The Pot Hole

Good to know stuff.

Just in case.

How to change a flat tire in ten easy steps.

1. Find a safe location.
2. Turn on your hazards
3. Engage the parking brake.
4. Apply wheel wedges
5. Remove hubcap
6. Loosen lug nuts.
7. Place the Jack under the vehicle
8. Raise the vehicle with the jack
9. Unscrew the lug nuts
10. Remove the flat tire.

How to replace the flat tire in eight more steps

1. Mount the spare tire on the lug nuts
2. Tighten the lug nuts by hand
3. Lower the vehicle and tighten the lug nuts again.
4. Lower the vehicle completely.
5. Replace the hub cap.
6. Stow all equipment.
7. Check pressure on the spare tire
8. Take your flat to a technician

The field trip to the zoo is postponed. Flat tire on the bus. The kids were stranded. With nothing to do. Half way there and the bus hit a hole.

A deep and endless hole.

The worst of all holes.

The dreaded pot hole.

Clunk. Stomp, and Swerve. Almost a feeling of tipping over. The kids all screamed. The bus came to a screeching and abrupt halt. The bus driver yelled to the kids to remain seated. For some reason his bus walkie talkie took the hit too and was knocked out in the jarring motion of the deep pot hole.

The bus driver called for the kids to remain seated. When he became afraid they did not hear him, he yelled a bit louder. He must leave the bus and go and check the damage. He picked a kid, one that he knew was responsible and put him in charge of the other kids. He proceeded to exit the door and assess the situation.

Joe, the responsible kid was told by Jack the bus driver to report back to him if any kid misbehaved. The year was 1970. Not a time when persons carried a cell phone. So there they sat, out in the desert. So close to their destination, yet so far.

Changing the tire on a bus and changing a tire on a car are two different things. Two separate beasts. Two different kinds of activities. Common sense tells us we cannot change a tire on the bus ourselves, on the side of the road, with no back up.

Some things, some matters in life seem too gargantuan. To difficult. Too “No way.”

Boring stuff.

Good to know stuff.

Some might say that is is guy stuff.

To know. To take care of. To fix.

This thinking would not stand in the now, in the year 2023, what with equality and all.

Girls can change tires just as well as boys right?

That is equal thinking. Equal ability. All that stuff.

In the interest and importance of knowing. Stuff.

There are three important things to know about tires:

Tread wear. A tire is assigned a number and that number comes from testing the tire in a controlled condition on a government test track. The higher the number, the longer you can expect the track to last.

Traction. Tire traction is rated AA, A, B or C, with AA at the top of the scale. This rating is based on a tires ability to stop a car on wet concrete and asphalt. It does not indicate a tire’s cornering ability.

Temperature. The tire temperatures are A, B, or C. The measure is how well the tire dissipates heat and how well it handles the buildup of heat. Excessive heat build up can cause tires to wear out faster, or could even lead to tire failure.

Tire that have a designation of operating in mud and snow are also rated differently.

Betcha you didn’t know. Maybe you don’t care…..You think. You assume. Someone else will fix it. Unless of course you encounter a flat one. A flat tire. And it prevents a person or person from getting to there. To the zoo. To the wherever. Getting from place to place can be such a hassle. In more ways than one. Safety. Security. Belonging. Feeling of accomplishment. Achieving one’s full potential.

Achieving one’s full potential.

Joe. The designated responsible kid person was doing his best to maintain control. Of the situation. Of the kids on the bus. But they were becoming impatient and squirrelly. Cries began of “I have to go to the bathroom”, “I am thirsty”, lI am hot”. “I want to go home” were being lobbed in Joe’s direction.

Think fast. Think quick. How to re-direct the kid’s attention and make them forget about their shouted basic needs. Joe understood the angst, the kids angst. They just wanted to go to the zoo. But they was no longer meant to be.

So. He decided they should all sing. Together. Joe was attempting to fill a need. A societal need, gaining society’s respect by fulfilling what society expects of him, even if it means being killed by the moment and the challenge of overwork. (wf)

So they would have. A round. Of 100 bottles. Of beer. But he tweaked the word from beer to pop. And they would sing for it. For their supper so to speak.

He instructed the bus passengers to join in in an attempt to forget their troubles. He began.

”100 bottles of pop on the wall, 100 bottles of pop, you take one down, pass it around, 99 bottles of pop on the wall” . And so on and so on and so on.

One kid passenger yelled out “This is stupid!!” I won’t join in. And Joe replied that the kid passengers only other option was to remain quiet or join in the singing.

This quieted the kid rather quickly. At the same time two other kid passengers who happened to be boys began rough housing in the back of the bus. They had had enough of the “pop stand” and decided to assert their frustration by wrestling.

Joe had to race to the back of the bus and pull the two apart. They were sweaty and scratched, but they were instantly happy as can be. With the chance to move about. Let their energy speak for them. Joe did not try to make them stop necessarily, he understood their frustration, but there were rules nonetheless and he was in charge of their safety at this time. As he called to the kids to knock it off,

Just then, Joe heard a whimpering from two seats ahead. It was a female passenger crying that she wanted her “mommy”. This was new territory for Joe. He did not have a clue how to calm this girl down. Another societal need, Joe had no idea how to remedy. How to fill the shoes of a good hearted person who calms and restores. He hadn’t yet reached the age of knowing.

To be continued…………………