2 flat tyres later...

So my wonderful new tyres have not quite been so wonderful...

For a week they were great, managed a trip through the mountains, several trips up and down the awfully steep and bumpy road I live on, trips to several patients, and of course to our local beach.

BUT, a second trip through the mountains taking a load of SOS kids to Mercy Ships New Steps for new prosthetics and callipers, proved too much for Bertie.

Thankfully we had arrived back to the SOS compound, when the kids decided that as a thank you they would wash my now very dusty and dirty car (no, the self cleaning tyres do not meet their description!). A very sweet thought and was much fun in the process...until...I saw a flat tyre that is. So one going down and I'm talking about how to change that, with the kids help of course as they would not allow me otherwise!! Then little Jeneba is scrubbing the back tyre and air starts flowing out of that one too!! Oh no!!

I immediately got everyone off the car, as 3 kids were on the roof, 2 on the bonnet, and several more round the edges by this point. Now you have to picture that, bearing in mind they are all disabled in one way or another - amputees, polio (so not walking on their own), Cerebral Palsy of varying degrees. It was a great sight!! They finished the job from the ground, but have to say I could barely see out of the windows once finished! It was the thought that counts hey!!

So two flats - one spare, now what to do?

Call my mechanic friend, Abu, from Mercy Ships, thats what!!

He comes along, we change one tyre, the really flat one, then drive (abu does that is!) very carefully to the Tyre Repair place - a shack on the side of the road with a couple of grubby men who look as if they have been working hard all day.

It was the new inner tubes that were at fault apparently, not the tyres. So we replaced inners with 'tublets', which are cheaper and better so why I didnt have them in the first place I don't know. Still....
The Tyre Repair place has a special machine they use, but it was broken. Abu, being able to fix most machines, then spend 20 mins fixing it, so we can use it. BUT, after we use it on our tyre, somehow they did not have the bit needed to seal the air in the tublet!! So, our only choice is to go to another Tyre Repair place. Thankfully we had not yet removed the second flatish tyre.

So off we drive another 15mins on one nearly flat tyre, with no spare, to the next place.
They were busy with 4 other cars all using their services - it seems flat tyres are a common occurance here!! Thankfully, after waiting a while, they are able to help us fully with all needed! .... Nearly, had to go back the next day to complete one bit.

By this point it is well into the evening, I'm very hungry as hadn't eaten all day, and Abu has a long way to go home. So I get him to drive me home, then we collect another friend of ours who was also working late, and the 2 boys take my car home for the night.

Praise the Lord for good friends who get me out of trouble in difficult times. I would have hated to deal with all that on my own.