When the Air Went Out

I was driving home yesterday evening when my left front tire suddenly went flat. Fortunately, I was just starting up from a stop sign so my speed was negligible. I pulled over into the next side street and up onto the verge, although the left front of the car where I was going to have to work was still partially on the street. My "spare" was a donut and the jack that comes with the car is obnoxiously inefficient but I got down to the task.

This is one of the ways you can tell you're in the South:

In the fifteen minutes it took me to change the tire, four people (out of maybe eight passing vehicles) pulled over to ask if they could help. One actually passed me and backed up. One was a woman in an SUV who's idea of help, I suspect, would have been to call AAA or a towing company since she was not dressed to get on her knees in the street with me, but her heart was in the right place, bless her. The last one was the owner of the property in front of which I was parked who had just come home from work and, although I was nearly done, insisted on handing the nuts to me while I was screwing them back on and putting the hubcap back in the trunk with the flat for me.

Today I replaced both front tires. I'll probably have to do the rear ones after the first of the year. But, at least I know I won't be alone.