And that's just my car tyres.
I had my usual 9am Friday lecture this morning, so I went straight to Uni
from home, and parked at the usual set of parking meters close to where my
lecture is, at about 8:45am. I was the first car there.
At about 10:10am, I returned to my car to discover that the back two tyres
were flat, and the front left one was also looking a bit short of breath. I
was a bit stumped on what to do with that many flats for a while, and
finally called the NRMA
to try and organise a tow.
The operator tells me they'll have someone there "within the hour". So I sit
in the car and twiddle my thumbs. An hour and a bit passes, and there's no
sign of anybody, so I call again, just to check they've got the location
correct. They tell me that they were only going to send a patrol car (one
that can jump start your car, give you emergency fuel, look under your
bonnet, that sort of thing) not a tow truck. I tell them that that isn't
really going to help me with three flat tyres, and so could they please send
me a tow truck. They agree, and say that one will be dispatched.
Shortly afterwards, I get a telephone call back from someone at the NRMA
trying to talk me out of getting a tow truck and just getting a patrol
vehicle. They put me on hold for a bit and say something about getting the
patrol vehicle to swap the spare and blow up the rest and see how we go. I
couldn't be bothered arguing with them, and at this stage I wasn't sure
why my tyres were flat, so I agreed. Another hour passes.
The patrol vehicle turns up at about 12:15pm, and proceeds to blow up the
back two tyres with a portable air compressor, and sure enough, the knife
slash points become quite obvious because air is pissing out of them. Great.
To cap it off, I'm not entitled to free towing because it is malicious
damage as opposed to a breakdown. Maybe that's why they wanted to send a
patrol vehicle so badly. The patrol dude tells me it'll cost $88 for the
NRMA to tow me to a tyre place, but he rings a mate who says he'll do it for
$65 or $55 or something (didn't quite make it out over the radio), and be
there in another hour or so. So we (Sarah had come and joined me, and my
study buddy Tiane had as well) settle back and wait some more. Steve happens
to wander past as well. We could have had a right party in the car at this
point.
An hour and 20 minutes pass, and no tow truck. So I call the NRMA and ask
them to call the patrolman and get me the number of the tow company he'd
called. I get that, call them, and they have no idea what I'm talking about,
and tell me that it'd normally cost $170 for a tow, but they'll do it for
$80 cash and be there in another hour.
That tow truck rolled up a bit quicker than that though, which was a relief.
The car's now sitting at the tyre shop until Monday because everyone seems
to need to order in the type of tyres I have on my car, and don't keep them
in stock. Lucky we're going to Brisbane for the weekend.
So I ended up getting to work at about 3pm. I'd love to know who slashed my
tyres and why. I don't recall causing any road rage on the way to Uni, and
it's been a huge inconvenience. Parking around the Uni is hard enough as it
is, without putting me off parking in the one spot I can usually get a
carpark.
Sigh.