A Chain Reaction

• I’ve been unable to look after my car the last several months due to OCD, so the battery eventually ran flat.
• I couldn’t get the foot pump from the boot of my car, which I use to top up my scooter tires once a week to prevent punctures. Since Jan 2021 I haven’t had a puncture once.
• By the time I managed to get on top of the OCD enough to tackle my car, I’d been riding around with my scooter tires slightly under-inflated for a week.
• I had to research how to manually unlock my car with the key when the battery’s flat.
• Once I got into the car, I had to contort myself over the digital piano and wheelchair which were in there, take the lid off the boot and reach my arm in to get the pump.
• Then I further craned myself to reach my battery-powered jump starter.
• I spent some hours charging the jump-starter.
• I tried the jump-starter but car battery was completely dead and not having it.
• I ordered a battery replacement from Halfords who came to fit it.
• Car was finally working! I drove it for the first time in months.
• I then took the opportunity to book my upcoming MOT and service for last week. They needed to keep it a few more days over the weekend to replace the exhaust box…which was fine.
• In the meantime I had ridden my scooter to the shop once. The next day, when I came to ride my scooter in a spontaneous act to go and meet my friend, the rear tyre was flat for the first time ever!
• I pulled a surprisingly long chard of glass from the tyre, using a pair of pliers.
• So, I am convinced that that single week of riding around with under-inflated tyres led to this first puncture, especially given how far the piece of glass was embedded in there. No chance that happened when they were fully inflated. The final trip simply forced it fully in there.
• Next, researching how to replace the scooter innertube. It’s not always so simple on e-scooters as there’re a lot of steps to removing a wheel, and the tyres can be really hard to get off.
• Bit more research in youtube comments to loosen the stubborn wheel nuts…
• Then I ran out of antidepressant medication because I was going to pick it up after meeting my friend the day before…
• I had to get a taxi to the supermarket pharmacy and back before it closed…🤦‍♂️. I didn’t want to rush the scooter job.
• Then finally onto the tyre. I only had metal tyre levers and realised these were going to damage the rim due to the force required. My plastic ones…were in a pouch in my car! At the garage!
• More research required to find out whether or how it’s possible to remove the tyre without tyre levers. For bikes, this is possible. The scooter tyre…I soaked the whole wheel in a bucket of boiling water, and with scolding fingers, technique, ingenuity and maximum, maximum strength…I only fucking went and did it!
• I have skinned fingertips and others are going to blister up for sure and my forearms were absolutely bulging. Only thanks to my recent workouts was it even possible. It shouldn’t have been necessary, but man how things just about came together. I might regain my mobility this weekend after all!

It’s hard not to believe that I’m going to be dealing with the consequences of the initial event for the rest of my life.

But I can’t ruminate, I need to retain the momentum and keep building on it :). At least I can be assured that I can deal with future punctures, now that I’ve done it once and especially since I can be ready with the right tools.

I did get it finished in the end! And sterilised and bandaged my fingers. The pain of isopropyl alcohol on the raw fingertips was exquisite.

🌪