Borrowing Cars - Once Bitten, Twice Shy
Okay, I want to share something a bit odd. I had this stream of thoughts running through my head while I was driving home today and I wanted to put them on paper, so to speak. And oddly enough, it's driving related as with my last post.
I've had my driver's licence for approximately 2 and a half years. I don't have a car nor do I plan on purchasing one soon but I do borrow my family's cars often, usually my mum's. I usually don't have any trouble. However, because my grandmother was going on a cruise ship and she had to drop off her dog at ours, I got to borrow her car for a full week.
It was nice even though it's an old car and I was extra careful as I always am when I borrow something. Nothing happened throughout the week and she drove it back to Jutland when her and her sister returned from their cruise.
The following week I asked my dad if I could borrow his car to drive to work. A journey of about 15 km. that would take my scooter 40 minutes to cover but only a bout 15 minutes in car if there's no traffic. I borrow his car being careful with it but suddenly a light flash saying something about a "left rear" something and a yellow icon turns on in the dash but I'm so surprised I can't read it properly. I drive on as I'm almost at my destination and when I park, I look at the car manual and see that that indicator has something to do with tyre pressure. I inspect the wheel and it looks fine although it's a bit more squiggly when you stab it with your finger than the other wheels. So, I call my dad.
He says it's something the car has done before and I just need to go into a petrol station and check the tyre pressure in the mentioned tyre to see if it's okay to drive on. Firstly, I don't know how to check tyre pressure, hell I don't know how to change a tyre either - actually why didn't I learn that while having driving lessons?
I have to start work and promise to do so after I finish before I drive home even though I still have no idea how to do it. Work is fine but I have that nagging worry in the back of my mind all three hours of my shift. I get back down to the car and the wheel looks like it's lost a bit more air. I call my dad but he doesn't pick up because he's gone for a run, so I wake up my mum from her nap and have her standing by. I wait for a while and then finally my dad calls back.
He knows I'm not good with such stuff and then tell me just to "store" the tyre pressure from within the car, so the icon will go away. I ask him repeatedly if I can drive home in the car or if I should leave it and take public transportation home. Running on his last nerve possibly, he just tells me to drive home.
It's always easy to be wise after the event but turns out that the wheel was losing air because I nail punctured it. The next morning the car looked like this:
And that's not the first time I had that happen to me. I once borrowed my mum's old car probably within my first half year of having the license and somehow got a nail in one of its tyres too. Maybe, I'm a nail magnet? Or unlucky? Or it's common to have that happen twice when you drive every other third day on average for over two years?
My point with this story, if I do need one, is related to what I titled this post. I opted out of borrowing my dad's car today after yesterday's events even though he took it to the shop and got a new wheel on it. It wasn't my fault but it's still annoying, expensive and it does feel like my fault.
Right now I feel a bit like "Once bitten, twice shy" although I'm sure I'll forget about it a month from now and borrow cars without scruples. Of course, my mind couldn't help but go to the imaginative scenario where the nail in the tyre had been in my grandmother's car. That would have been really awful.
But honestly, a bit cautiousness never hurt nobody, or at least I think not. Maybe, this was just a way to remind myself to be extra, extra careful when I borrow cars? I'm not sure where this is headed so I better stop writing.
I've had my driver's licence for approximately 2 and a half years. I don't have a car nor do I plan on purchasing one soon but I do borrow my family's cars often, usually my mum's. I usually don't have any trouble. However, because my grandmother was going on a cruise ship and she had to drop off her dog at ours, I got to borrow her car for a full week.
It was nice even though it's an old car and I was extra careful as I always am when I borrow something. Nothing happened throughout the week and she drove it back to Jutland when her and her sister returned from their cruise.
The following week I asked my dad if I could borrow his car to drive to work. A journey of about 15 km. that would take my scooter 40 minutes to cover but only a bout 15 minutes in car if there's no traffic. I borrow his car being careful with it but suddenly a light flash saying something about a "left rear" something and a yellow icon turns on in the dash but I'm so surprised I can't read it properly. I drive on as I'm almost at my destination and when I park, I look at the car manual and see that that indicator has something to do with tyre pressure. I inspect the wheel and it looks fine although it's a bit more squiggly when you stab it with your finger than the other wheels. So, I call my dad.
He says it's something the car has done before and I just need to go into a petrol station and check the tyre pressure in the mentioned tyre to see if it's okay to drive on. Firstly, I don't know how to check tyre pressure, hell I don't know how to change a tyre either - actually why didn't I learn that while having driving lessons?
I have to start work and promise to do so after I finish before I drive home even though I still have no idea how to do it. Work is fine but I have that nagging worry in the back of my mind all three hours of my shift. I get back down to the car and the wheel looks like it's lost a bit more air. I call my dad but he doesn't pick up because he's gone for a run, so I wake up my mum from her nap and have her standing by. I wait for a while and then finally my dad calls back.
He knows I'm not good with such stuff and then tell me just to "store" the tyre pressure from within the car, so the icon will go away. I ask him repeatedly if I can drive home in the car or if I should leave it and take public transportation home. Running on his last nerve possibly, he just tells me to drive home.
It's always easy to be wise after the event but turns out that the wheel was losing air because I nail punctured it. The next morning the car looked like this:
(Not the actual wheel as I didn't take a photo - I found this on Google)
And that's not the first time I had that happen to me. I once borrowed my mum's old car probably within my first half year of having the license and somehow got a nail in one of its tyres too. Maybe, I'm a nail magnet? Or unlucky? Or it's common to have that happen twice when you drive every other third day on average for over two years?
My point with this story, if I do need one, is related to what I titled this post. I opted out of borrowing my dad's car today after yesterday's events even though he took it to the shop and got a new wheel on it. It wasn't my fault but it's still annoying, expensive and it does feel like my fault.
Right now I feel a bit like "Once bitten, twice shy" although I'm sure I'll forget about it a month from now and borrow cars without scruples. Of course, my mind couldn't help but go to the imaginative scenario where the nail in the tyre had been in my grandmother's car. That would have been really awful.
But honestly, a bit cautiousness never hurt nobody, or at least I think not. Maybe, this was just a way to remind myself to be extra, extra careful when I borrow cars? I'm not sure where this is headed so I better stop writing.
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