Mapraw, to drop off our broken truck, I had to wonder what in the world we were doing. We could have had it fixed at the Ford dealer at Phuket for 70,000 Baht, or $1,750 but the head mechanic had offered to fix it at his house for $1,250. The head is broken. Driving along, trying to avoid the small moped/motorcycles here, there and everywhere, I was just praying we weren't getting soaked. A common occurance for everyone here, especially westerners. Our Thai friends probably think we are idiots for paying so much, why didn't we just get it done with second-hand parts at a little cheap garage somewhere? We tried to explain that if we don't fix it right this time we will have more problems in the future. We drove up to a ramshackle little cement house where the mechanic lives with his mother, sister, neices and 2 of his own children. He is obviously the breadwinner for the whole family. They were nice, brought out cold water in 2 glasses, invited us to sit down after they brushed the piles of ants off their outdoor patio set. After we put a pile of cash in front of him for the parts, I told them it was good it broke now, because it is almost the end of the month & we'll be getting a deposit soon so we can cover the rest. I wanted them to know that yes, we feel the impact of this loss of money, please don't soak us! If it works out well, everyone will be happy and we'll have a new friend.