*this is a collaborative post
Once upon a time, three weeks ago to be exact, the hubby, kiddies & I were off on an adventure to town. It was a crisp, cool & sunny day. We were loaded into the car and heading from shop to shop. We had a long “to do” list but we were enjoying spending the afternoon together & seeing Christmas decorations up in the shops.
Our final stop was for groceries. We were hungry when we went into the store & starving when we came out. We left the shop with our arms full of goodies (it’s never a good idea to shop when hungry), ready to head home and make some lunch. But, it was not to be. To our dismay, the tyre on our car was flat!! Aggrrrrr.
I was very thankful my husband was there because I have no idea where the spare is located in our car. And even if I knew, let’s be honest, I wouldn’t try to change it myself… he’d have gotten a phone call.
Anyway, hubby located the spare wheel and removed our flat one. The glitch was that the spare was only partially full. We put it on and with fingers crossed, hoping we’d make it across the road to the filling station where we could fill it up.
My husband started the car and we willed her along – go on, go on, go on, go on! But again, it was not meant to be. The spare tyre popped off the rim slightly after a few meters. We were stuck. It was time to call the home house for some backup.
Or was it? Never one to quit, my husband came up with a solution. He borrowed a trolly and loaded the spare into it. He and our oldest journeyed across the roundabout to the filling station in search of some air for the tyre. You might wonder what I was doing during all of this… well, I was tweeting – there was nothing else I could do! lol
Anyway, it felt like ages before they came back… with an empty trolley! “Were you robbed on the way?” we asked them, looking around for tyre bandits. “Where is the spare wheel gone??”
Well, believe it or not, the filling station’s air pump wasn’t working. But by glorious luck, my husband met a man he knew who was kind enough to take our wheel and drive it to another filling station for air.
So the waiting game continued. After a little while, we were thrilled to see the man’s van return with our spare wheel full of air! Woohoo!!
The husband got back to work and reinstalled the spare wheel. We were ready for off! Just as he opened the driver’s door to get in the car, do you know what drove by? Can you guess? A mobile mechanic van! Yes, I am not making this up. A mobile mechanic drove by after we spent an hour trying to get air into our tyre!! Oh, the irony.
Happily, the drive home was uneventful. The spare wheel held up just fine and we made it home safe and sound.
The next day I brought the car into the mechanics to get the tyre fixed and all of the tyres topped up with air, including the spare.
Car Maintenance
While my story is a silly one because it had a happy ending, it could have easily gone wrong. I’m grateful our tyre didn’t go flat while we were on the side of a motorway or somewhere we couldn’t get air to fill the spare. We learned a lesson there and will definitely take the spare tyre out regularly to fill it with air from now on.
Basic car maintenance is important to ensure that you and other drivers are safe on the roads. Here are a few simple things to remember before you drive your car:
Regularly service your car at an expert garage like Kwik Fit to be sure everything is working right.
Have a spare wheel kit and spare tyre filled with air in case you need it.
Check that lights are working.
Be sure the windscreen wipers are working and there is washer fluid.
Check oil & coolant levels.
Check tyre condition & thread depth.
We learned the importance of car maintenance like having air in your spare tyre the hard way but will be more careful in the future! Do you regularly check your car? Have you been stranded like we were without a spare? Let me know in the comments. x
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