The Kindness Of Strangers… Alive And Well In Dublin!
May 20, 2007 (5 Responses)
WE DECIDED TO DRAG the girls out for a walk this afternoon, up the hill of Howth and then down to the harbour for some seafront fresh fish and chips – a great way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately bad luck decided to come along and try to fuck things up for us, but I was very pleasantly surprised by the sheer kindness of complete strangers today. We live in such a cynical world that sometimes it’s easy to forget it’s the simple things that make a difference, something as simple as a trust between complete strangers.
That wee beastie in the photo was the nearest in complexion that I could find for “Snot“. You see “Snot” is what SusiQ calls her smart car, mostly because of the snot green/black colour scheme (I didn’t have a real photo handy so here’s a showroom version). SusiQ decided to drive today and so we bundled the girls into the back and had a great afternoon in Howth, right up to the point that a complete stranger knocked on the window as we were about to drive home and informed us that we had a flat, rear passanger side.
Completely flat. Out of commission. Buggered.
That’s the exact moment when I discovered that the rear of a smart car contains exactly two things – except for the girls of course. Firstly there is a less than useless triangle thingy for breakdowns and then of course when you lift up the matting to get out the spare wheel you discover…. the engine instead. That’s it. No wheel, no jack… nothing of any use whatsoever.
That’s right – this smart car is so fucking smart that they didn’t think we would ever need a spare wheel. That kind of left us with limited options. A few expletives later I took a breath to assess the situation and that’s when I was most impressed with a second act of kindness.
It’s a Sunday, there’s no garage nearby, there’s no spare wheel in the damn smart car, I’ve got SusiQ standing there holding two bouncing dogs on a lead with all the patience of a ticking bomb… SNAFU. Situation normal all fucked up.
I decided the best course of action was to prowl up and down the rows of parked cars asking complete strangers as they parked if they had a foot pump in their boot, by any chance. It was a desperate move, but amazingly enough on the third try a nice couple just smiled, went to the back of the car and handed over a foot pump without another word. I started to head back to the smart car before I realised the error of my ways and then told them exactly which car I was heading to (so they knew I wasn’t just making off with the tool!). A few minutes later we had the tyre back in action and good enough to limp home, all thanks to the kindness of complete strangers.
To both strangers I just want to say “Thank You“!
It’s nice to be reminded every now and then that sometimes all we need is a little kindless, a little patience and of course a goddamn spare wheel wouldn’t go amiss either!
Say WHAT? How the hell does a car come without a spare? a SMART car at that?
Thank goodness for random kindness. But still… that’s so wrong.
Are you sure you needed the pump. It’s small enough that you should have been able to just put it in your pocket and walk home.
LOL @ Starchild/OP. I agree with you both.. as far as I’m concerned it’s just a souped up lawnmower… but SusiQ absolutely loves this wee beastie, has done since the day she got it.
I am sure it would be a smash over here….ha….
They have one that looks like it here called a QQ….Not even the Chinese will drive it….
Skip to a few years later and my Smart ran over something so nasty on the M50 in Dublin that it smashed a hole in the alloy rim that you could put your finger through! Needless to say with a hole that big all was lost.
Requires a replacement wheel and tyre, ha, where do I get those in Dublin at night when I’m broke?
As a note, if you lift up the carpet in the passenger foot well, there’s a space for an optional electric pump and you’re also suppossed to carry one of those use once emergency cans of rubbery tyre puncture repair cans too. Ingeniously I had both, but of absolutely no use for my damaged wheel of course.