Cherie's Place

I planned my morning to make sure I could set off to work a little earlier than usual just in case the man with the stop go signs was controlling the traffic. All was going well but then I heard the sound of ladders outside our house. The window cleaner had arrived early, he doesn’t usually come before I go to work. Shortly after he arrived he knocked on the front door, which I thought was a little odd because he normally arrives and washes all the windows before knocking on the door.

The gate to the side of our house which should have been unlocked for him was locked… I had to go and find the key so that I could unlock the gate for him. Whilst unlocking the padlock to the gate I noticed that that the latch on the gate was not closed, the gate flung open as I unlocked the padlock. I wondered who had left the gate semi closed and locked like that!

I was left feeling hassled by this unwarranted interruption to my early morning schedule. I don’t do mornings at the best of times

I got back on track getting myself sorted out for work and managed to leave for work earlier as I had planned. There was hardly any traffic on the roads and the road that had the temporary traffic control yesterday seemed clear. I was lulled into a false sense of security, I soon realised that the traffic was still being controlled by stop go signs. However the queues were smaller and I didn’t have to wait long. I followed the cars in front and proceeded slowly through the work area. As I was about to turn back onto the normal portion of the road I heard a large metallic ring sound to the rear offside of my car. It was one of those slow motion moments where you assess everything around you whilst still proceeding along your way.

I had slowed down even more whilst this was going on but could see nothing untoward so I accelerated and continued on my way to work. The car felt a little weird to drive and I felt every bump in the road. I could also hear a rhythmic ‘catchink catchink’ sound which sped up the faster I went. I began to wonder if I had a flat tyre, so I proceeded slowly until I was able to pull up to have a look. The tyre was still inflated so I continued the last few yards to my office car park and parked up. I had a closer but rather brief look at the tyre (I didn’t want to be late again) and noticed that there was something lodged in the tread of the tyre.

The whole incident unsettled me (again) and I was feeling out of sorts as I entered the office which wasn’t helped by phone calls, visitors and some of our systems being down as soon as I arrived. One of my colleagues suggested that I check the car out properly at lunchtime to make sure the tyre had not gone down since I left it. I took his advice, the tyre was still inflated but on on closer inspection I realised that a bolt had become embedded in the tyre! I rang Mr C who suggested that rather than me trying to get it fixed today he would change my wheel for the spare when I got home this evening.

I left work earlier than usually so that I didn’t get held up in any traffic which might delay a smooth journey home. Thankfully the roadworks with the stop go signs had finished for the evening so I didn’t have that to endure all over again. Mr C swapped the wheel over and I went for a short drive. My car feels normal again, but I am trying not to think about what tomorrow will bring!

Tags: Car, Life, Work