Ted was a wonderfully friendly asian man, who was good enough to supply us with a jack to change our tire when we really needed it. Now I'm going to blow the surprise here right off the bat, and tell you that some pictures depicting how ridiculously steep many of the streets of San Francisco really are- will be included in our next STATUS UPDATE, and also in relativity to our blown-out tire dilemma, will be a HOW-TO about using tire plugs to fix your flats like a pro, in no time! I'll give you all a second to digest that before going on about Ted...
Now for those of you who don't know, The Great B.O. is capable of getting a car off the ground, swapping the donut for the flat, and plugging a tire hole quicker than a caffeinated gypsy! In reality, I'm a mere accessory to the process- much like an unnecessary tool in your collection that "might some day come in handy." And as much as I'd like to think that I am needed (similar to a small child who is told he needs to be his fathers 'bolt holding assistant'), my role is probably, realistically, similar to that of Vanna White's (for those of you who remember wheel of fortune).
Moving onwards though, I will tell you that we were in a crummy predicament when we found ourselves completely flat on Aguello and Fulton St., because that particular half of Fulton, is a fairly steep hill, and the jack we had to work with, is about as tin-chinsey as they come. B.O. knew, that jacking the car up on such a steep incline, with such a cheap jack, might be a serious problem- but what other option did we have? So, needless to say, we jacked the car up off the ground, got it off the car, and just as we did- the car leaned downward with slow, sure, furiousness, bending the jack, and resting its entire weight on the now bare wheel well.
Most any white collar Californian we would have seen, would only have had the same standard, cheap-grade jack, that through trial and error, had proved wouldn't suffice. Having no other options, we continued asking people, often times sending Chassy since she is obviously the cutest of us all.
Eventually, an Asian man pulled out of the closest driveway that we nearly blocked, and when we asked him for a jack, he gave (what we took as) a false look of concern, muttered some broken english, and then pulled away and drove off. We sat by the car cursing our luck, and asking people in vein for a jack, until finally, the asian man returned! He pulled into the barely one-car garage beneath his tiny, colorful, San Franciscan house, and a moment later, he stepped outside, and walked toward us pulling behind him a rolling hydraulic jack that was nearly as big as him- some serious gear for the tiny BMW he was driving, but none the less- PERFECT for our current predicament. We cranked the Le Sabre up with the greatest of ease as we laughed with relief, and in no time, B.O. had the donut on the car, and we were safely guaranteed that we would make it to the Chevron gas station, where we could plug the gash in the tire, and get it back on the car, in a place of level ground.
If it weren't for TED, we might have been stuck there on Fulton for quite some time. His real name was much to hard for us silly americans to say or remember, so he introduced himself to us as TED, and even managed to shoot the shit with us for a few moments. Apparently Ted was a stock broker, and by the looks of him, I'd have guessed that he took his morning coffee with one cream and one sugar, but I could be wrong on that estimation. He was obviously a man of great efficiency, and he smiled a great smile of sly admiration when we told him that we had a tire kit, and would be able to handle ourselves just fine now that he had gotten us off of this hill. He explained several times, and to great extent, where a good gas station, with "good friendly people" was located, and he even took the time to explain to us that he had only left earlier because he had to pick his kids up from tennis practice. I thought that was good of him, and although Brian say's he couldn't understand a word out of the guys mouth- I felt like I was on the same page as him. He gave us his business card expressing a relative fondness and modest trust, and then finally told us to give him a call if we needed any further help. Thanks a ton Ted, you deserve a good Samaritan prize as far as I'm concerned.
THATS a flat...
That can't be good for the... the rotating spinny thing in the wheel well... You know, the one that holds the tire, Jeeze, I never claimed to be the car guy- that's B.O.'s field!
I loved the way Ted articulated the English language with his hands, as if he were forming the syllables with his finger tips.
Ted seemed to be a man of business, and it seems like when it came to helping us out, Ted meant business! Just tell me when to stop with the word play, I could go all night...
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