Car Troubles Again

I was driving home the other day from meeting with a friend for a cup of tea. Just past International Road, I started to notice that the car was pulling to the left – pretty bad, actually. I had to work at holding it on the road. I rolled my window down but didn’t hear anything, so didn’t think it was all that bad. By the time I neared the intersection of Dimond and Minnesota, however, I started to hear the thump-thump-thump-thump sound that only a seriously flat tire can make.

As luck would have it, Rob lives right near there – so I made my way to his house and pulled in to his driveway. Thankfully he was there, having just gotten home from his daily 2-hour bike ride. He and his roommate Bill came out to assess the damage.

I have to say, I was extremely upset. These are brand new tires I’d bought not three months ago; and I got them specifically so that I wouldn’t get another flat tire. Little good that did me… this tire was definitely flat. And apparently my decision to drive to Rob’s house was a really bad one. What I should have done was pull over immediately after noticing the car was pulling to the left. By driving on, I’d ruined it beyond repair, and there was some considerable doubt as to whether I’d be able to cash in on the warrantee because of that.

Rob and Bill got the tire off in no time and put the temporary spare tire on in its place. Rob could see that I was upset about it all, so he valiantly tried to cheer me up. He can be sweet at times. The tire shop was closed by then, so we made plans to meet after work the next day to take the car in and try to convince them to give me the warrantee.

Unfortunately having that temporary on my car meant that I couldn’t attend the Green Building Council meeting the next day: I felt that I shouldn’t drive the car any more than absolutely necessary, since the tire is a tiny little thing and I’m sure my car isn’t happy about being lop-sided like that.

Eventually the day ended and I headed on home. Rob showed up not 5 minutes later, and we headed down to American Tire, off the Old Seward Highway. The guy helping us at the shop was more than a little bit preachy with me (I had run the tire flat and ruined it, after all) but did finally agree to apply the warrantee – so I got a new tire for only the cost of labor to put it on. I suppose that’s worth having to endure yet another man telling me what I’d done wrong.

And Rob continued to be really nice to me, buying me dinner and hanging out with me to cheer me up. As I said, he can be sweet at times. Thankfully – because I really needed it that day!