Punctured car tyre

On a recent weekday night at about half past eleven, my dad called and asked me for help. My brother who had just ended work couldn’t drive home as one of the tyres had punctured. He doesn’t have tyre-changing experience neither did we want to spend on a tow truck or on-site service.

Thus I grabbed a torchlight, put on bright and comfy dri-fit shirt, went to the toilet first before picking up my dad with blackie. My dad was even more prepared – he brought along the car manual (though I believe should have been kept in the car), a pack of wet tissue and a huge torchlight. Fortunately my bro’s office is just a 10 min drive and we reached in no time.

So my dad put on his Platoon Sergeant hat and began barking instructions e.g. where to place the jack, which tool to loosen the tyre nuts yada yada. To our surprise the tyre nuts were super duper secure and my bro and I took nine bulls and two tigers’ strength to loosen all 5 of them! My bro did most of the hands-on voluntarily and I was glad my prior experience at being a vehicle mechanic myself came in really handy (pun unintended) – for e.g. to tighten the tyre nuts in a ‘star’ manner; to lower down the vehicle before securing the tyre nuts; how to lift the tyre to be fitted onto the axle. In addition, I found myself emphasizing on safety aspects such as body posture and making sure the socket fits snuggly onto the nut. After everything was checked and tools kept in the boot, we wiped our brows and cleaned up our soiled hands and knees. My dad thanked me and we returned separately. It was less than an hour from the time I left and came home.

After I showered and lied on my bed, some thoughts gathered… I was glad I was readily available to provide help when my family needed. During my NS, I’ve changed tyres of land rovers and 5 tonners by myself but never of a sedan and along the road – it was actually also a learning experience for me as the job was completed with just three tools. My other revelation is that national service had taught me a highly relevant skill (which would also give me an upper hand at my first job, I would later find out). I’m sure if I were posted to be a say medic, signaller or combat engineer I would have picked up other skills too, but still I feel I wouldn’t swap my unit for another. On top of learning the technical know-how, the hands on experience and immersion in a workshop environment allowed me to better appreciate the blood, sweat and toil the workers at construction sites, shipyards, factories and workshops put in day in, day out. I’m glad I had the opportunities to be exposed to the external environment rather than cooped up behind a LCD monitor in an artificially cooled room.

Back to tyre changing… I could remember only one other time we came across a flat tyre and that was in Rengam when I was very young… perhaps lower sec or younger. My dad was reversing our Toyota Corolla when the back wheel went into a gutter, suffering a deep puncture as a result. It was very late at night and there was no help within walking distance even if we needed. To add on, there were no street lamps and thankfully my dad kept an emergency light (with a long wire) that ran on the in-car cigarette lighter in the glove compartment. At that time, all of us were young and feeble and couldn’t really help with the manual tasks… except to hold on to the light and focus on whatever my dad was busy with. Hahaha, next up is a funny episode we still laugh about nowadays – when finally the new tyre had been fitted on, we needed to move the back wheel out of the gutter. My dad asked my mom to steer while he pushed from behind. The car didn’t budge an inch. So my dad asked my mom to step on the accelerator while all of us will push.

We huffed and puffed… and still the car wouldn’t budge! “Step all the way down liao,” my mom bellowed from the driver’s seat, explaining she’s doing it correctly, even confirming it was the accelerator pedal she’s stepping on and not the other. 

Puzzled, my dad went to the front to check it out for himself. He discovered that my mom hadn’t even turned on the car engine!!! Gua gua gua… HAHAHA we laughed and laughed along the empty road and in the middle of the night. Our foreheads drizzled with perspiration and eyes tired from the squinting in the dark, we finally got the car up and running and headed to our uncle's place for a good night's of rest.

#familymemories