Howdy ,
My first car was old - about as old as me. When I started driving it, I learned about the things that can happen when you own a car. I had a few problems over time, but most of them were small things.
One thing I could do myself was change a tyre (1). It's just as well, as I got some practice.
The first time I had a flat tyre, I was driving at night on a country road. My sister and her boyfriend (now husband) were in their car behind me. He changed my tyre in the rain. We all got home safely, but he was sick the next week.
The next time I was on my way to work. I knew I could change the tyre myself, so I jacked the car up (2). But I couldn't undo the wheel nuts (3).
As luck would have it (4), I had stopped on the road outside my uncle's place, so I went in and asked him to come and help me. He did, and I was soon on my way again.
The next time was one sunny weekend. I had been to town with one of my sisters, and we were on the way home. My tyre went flat on the edge of town. There were some companies along the street with good parking places, so I pulled into one of them.
My sister and I started work. We had the car jacked up when one of our neighbours stopped. They had recognised my car and wondered if I needed help.
It was funny. My sister and I had done the hard part. The car was up high enough, and I'd managed to undo the wheel nuts this time. But our neighbour was horrified by the thought of a couple of girls (young ladies) changing a tyre, and she told her husband to help us. He was watching and said it looked like we had everything under control.
Nevertheless, he took over and finished it for us.
What happens when you have problems with your car, ? Do you call someone for help? Are there some things you can fix yourself?
Happy motoring (5),
Andrea
(1) tyre (British English) / tire (American English) - the black rubber thing on the wheel of your car. Often we say 'tyre' when we mean 'wheel'.
(2) to jack (something) up - to lift it using a jack. A jack is a thing that can lift or hold other things up. When we had an extra tyre in our cars, we had a jack to lift the car so we could get the old wheel off and the new wheel on.
(3) wheel nuts - the things that hold a wheel on your car. You turn them to get them on and off.
(4) as luck would have it - luckily, fortunately
(5) motoring - travelling with something with a motor
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