ThatsSomeBadHatHarry
Guest
...They work better that way.
Friday morning I was driving to my second day of my new job, which was a month into my new life in a new state and environment, in my new (new to me, at least) car. The sun was a few inches off the horizon and the light just turned green.
Release the clutch, give it some gas, turn up the music. 35 miles per hour. This is the point when nothing is supposed to happen on my way to my new job. This is the moment that should never amount to anything and just become part of the constant segue of daily-grind level events that don't get registered under "long term memory."
This time it did. This was the time that the rear passenger-side wheel flopped off the car and went careening into a bush, about a foot away from clearing a fence into Kahala Elementary School, where there was a playground that was nowhere near desolate.
"What is going on right now? The back of the car dropped and there is a strange grinding noise that is in no way reminiscent of rubber on pavement...no, that is steel on pavement...why am I hearing this?"
Brakes. Nothing. Emergency brake. Functional. Stop. Sit. Collect thoughts.
"Where the hell is the wheel!?"
I looked around and didn't see the wheel that should have been connected to my car. Instead I saw an amputated limb of the axel and brake backplate, bleeding badly and needing cauterization. There was nothing I could do but watch my car bleed brake fluid to death.
AAA. Tow-truck. Mechanic. Understanding Employer. 3 hours late for second day of work.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.
I did not expect this. Maybe an oil leak, maybe a snapped belt or two, but a wheel!?!
$1100. But it all could have been worse. Much worse. The tire went into a bush instead of the playground. I was not taking a corner or going any faster. My girlfriend, who was actually on the way to picking the car up from me, was next in line to drive where this incident could have, and probably would have, happened on the freeway.
No one was hurt, except for my wallet, which broke a rib and has a ruptured spleen.
Friday morning I was driving to my second day of my new job, which was a month into my new life in a new state and environment, in my new (new to me, at least) car. The sun was a few inches off the horizon and the light just turned green.
Release the clutch, give it some gas, turn up the music. 35 miles per hour. This is the point when nothing is supposed to happen on my way to my new job. This is the moment that should never amount to anything and just become part of the constant segue of daily-grind level events that don't get registered under "long term memory."
This time it did. This was the time that the rear passenger-side wheel flopped off the car and went careening into a bush, about a foot away from clearing a fence into Kahala Elementary School, where there was a playground that was nowhere near desolate.
"What is going on right now? The back of the car dropped and there is a strange grinding noise that is in no way reminiscent of rubber on pavement...no, that is steel on pavement...why am I hearing this?"
Brakes. Nothing. Emergency brake. Functional. Stop. Sit. Collect thoughts.
"Where the hell is the wheel!?"
I looked around and didn't see the wheel that should have been connected to my car. Instead I saw an amputated limb of the axel and brake backplate, bleeding badly and needing cauterization. There was nothing I could do but watch my car bleed brake fluid to death.
AAA. Tow-truck. Mechanic. Understanding Employer. 3 hours late for second day of work.
Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday.
I did not expect this. Maybe an oil leak, maybe a snapped belt or two, but a wheel!?!
$1100. But it all could have been worse. Much worse. The tire went into a bush instead of the playground. I was not taking a corner or going any faster. My girlfriend, who was actually on the way to picking the car up from me, was next in line to drive where this incident could have, and probably would have, happened on the freeway.
No one was hurt, except for my wallet, which broke a rib and has a ruptured spleen.
