Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Road Weary or Just Pain Tired

A warning for those of you who like to get every last mile out of your tires. This mile may be your last. Our poor van barely made it to the side of the road when our tire went.
When the tire did decide to throw away it's last breath, it made sure we knew it had had enough. This is all that was left, a sad reminder of something that used to be round.
Once our tire was literally 'rubbed out' we were stuck on the left shoulder of the rainy HWY401, with no way to A: make enough room to replace with the donut, and B: get the donut out from under the van even if we were able to swap it. Tow truck anyone? How about a side of flashing OPP cruiser with that? As if our van doesn't attract enough attention as is...

Hey! That reminds me. When you see any kind of emergency vehicle on the side of any multi-lane highway, you HAVE to (by law) switch lanes, leaving a full empty lane between you and the emergency vehicle. Police, fire, ambulance, even tow truck. Basically anything with flashing lights. If you really want to know why, stand on the side of the road with cars and trucks going by at 100-150kph less than 3 feet from you.

(addendum: Please don't stand by the side of the road with cars and trucks going by at 100-150kph less than 3 feet from you. Just take my word for it, move over.)

At least someone benefited from all of this. (someone other than the tow truck driver and the Canadian Tire store that got a big unexpected tire sale) Yes, it was the OPP officer who got to shuttle the kids to the garage. She was able to learn, in under 10 mins, every single detail about every single thing you ever wanted to know about Lego Space Police. That's got to be better than trampling national anthem singing hoodlums downtown.

I guess she wasn't too put out, because she took the time to snap a few shots of the kids posing in the car as we waited to get unhooked from the tow truck.

Leah would now almost consider a career in law enforcement, except they won't let you keep your stuffed toys in the trunk.Quinn swears he wasn't giving gang signs here. He was simply "pointing a fake gun" at the officer taking the picture. Let's hope this is the last time he sees the inside of this kind of vehicle.

In conclusion, check your tires and watch for emergency vehicles on the side of the road. Otherwise you might end up missing more than your itty bitty baby cousin's wedding. (although the reception was smashing!)