Overconfidence Has Its Price

This happy group enjoyed a nice coffee at Linda's home in East Perth. Since Sherri just had eye surgery, I braved driving in our new loaner car, Rose's son's Holden Astra City. It's much newer and in better condition than our old Sheila but doesn't have near as much personality.

I was proud of myself for arriving in one piece, even driving through downtown Perth on the way. I even drove on the proper side of the road!

Never get too cocky though! On the way home, I was looking at a landmark instead of watching where I was going on the narrow street and hit the curb. I only grazed the side but it was enough to cause a flat tire. Sherri, a flat tire veteran, told me to pull over immediately. I was all ready to call RAC, the Australian equivalent of AAA, but Sherri said she could fix it much faster.

Of course, nothing is easy here. She had trouble mounting the spare on the axle because the wheel didn't fit right. She tightened it up as best she could but it felt really wobbly. I drove very slowly, much to the consternation of my fellow motorists, who were surprisingly patient. Finally, we saw a gas station and pulled in.

Alan, from Liverpool, was friendly and helpful and only charged $10 to remount the tire and didn't snicker too much. It turns out the spare is much bigger than the sporty tire and that's why it didn't fit. There was an insert that we didn't know about that prevented Sherri from mounting the spare. He warned me not to drive far as it's illegal here to drive with different sized tires here.

I was tempted to make up a good story for George since I was so embarrassed but, being a terribly unconvincing liar, I confessed. He was very sweet and said at least no one was hurt. Lucky for him since our neighbor, Spud, told me to tell George he would rip off his arm and beat him with it if he wasn't understanding about the situation. However, when George found out it cost $200 for a new tire, he did pale visibly.

Sherri comes to the rescue again. What will I do without that woman?

Sherri's hands were filthy so we went into the nearby church and met a really nice sympathetic lady who knows our friend, Lisa. Since then, friends have been trying to make me feel better with confessions of curb-hitting when on the other side of the road. People are so kind.