I have traveled to a handful of wonderful destinations in my life. Some of those places were big cities where I managed to get by with public transportation, but most of those places were not. Most of those places had me wanting to bop from city, to city, to city. This required renting a car, and I have driven in some relatively stressful situations (Rome, single back roads of Ireland/Scotland, sitting on broken glass in LA after a break-in, the autobahn…actually the autobahn is a blast to drive on), but nothing gives me more anxiety than the possibility of one specific situation.
A flat tire.
I have been blessed to drive in multiple countries and states with minimal car troubles (I had to put air in a tire once in a tiny town of Italy, but it was like a 6/10 on the stress scale), but the dreaded flat tire finally happened to me. In my own town. In my driveway. I’ve had punctured tires before, but nothing to the point I couldn’t immediately drive to the tire shop for a repair.
This time, my tire was so flat I didn’t dream of driving on it. Actually I did, but Duncan told me no.
I stumbled upon the above scene at 0750 on a Thursday, just ten minutes before I was meant to be at work. I shamefully have never changed a tire in my life, and I had no intention of calling AAA when the car was sitting safely in my driveway. I needed Duncan to help me change this tire, but I would have to wait for him to be off work later that day.
Instead of calling out entirely (which I will be doing next time), I rode my bike to work. I will not be doing that again. This entire situation caused more stress than it needed to, but I have a tendency to want to fix problems IMMEDIATELY. This was certainly a problem that could have waited for the following day, alas I did not want to wait.
Thank you to my hero Duncan, he showed me how to change the tire myself next time, though I don’t think I will be doing that.
My weak feeble arms could never in their wildest dreams be able to loosen those tire lug bolts. Duncan showed me how to use my foot to kick down on the arm of the tool to loosen them, but I hope to never have to attempt that. Duncan put the spare tire on for me, we took the flat to Discount Tire where they were able to fix the tire for free, and all was well again.
I had to rely on my knight in shining armor for this car problem, but I was able to redeem myself the following Monday.
I had an oil change scheduled where everything went according to plan, but my engine and cabin air filters were both in need of a swap. I have been wanting to change my own cabin air filter for YEARSSS now, so I finally decided it was time. I wasn’t familiar with the engine filter so I let them fix it for a whopping $70. I immediately watched a video on how to do this myself next time, and it’s just as easy as the cabin filter.
I bought a $20 replacement filter from the auto store, and managed to replace this all by myself! Well, I needed Duncan’s brute force again to get the glove box off, but overall IT WAS ALL ME OK! Toyota wanted $80 for this job, no way. Kick rocks Toyota! There are few things in life that bring me more joy than saving money, making money, or finding money (coins on the ground.)
And just like that my car is good as new. My anxiety about getting a flat tire however is still just as strong as ever (specifically in foreign countries.) Something about being stuck in an area you are not from with no cell service, and speaking an entirely different language makes my neck hairs stand up. I really hope I am not manifesting this problem by talking about it so much.
Q’s:
- Do you think a flat tire is a good reason to call out of work, assuming lives don’t depend on you?
- When’s the last time you had to change a tire?
- Have you ever changed your own cabin air filter?
Blissfulbritt 