In Halifax, a car is next to useless. In Yorkton, it鈥檚 a lifeline.
I lived in the 鈥楩ax (as we cool kids call it) for five years. In that time, I relied exclusively on public transportation and my two feet. It could be hard, particularly during the winter when the snow reached my waist, but it was better than the car-owner lifestyle.
Downtown Halifax is not built for vehicles. The streets are cramped and many roads have bike lanes, which only makes things tighter. When you鈥檙e driving in Halifax, you鈥檙e constantly worried about ploughing into聽 absent-minded cyclists and pedestrians. Whenever I complained about walking, I remembered my vehicle-owning friends鈥� endless battle with gridlock and I鈥檇 shut my mouth.
But Saskatchewan is a different game. When I applied at Yorkton This Week, they told me I needed a car. It鈥檚 a necessity.
Because I鈥檝e spent so much time with my car, I鈥檝e arrived at an important conclusion: I know absolutely nothing about vehicles.
I mean, I can drive them (forwards and backwards!), park them, all that jazz. But when it comes to vehicle upkeep, maintenance, and general knowledge, I鈥檓 an automotive idiot.
Last month, I was driving with some friends to a corn maze (as you鈥檒l recall in my life-changing column from a few weeks ago). We were winding down a dirt road when we heard a loud 鈥淧OP.鈥� We pulled over to investigate.
Armed with flashlights, we surveyed the vehicle. There it was, like a gruesome crime scene from a brutal episode of CSI: A busted back tire.
It was completely flat. Something had ripped a huge hole in the tire. We needed to replace it.
Luckily, the driver had a spare tire, a lug wrench, and a car jack. Sadly, we had no clue what to do.
Some people took to YouTube to research the best method. I did the most important job: I held the flashlight.
Thankfully, a passing driver saved us from our incompetence. She had just replaced her own tire, so she was an expert. She grabbed the lug wrench, tore off the flat tire, and screwed in the spare one. She did in 10 minutes what none of us could do in 20.聽
See how I did nothing in that story? That鈥檚 because I was completely lost. I didn鈥檛 know what to do. I hadn鈥檛 dealt with a flat tire before, so I鈥檇 never learned how to handle it.聽 Automotive idiocy strikes again.
At least I learned something. Afterwards, I聽 bought a car jack, so I鈥檒l be ready for the next perilous situation. I might even be able to change a tire on my own. Who knows? I eagerly await the next car crisis/learning opportunity.
