I'm serious this time!!!!! I cannot, will not drive at Christmas again. Screw it!! After last weekend's journey home I realize that I am single handedly keeping the world's tire companies in business.
Yes ladies and gentlemen I got yet ANOTHER flat on my way home last Saturday morning (which Facebook gleefully reminded me I also did exactly one year ago on that date as well!! Ahh, memories).
Let's start from the beginning. I decided to leave Wemindji on Saturday morning because I would have light and safety on my side. I was prepared with my first aid kit and plenty of candles, a fully charged phone and fully charged portable charger, my SPOT with fresh batteries inside and transmitting all test messages successfully and my pride, a full-sized tire on a rim in the trunk
incase of emergencies. A donut tire for a car my size is really a joke so I knew that if I needed to change a tire in the future, it had to be legit. I woke early to pack the last few things (hamsters) in the van and I was off. Oh but not before I let my kitchen sink run over for the entirety of my shower by accident, which I took as a bad omen.
So off we (coworker and friend Samantha and her dog Ellie) left at 7:30am, driving at a safe and productive speed down the access road towards civilization. At about KM90 my tire pressure sensor came on and for a moment I ignored it, as my tire pressure sensor often goes off in cold weather. However a few minutes later the car became hard to handle and I heard some questionable noises coming from the road. I pulled over and my tire was completely flat. Again. This is not an old tire. This is not a repaired tire. This is a tire that I received when I bought my van roughly a year ago. So needless to say I was TICKED. This was the third flat on a winter tire I received from the dealership on the SAME wheel in one year. So I'm beginning to think it's not me.
Anyways so I pulled over and investigated. I also went to my darkside mentally but still managed to turn on to crisis mode. I pushed the feelings of despair and defeat deep down inside and told them I would feed them cookies later. We had business to attend to.
I emptied out my van of all things heavy. I got out my spare and my tire changing accoutrements. I looked at the tire and said "oh hell no" and went back inside the car to get warm. Samantha and I decided that we would just wait on the side of the access road until someone came along who could help. So we did! We got the flat around 8:45 and waited about 45 minutes until a WONDERFUL mechanic from Tawich Construction came along. He was on his way to one of the hydro stations further north and pulled over and helped us immediately. I felt so secure knowing a real mechanic was changing my tire and that it wasn't going to fly off 4km down the road like it probably would have had I done the job. I don't have a lot of upper body strength...
So we paid the kind sir in cookies and thanked him profusely, dancing like minstrels when all was said and done. We were off!
The ride from then on was pretty much uneventful. I suppose Santa Claus witnessed my hardship and decided one bad thing per trip is enough for my poor ticker and a flat was all I got. Merci Pere Noel. The roads were fantastic and the skies clear. I had good company, lots of laughs and and early start the next day which brought me home just after lunch on Sunday! What an adventure!!
Well since then I have been a real social butterfly, seeing friends and family and fitting in last minute shopping. Today I am seeing my sister for lunch and possibly a movie later. One thing I really do miss is the movie theatre experience so I am taking full advantage of movies this Christmas and am going to try and squeeze in an many as possible!!!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all you lovely people.
Love Aidan
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