Well now - that was all a bit exciting

Getting to work, even for an evening shift, is usually fairly mundane.  Ordinarily, I hardly even notice it, apart from the fact that I tend to go in the car.

The morning itself was uneventful. I made some autumn vegetable tarts for our lunches.  I stewed some apples and made some chicken and split peas soup, I pottered about in the garden and talked to the chickens and ducks.  And then it was time to head to work.

I was peacefully waiting at a set of red traffic lights in Chesterfield when a sudden hammering on my side window definitely woke me up!  It was a bloke telling me that my left hand rear tyre looked a bit soft.  So I turned off the main road and checked.  It definitely looked a bit flat.  So I headed to Tesco's petrol station to put some air in.

You have to pay to use the air thing in Tesco (You don't have to pay in Sainsbury's!).  I didn't have any money.  So I called into the petrol shop. They didn't have a cash machine and wouldn't let me buy something with my card and give me change. So I drove to the actual supermarket and got some money and bought something so I had some change and went back.

I put my 20p into the machine and went to fill up the tyre.  Couldn't find the little valve thing. Hunted and hunted and hunted.  Eventually found it well and truly hidden inside the tyre trim.  Pulled it out, inserted the air tube.  Nothing happened - except that more air came out.  Not desirable! So I tried again.  Still no air went in, but more air came out :-S

At this point a very helpful gentleman appeared (also wanting to use the air machine). He tried. Nothing happened. He put another 20p in. Still nothing happened.  So he rummaged in his boot and pulled out a tyre pumping machine that works from your cigarette lighter and pumped my tyre up.  A very helpful gentleman indeed!

I went home, where The Builder was waiting for me.  We drove to the station and I took the train to work and The Builder took the car to the Lame Car doctor. It seems we had picked up a Stanley Knife blade somewhere and had a slow leak.  It's been fixed now!

Just as well those two gentlemen wanted to be helpful today, otherwise I might well have gone to the car park after I finish this evening at 21:00 and found the tyre completely flat. We do have breakdown cover which would turn out for a flat tyre - but I don't know if they can get into the car park I use.

You can buy those electric tyre pumping machines for around £20 on Amazon.  I think I might bung one on my Gadget Must buy list!

And I shall go home on the train tonight.  When we first moved to Tupton there were hardly any trains that left after I finish work if on a late shift, so I ore or less had to come in the car.  There are loads now.  I may come by train in the future (assuming my chauffeur doesn't mind turning out to get me from the station at quarter to ten or so).