h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Last night, as I was driving to the local
pool, I hit a pothole and blew out one of
my front tires.

I managed to get the car to the library
parking'lot, where I left it overnight.
A friend gave me a lift home. This morning,
I took the bus to get back to where the car
was, and called AAA to come and put the spare
tire on. Later, I took the car to a garage
where a new tire was put on. The tire wasn't
the only problem. The wheel itself was broken,
and the hubcap was badly dented. The bill
for setting everything reight was $260.00.

Oh, gosh, Paul, how awful!

Wait a minute, where did you say the pothole
was? It might have been my cousin Funny Bunny's
burrow. If so, we'll all see you in court.

It wasn't your cousin's burrow, FPR.

Not even your cousin would dig a burrow
in the left lane of a state highway.

those kinds of incidents are happening here too, paul. the road crews are out making temporary repairs, and there's a website that we can report particularly bad holes to, but we've been told that permanent repairs can't be made until late spring

one of the benefits of driving a truck is that i don't have the worry of bottoming out the underside if i hit a pothole, and trucks are usually built a little sturdier for rough terrain.

you have such an admirable ability to make light of things like this ... i would be detrimentally set back by an event like that.

Any chance your car insurance might reimburse you for part of the expense? I know it will take care of things like cracks in windshields from stones that get tossed up on the car by passing trucks, so it's worth a shot...

Hmmm.

I don't know.
My deductible is $500.00, so any damage up to
that amount is my problem usually.

I'm just glad I was able to safely steer out of the
left lane and over to the breakdown lane. I was
lucky to find a couple of co-workers still at the
library when I got the car there. At least I was
able to get a ride home from one of them. The
next morning, I was lucky that I'm right on the
major bus routes.

The biggest problem was that it was dark, and I
couldn't see the pothole in time to steer around it.
I was lucky there was a garage that was open till
four on Saturday, and that they had all the parts
that were needed.

So, I think I'm pretty lucky that things worked
out all right, and the *only* hurdle was coming
up with the money to pay for it all.

Bad enough, I'd say.

We have to watch out for potholes that suddenly open up around here too. Lord Scott warned me about one this morning before I left the house - and actually I just happened to see a worse one on the other side of the road, just in time to avoid it.

Poor Pauly!!!