Slow punctures are
common here; mostly nails in the tread that are fixed by Kwik-Fit for about
£1.80 a go. When I filled-up with petrol at Zomba, an hour from Blantyre, the
front left was looking a bit floppy but not too bad. The Puma garage didn't
have a working airline but they did have a boy with a stirrup pump, a bit of
hose-pipe and a plastic bag to make a seal. He gave the pump some wellie while
his friend held the pipe on the valve and the tyre reinflated to some unknown
pressure.
He then pronounced that the valve was leaking and dribbled some water
on it to prove the point; I was a bit dubious and decided to head for Liwonde
and then Mangochi where there might be air-lines and pressure gauges.
All was well when I
arrived and so I felt justified and parked-up for the night.
Next morning was
another story; one clearly deflated tyre too soft to drive on. I was with
colleagues and decided to do our work before coming back to change the wheel
and get the valve replaced in the afternoon. But at noon, when we came back to
change the wheel, behold there was a fully-inflated tyre!
A university driver
emerged from under a mango tree where he had been waiting for someone, and
claimed the credit. His car had an air pump powered from a car cigarette
lighter, and he had seen the problem and decided to deal with it.
Now, if I'd believed the man in Zomba, I'd have missed the low of deflation and the subsequent greater high of reinflation. Discuss.
