220421 Sentinel, A Not so Funny Story

I left this morning to go to the Aldi store.
I tried to get there and back between the rain showers.
I got to the store, got my goods and drove home. I was just about there when the rain began to pour down on the car. As I pulled into the parking area of the apartment complex I saw a car jacked up and a spare tire lying on the ground beside it. There was a couple sitting on their covered patio, waiting for the rain to stop so the man could change the tire.
That brought this story to mind. Joyce was driving our van back home in a rain downpour on the interstate highway.

The car ahead of us deflected something in the road. By the time we saw it, she could not swerve to avoid it. Whatever it was, our front tire blew out. She started slowing down to pull off the road. I got out to see the tire. It was flat. We were within sight of a gas station so the brand new tire was already destroyed. I got behind the wheel and drove it slowly to the station. I pulled the van up near the side of the building to exchange the tire with the spare. The spare was mounted under the van so I was out in the rain cranking it down to release the tire. Joyce stood by with the umbrella, which did me no good at all. I was laying on the wet concrete trying to get the tire loose from a bracket that held it. Next I had to get out the jack which had never been used, but the jack was not working. It had been painted at the factory and the paint was binding the jack closed. I had to get a hammer and bang on it to break the seal. I finally jacked the car up and changed the tire. I fired up the van and drove it home, all the while being soaked to the skin. It was a miserable 40 miles.
The next day I went to the tire shop where I had bought the tire. I did not select to buy a road hazard warranty when I bought the $120 each tires just the week before. The manager there remembered me and said he was sorry about the situation, but he sold me a new tire as cheap as he could, $90. I was happy in a strange way, but the blame was on me so it was a decent thing for him to do.