Murphy's Law

I had 3 gentlemen in my car last Tuesday. Patrick and John are male caucasian (mat saleh lah tu, ni banyak sangat tengok CSI ni hehehe) are based in the head office in Europe but taking care of the Sales in the regions within Asia Pacific. Sam is a local Indian, based in the KL office. Sam accompanied them to the factory for their (Patrick & John) first visit. I sent the company car ( a Wira aeroback) to fetch them from the airport when they arrived. After lunch we were scheduled to visit a vendor before they were transported back to the airport in Penang for the flight back to KL.

Since I was to accompany them to the vendor, I told them that I would send them to the airport straight, which was supposed to save time going straight from the vendor's place, rather than having to come back to the factory again. It all make good sense to us. We left the factory about a quarter to 2 pm. Another colleague PW would be waiting for us at the vendor's place. PW is also an expat, and has been in Malaysia for the last 18 months. He spends most of his time at the vendor's premise in order to ensure vendor's good performance for our account. PW was to take all of us for the tour of the vendor's operation. I told PW we had only 1 hour, as the gentlemen's flight would be at 5.00 pm.

Keeping to the time frame, we left the vendor's premise at 3.00 pm. PW joked with me that there were plenty of time, and we could stop to have a picnic on the bridge if we wanted to. How true!! Everything was OK in the car, at first. When we reach the vacinity of the toll booth for the Penang bridge, I noticed strange sounds coming from my front tyre. I asked Sam, who was sitting in front with me, whether he could hear weird sound coming from the tyre. What I said to him exactly was,

Me : "Sam, I think there is a strange sound made by my tyre".

Sam : Straining his ears. " No lah, I think it is the road"

Me : " But I don't feel comfortable lah, I think something is wrong"

Sam : " OK let's stop to check"

At that point, I was already on the Penang bridge, It was raining and I had to find a suitable place to stop. Found a place and stopped. Sam apologised to the Patrick and John saying that the maybe a slight problem. Sam and I went down to check, in the rain, without an umbrella. It was a really nice gesture from Sam. I really appreciated that. But found the tyre to be OK. Not flat at all. We resumed driving, but the sound persisted, it wasn't looking good at all. At that point I was already near the middle span of the Penang bridge, stopping was impossible. There was a construction work going on there. So I had to drive for about 100 m or so I could stop, by that time, the tyre was already in bad shape, there were smoke coming from the tyre.

Theoretically, I know what to do when the tyre need to be changed. My late father showed me where would be the right place to put a jack, in order not to damage the gearbox, etc. But all the while when I had flat tyres, I never did once change it myself. There were times when the flat occured at home, I would have my father or my husband change it for me. How convenient, right?

All of three gentlemen got out. Luckily the rain had stopped. I opened the car boot and they were all ready to help me change the flat tyre. But.... I knew something else was wrong. Sam asked me, whether I had a spare tyre. Yes, I said. Patrick took out the "Caution triangle" (Is that what it is called, hampeh aku ni pasal benda2 macam tu hehe) and put it on the road. Sam and John were ready to take out the tyre. Sam checked the air in the spare first. Things were in place. Then Sam asked for the tool kit, which I already know that it was not there in my boot. I had the jack, but I had no tool kit or a wrench (entah apa ke nama benda tu, yang nak buka punat screw kat tyre tu? hehe). It was taken out by hubby some time ago when he was changing a flat and I did not put them back into the boot. Biasa lah orang pompuan, kalau dah selalu sangat depending on the hubby ni jadi macam ni lah.

OMG, time was running fast. It was already 4.00 pm. Had then to call the office, to asked for a cab for the 3 gentlemen and someone to rescue me by bring the tyre changing tool kit to come for me. I had to apologised to the gentlemen. They ere kind enough to say that it was really unforseen. Correct it was unforseen, but if I had proper tool in the car boot, I would be able to enjoy watching some mat salleh changing my car tyre right? Where would I have that opportunity here in Malaysia anyway. What a waste, heheh. Jokes aside, the taxi came almost 4.30 pm. I hoped I didn't cause them to miss the flight. They had already checked in their return flight, so they may be able to make it anyway. I was so ambarresed by the whole episode. Patrick and John were sporting enough to say that they enjoyed the nice scenery overlooking the bridge, we were also joking of method of getting a ride from the passers' by.

Finally, after a few calls to the taxi, he finally arrived. They went to the airport, while I was left by myself waiting for my staff to come. A guy came by a motorbike to offer help. He arrived when my 3 colleagues were still around. I dare not accept his offer, because I was not used to it and was scared that any unwarranted things may arised from it. I did turn down the offer very politely saying that my colleagues were on their way and I could not reach them to inform them that the tyre was fixed. I didn't dare take the risk. The PLUS patrol also arrived just minutes before my colleagues came to rescue me.

Luckily, I need only to buy just one tyre, otherwise could you imagine the cost of at least 2 tyres. Pokai aku this month. To all the wives out there, my advise is, don't take things for granted. Always be prepared, yes, we can always call our husbands when things like this happened, but always be prepared, he may not be in town or he wasn't available. All the other ladies out there who are driving, get to know all the basic, about your cars, we will never know when things would happened. so again pleae be prepared for the worst. To the husbands, please maintain your wives car for her hehe, make sure whatever you take out from there, put them back :-)