IT'S A MAN'S WORLD!

Even head-in-the clouds people like me sometimes have to deal with the boring rigmarole that is reality. Last Friday, my car's front tyre burst whilst on the road back home from work. It was quite an experience. I was about two kilometres away from a town called Bronkhorstpruit, Mpumalanga, South Africa, and half an hour away from home. I was happily singing along to some Bon Jovi when I suddenly heard a funny pop sound, and then my car started to list a bit. To me it sounded like one of the back tyres busted, so I got out, looked at both back tyres and saw nothing wrong. I phoned my husband, saying that I will pull in at Bronkhorstpruit and have the wheels checked out. I got back and drove – very, very slowly – to the town. My car really felt funny, and I was a little bit scared. I passed a road block, and I made a panicky face to one of the cops, but he did not seem to react. So I moseyed along at a speed that might look like reverse to some people.

Suddenly, the sound of a siren behind me. Sure enough, the people from the Gauteng Metro Police did notice me, and they followed me. So I stopped, got out of the car, told them that I am on my way to some tyre place because I think that something might be wrong. At that moment, my eye caught the right front tyre. Destroyed!!! I never even thought to check out the front tyres when I first stopped! Well, the members of the Gauteng Metro Police were very helpful. I asked them whether they could maybe just exchange the bust tyre with my spare wheel. Yes, the one guy said, of course we will help you. But we are not supposed to, because we are in uniform, so it will maybe cost you some. I said to him, but I have no cash. No worries, he said, we will take you to the nearest tyre place. There is also an ATM.

So they did exactly that. They changed the tyre, and then I followed them to the nearest tyre place. That is when the Metro Police really took charge. The one guy directed me to the ATM to withdraw some cash, while the other guy explained to the tyre person what needs to be done. The tyre person very helpfully fixed whatever needed to be fixed, and did not charge me a cent, can you believe it?! So the entire adventure cost me just R200.00 (ZAR), R100.00 for each of the helpful Metro Police guys.

So on Monday I had to go and get two new front tyres, as my spare wheel is only a "lollipop" or "doughnut", or whatever you call that, and the other front tyre had a "bubble" in it. A very boring experience, so I took some photos to pass the time.