Recovering from Yom Kippur, the least festive of holidays that I know of...
First the tire update. So I spend Monday morning at Toyota, waiting for them to repair my tire. I took up the time by blabbering loudly with my friend Kelly on the cell phone (we're kind of deadly on the phone together).
So then I go to pick up the girls for lunch. One of the moms notices...I have a flat tire! Oh yeah. Guess which one?!?
So I call Toyota, and ask for the main mechanic Dominic. I'm a little unhappy. He promises to come and change the tire himself. He gets all short with me while I'm trying to describe the street. "No! Don't take Wilson. Yes, you can get there from Wilson but it's a DETOUR. Better to just turn on Place Haganeau, on to Faubourg St. Pierre but it's not called that at that point but you know what I mean..."
Alsace is an especially fun place to drive because the streets change name every 100 yards. The street's name is "Bonne Gens" which means "Good people" and he must have asked that 10,000 times. I'm all "Bonnes Gens...like Mauvaises gens (bad people) but this street is BONNES Gens..." Bonnes Gens is bad because it's a one way street in both directions! That means, if you come up the south, you can't get to the school because you have to come from the north or you have to turn off. This is done because there are two schools on the same street.
You have an accent, you don't know the streets, they assume. Problem is, I'm good at sussing out directions, short cuts, etc. by nature (a mom told me that's a typical dylexic-compensation thing) so I end up telling them the quickest way to get somewhere.
He then suggests that prehaps I've had another pucture. I'm a little in shock. "So you're suggesting that I've now suffered a second pucture on the same tire on the same day it's repaired?!? Wouldn't that be an incredible coincidence..." I'm thinking, I'm going to buy a lottery ticket today if that's the case!
So finally, he arrives, changes the tire and takes mine. It's taken 40 minutes and it's too late to go home so I take the girls to McDonald's as a treat, since we had to stay in town.
Dominic calls and tells me the tire is shot and can't be repaired. Daniel is a little less than thrilled to hear all this.
Daniel later calles Dominic, let's him know of how he feels about the situation and then stomps off to Toyota, takes the tire and takes it over to another shop, who find a second hole and repairs it. The tire was ready the next day.
I called Toyota and cancelled my annual inspection with them, that I had scheduled for next week. I'll ask at Autohaus Gieger (which I miss since I don't have a VW anymore) or use the guys who repaired my tire. The problem with the latter is that they only have a Smart car to loan out. I'll try to schedule around this if I use them. I know I have brake issues so that's my concern.
Hate car drama! Miss taking the Métro, Tube, Muni, whatever. I'm just not meant to live in a car and here I am...and I'm not even living in America!
I really didn't need all this tire-drama in the middle of transatlantic ticket-shopping and a bunch of Jewish holidays.
Yes, I bought the tickets home. It's short but Daniel promised NOT to come this time. This frees me to do more things without having to worry about him. He doesn't travel well...
Unfortunately it means the 4:15am bus and the earlier Lufthansa flight. To take United and the next bus would have been 400 Euros more. Air France was 800 Euros more. For that savings, I'll lose a little sleep...
I love this homemade video;
Also, anyone on Facebook, I'm hooked. Look me up with my "full" name, Sharon Colliver Dreyfuss.
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