9th June 2019
The rain came down, I had jobs to work on in the garage.
I also had to change the rear wheel of the truck because it had a puncture. There was a shard of metal in the tyre. It is never fun changing a wheel in the rain, but it is not my first experience of doing that. First I had to empty the back of the truck because as usual there is boxes of stuff for donation stacked in the back. Then lift the carpet, remove a plastic panel to find the jack. There was a space for the wheel brace, but guess what? no brace.
I searched around in the tool boxes for a spanner or socket, but no luck there. My only choice was to borrow one from Larry. I walked across the road hoping he would be in his workshop, but unfortunately he wasn’t, that meant I had to go to his front door. This is a bit scary as he has a lot of rotten wood on his porch. I climbed the steps carefully, edging my way towards the door, dodging the dodgy boards, and knocking on the door. The door opened and Larry appeared. He reminds me of “Doc” from Back to the Future, although his hair has been cut for the summer, it is usually wild and unruly. I explained what I needed, and he asked me to meet him at his back door, then he disappeared into the darkness of his home.
The back door opened, he emerged and unlocked his workshop. He earns money fixing up cars so he has a good selection of tools and a collection of wheel braces. I took one that looked the right size and walked back to finish my task. The wheel nuts were on really tight, a real white knuckle job to get them off. At one point the joints in my hands locked solid on the brace, a very painful and unsettling conditions. I had visions of never being able to release my hand, and forever cursed to go the rest of my life attached to a wheel brace.
I managed to loosen all the nuts, and changed the wheel, then returned the brace back to the workshop.
The spare was brand new, probably never been used, it was as heavy as bugger.
Another Lifetime to go 