id drop the mechanic idea. look into trades with base industries that are improving, as opposed to declining. ie, sparky, plumber, chippy, etc.
ill be going back to uni after i pay the S14 off and spend a couple years abroad, which is what i shouldve done from the start, but the lure of money in my pocket got me... that and after 2 years of graphic design and multimedia based crap i was bored shit less with it already, the upside to all this delaying is that ive had the opportunity to really look at a few of the industries ive been interested in and get a proper idea if theyre for me or not. im still working a dead end, but im narrowing down my list more and more everyday.