Sunday 28 September 2008

Bald panic

After a two week holiday and a few days of basking in the glory or awards I have now got down to writing a proper post. This incident happened, three weeks ago, the day before we set off for France.

In the early hours of Saturday morning I had a dream that my husband's car had bald tyres. I am not sure where we were, still in England or over the channel in France. As I moved from dreaming into consciousness I made a mental note to check the tyres on my husband's car, then returned to sleep. It as not until early Saturday afternoon, when I was doing some jobs outside, that I remembered that I needed to check the tyres on my husband's car. The front tyres did not seem to have much tread on them and I could not even find a tread bar. I was not even sure what I was looking at as the tyres on my husband's car are totally different from the tyres on my car. So I had a look at the rear tyres. They had inches of tread on them. By comparison, the front tyres were virtually bald! I marched indoors and ran upstairs to the study where my husband was fiddling around and told him in no uncertain terms that unless he changed the front tyres on his car, I was going nowhere in it and the holiday would be off. He had a look at the tyres and begrudgingly agreed with me. As it happens the car needs to be MOT'd in a few weeks and would not pass with the front tyres in the state that they were in. Luckily he managed to find a tyre replacement place which stocked the correct tyres for his car. The middle of a Saturday afternoon is not the best time to need to replace car tyres as some places only open for the morning.

Up till now I had managed the pre-holiday stress pretty well, but now I could feel myself becoming stressed and my blood pressure rising. Also, while my husband was out getting the new tyres fitted I became annoyed at his cavalier attitude to our safety. The previous day had been the wettest day that I can ever remember and more rain was forecast. In my book, bald tyres and wet road equal disaster. If I were about to drive my car two thousand miles, in a foreign country I would check things like oil, wash bottle and tyres. As far as the holiday was concerned all my husband needed to do was make sure that his car was up to the trip and pack his suitcase. I had done everything else.

9 comments:

Tim Atkinson said...

I think it's safer to take charge of things yourself. My wife left me to do the packing recently, for a weekend away; I forgot Charlie's socks and Sally's knickers. Mind you, I blame the weather (they were drying on the radiator!)

Mima said...

So glad that he managed to get replacement ones. Going anywhere with me now involves moving a container load of stuff and military planning, so we have a packing list to make sure that everything is remembered!!

Suburbia said...

How come all they ever do is just pack their case??! What a life eh? ;)
Hope you had a great time though.

Akelamalu said...

Never trust a man to do a proper job, it's always better to do it yourself! ;)

Maggie May said...

Go with your gut feelings any time, I say. I am a great believer in do it your self also.
Glad the tyres got fixed in time for the holidays.
Just proves a woman's brain is active even when dreaming. Checking and making things safe.

debsdigest.com said...

Very similar to my experiences I'm afraid. I even found myself cleaning my husband's car the other weekend because he refused to get it cleaned and we were going to a wedding. I hoped it would make him feel ashamed - but I doubt it!

cheshire wife said...

the dotterel & akelamalu - it is his car. I don't expect him to maintain my car.

Mima & Maggie May - yes I am glad he got new tyres. Without them we would not have gone on holiday.

Deb - my husband does not seem to notice dust & dirt.The inside of his car could also do with a clean. The Audi dealer used to do it when it was serviced but they seem to have given up on it. If I were to clean it he would no doubt let me.

Gill - That British Woman said...

wow ...........those gut instincts are always worth listening too...I'm like you and have to organise everything for our vacations!!!

Gill in Canada

Jo said...
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