I went out to drop off laundry yesterday during what I thought was a dry spell, and the heavens opened up like the levees up above had burst forth. The little laundry man was at work and would have liked for me to spend a day chatting with him, but much as I wanted to, I could not, things kept happening that needed my attention.

To top it off, I had another flat tire. Thankfully I had one last lone rusty can of fix-a-flat, I put that into the tire, and it pumped it right up, and sealed the leak. As of this morning, 24 hours later, the tire is still fully inflated. I have always driven with a can or 2 or 3 of this in my heap of a jeep, and let me tell you, it has saved me numerous times.

I will get to the tire repair mon soon, who will mutter under his breath (the stuff stinks when you go to repair the tire properly) but who on earth wants to change a tire in the pouring down rain, especially when the one and same is wearing a short dress with freshly painted finger nails?

I once ran across an elderly English couple who had a flat and they were on that awful muddy rutty road from Smuglers Cove Beach. I was returning from the beach, covered in sea salt and sand. I pulled over and offered them my can of Fix-A-Flat. THey kept trying to politely decline, yet they were all dressed up and they thought I was wildly out of my mind if I thought some can of junk was going to fix that flat tire and it was indeed sitting on the rim. Somehow I convinced them to let me give it a try, afterall, I was dressed for the beach and they were dressed for church or somewhere fancy. I looked over the tire to see if I could find anything offending like a nail to pull out, and sure enough, there was a screw, I pulled that out, stuck the fix-a-flat in the valve and in about 2 minutes the tire was plump as brand new. I wiped the mud off their disbelieving chins (which had largely dropped in awe) and informed them they had to drive IMMEDIATELY and sedately for about a mile or so , then they could resume driving normally. I then hopped in my heap and drove away, yelling at them "Go! Go! Go! You have to DRIVE to make the stuff spin around the tire so it will stick right!"

A week later, I recived an unsual voice mail. THis couple had asked half the island until they found out WHO owned the trusty rusty red heap of a jeep, that had saved their tire that fateful day. I was invited to their home for high tea and a complimentary can of fix-a-flat. Turns out their tire held up fine for days until they finally got it fixed properly. Sometimes that stuff works for months. But it's recomended you get to the tire repair place eventually.

Written by Miss Mermaid