Re-Tire

 

What are the chances? Twice in one week!!!! Sometimes, the universe just likes to mess with your head...

Neither tire puncture was due to lousy driving habits or faulty cheesy tires. Both incidents were apparently caused by driving over something sharp...

Last week I was tootling back from Stop and Shop when I noticed an idiot light was on on the dashboard. Investigation proved it to be a low tire pressure sensor... what won't they think of next! (sorry: we're used to driving very old cars that don't have such new fangled instruments as back up computers and automatic transmissions...) Anyway, I checked the air pressure when I got home and lo! the driver's side rear tire was very low. Bob added air, but the next morning the tire was really low again. As luck would have it, I had an eye doctor appointment that morning but our local garage squeezed us in and was able to patch the tire- and not charge us! Thank you Jimmy!

So yesterday, I announced my intentions to drive to Trader Joe's in Danbury. Bob agreed to accompany me as he needed roof tar at Home Depot. This turned out to be fortunate in the extreme. As we tooled along towards Danbury, traffic on Rt 84 came to a crawl and we decided to get off the highway a couple of exits early and run our errands in the opposite order. As I pulled into the exit lane, that damned low air pressure light came back on. I suspected the patch had failed and as we rolled off the exit ramp, the noise of a flopping definitely flat tire became louder. We pulled into a gas station (*1) and yup! Flat tire! But on the passenger's side rear!

Lucky for me, Bob was present and "we" changed the tire (Bob doing most of the work). It really took only a few minutes and donut installed, we returned to Southbury to drop off the tire for patching or replacement. We suspected- and had it confirmed- that whatever we rolled over had punched a nice, really big gash into our tire. Heigh ho! New tire. I am hoping we have reached tire-max and don't need to have another flat for at least a couple of years! What were the chances! (*2)

(*1) Not a REAL gas station- do they even exist?- but a convenience market. At least it had a large, flat parking area! And air! But there was a dopey guy parked right in front of the air dispenser... do you think he'd move? Hahahahahaha!

(*2) And other than that, the car is really great: runs quiet, handles nicely, is comfortable, gets good gas mileage... exactly what you want. And the car now has a name! Beatrice ad John's car is Great White, Cathy's Corolla is the Silver Vortex. So, in keeping with a sort of family color motif, I christen our car Red Rover.

Life In COVID World: Part 2 Driving Miss COVID

 

One of the strangest aspects of COVID/quarantine has been driving. Let me know if any of you have experienced how odd it feels to drive pretty much anywhere. What I used to take for granted and kind of enjoy- the simple act of driving- has become yet another alien sensation. Whether it was driving to work, or to the store, it was not a big deal. Now it feels exotic and almost forbidden.

This is especially true if you are going to a more distant location. I find myself ascending a highway ramp and having the feeling that I'm escaping, or running away or venturing into unknown territories; and we're not talking about crossing state lines or traveling to Canada. This happens on what used to be a mundane trip to Trader Joe's- a mere two towns over. An illicit adventure!

I've been out more than Bob. Here's his truck, with the windshield wipers up since the large snow event we had... last week. The truck hasn't left the yard since. 

And now we have more snow and even less reason to go out! One week, I realized as I motored off down the road that I hadn't driven in... about seven days. The whole foreign-ness of driving reasserted itself: is this how one steers? What is that third pedal for? Am I doing it right?!?!?

The upside is that we are consuming way less gas than ever before. I can't even remember the last time I filled the tank and it's still 3/4 full. We heard earlier on in the pandemic that the environment was benefiting from all of us staying home. Here we are, ten or eleven months into this quarantine and I don't for a minute think that most people are staying home anywhere near as much as they should. The parking lot for the gym is always full and I see plenty of cars on the highway...

I wonder if post-pandemic all of this falls away and getting in the car and taking off seems "normal" again. We keep talking about The New Normal; perhaps that consists of driving less. That would probably be a good thing!