Changing a Flat Tire
I slowly wake up and have a look at my phone and I see a text from one of my flatmates; it’s a photo of my car and the flat tire it is currently showcasing.
I take solace in the fact that I wasn’t driving and recall that my last visit to the mechanic included a warning that there was a bubble in one of my tires (the same tire), and they stressed I shouldn’t drive long distances as the tire was sure to go soon.
While I do have car insurance (which is NOT mandatory here in NZ) that includes coverage for a tow and could have easily had the car towed, at no cost, to a nearby mechanic’s… I had come to the realisation that I don’t want to miss out on this learning opportunity. I mean, what if I were on a trip and had a flat tire and had no service (not far off from a recent experience), what would I do then? Wouldn’t it be better to learn how to do this from the convenience of my own home, rather than stress over the situation later on? I decided that yes, yes it would.
So I give it a go and immediately struggle. Like, no joke, I am immediately lost on what to do and how to do it and where to turn for help. I find the tool I need to take the lug nuts off the tire… but I cannot for the life of my figure out where the jack is. I managed to locate the spare tire (which is under my car — a 2001 Toyota Aeras Estima) but cannot figure out how to loosen the mechanism holding the tire up against the bottom of the car.
I go inside and ask my flatmate if I could borrow his jack. As we walk to his car, parked directly behind mine, from the corner of my eye I just happen to locate my jack, staring out from it’s fairly obviously hiding spot in the back of the car. I shoot him a side smile and say thanks and share that I had found the jack… a cheeky eye roll and grin later and he’s back inside and I’m back to it. Now I need to figure out how to get the spare from out of the mechanism holding it in place.
I find the owners manual and have to laugh as I skim through it, when I realise that it is in fact, in its entirety, written in Japanese. I shrug and think what’s it matter, I’ll just find a video online. There are no videos I can find showing how to do this for this make/model. Frustrated, I decide to take a break and hang up my clothes which had been in the washer.
I come back and am elated that in what I considered a relatively short amount of time, I manage to find the location of the hidden screw in the boot of the car! I painstakingly loosen the bolt on the inside of the car holding up frame that is holding up the tire, using the same tool I’ll be using to loosen the lug nuts. I repeatedly hit the wooden structure my mate built to hold up the makeshift kitchen unit and finally the frame drops and the tire is free! Success!
Now, all I have to do is loosen the lug nuts on the tire and replace it with the spare. I can do that! I had two memories stick out in my mind from the last time I tried to do this (over 10 years ago!). The first was that there was a specific location under the car where I’m meant to put the jack, which was simple enough to locate. The second was to remember to loosen the nuts BEFORE jacking up the car. So I tried and I tried and I tried and then I went inside. I just didn’t have the strength, it seemed, to loosen them. I shared this with my flatmate who had in passing asked if I didn’t need a man’s help — to which I responded obviously not! He suggested, against what I had engrained in my core NOT to do, to jack up the car… just a bit. I figured why not so I went out, jacked up the car a bit and tried again to loosen the lug nuts, in the order recommended in the manual. To my surprise, it bloody worked!
So I joyfully started loosing all the bolts when I noticed I had acquired the attention of one of my across the street neighbours. I waved at him and said good morning with a smile as I continued the loosening process. Next time I look up, I see him slowly making his way over. He arrives with a big smile on his face and asks if I need any help and enquires as to what had happened. He looked like he must be in his 80’s and seemed genuinely elated to have someone to chat to. So while I finish changing the tire, I continued having a chat with the older gentleman who explains all the different places in the world he has lived in and exactly what has brought him back to Christchurch (which is the same as what brought me here — the peace, pace, and nature!).
We were chatting about how great it was to be at Level 2 and how grateful we were that most Kiwi’s had come together and really listened and did what we were told. He mentioned that he was not a fan of Jacinda Arden (NZ’s current Prime Minister) as a person, but gave her a monumental amount of credit for how she handled the pandemic. It made me really happy to hear that even while he wasn’t a fan of her and her party, he respected her and the way she managed the situation. Made me wonder what the world would be like if there were more people who acted this way.
Anyway, I managed to remove all the lug nuts, which required me to stand and “gently” jump on the tool I was using to loosen each of them. I replace the flat tire with the spare, all while continuing my friendly chat with my new friend, Dave.
I have to admit that I started the day in a shit mood and didn’t “feel like doing anything”. After this seemingly small task, I now felt like I could do anything! It’s interesting how challenges, especially the more difficult ones, can make you feel. I began by questioning myself and my abilities and FELT like I wanted to give up… several times. But I pushed through anyway. When one way didn’t work, I tried another, and then another when that way didn’t work. And eventually (nearly two hours later) I proved to myself that I could do it, without calling for a tow, without giving into the urge to have a man do it, and without giving up. I thought about how this way of thinking can be applied to so many different situations and hope that it inspires someone to try something they’ve been struggling with.
