Mohamad, a former high ranking police officer, the son of padi farmers of Kota (Rembau) was my close friend and classmate at Tunku Besar Secondary (TBS), Tampin. We were Queen Scouts and hostelites. After retirement he has a penchant to organise gatherings of school chums. He called one day to come for a get-together of 66-68's at Royal Raja Chulan, Seremban on May 1. He sponsored me for the lunch gathering.
I left Tronoh for Kajang late evening a day earlier. About a dozen km before reaching the Tg Malim R&R the left rear tyre burst. Luckily I was doing the usual easy driving at 100km. I parked the car, a 1997 Rover sedan on the grassy shoulder and got the tyre replaced. Shining headlights of passing vehicles helped me to see against the darkness.
I felt uneasy when I found that the spare tyre was low in pressure. Sure enough after 1km it flattened. I called Plusline but there was no service on the south way to Tg Malim. I decided to sleep in the car but could not. After half an hour an idea struck me, why not drive very slowly with the left pair of wheels on the grass shoulder and the right pair on the tar road? In that way the flattened left tyre would not shred to pieces due to friction and damage the wheel. But I have to be careful not to hit the railing along the shoulder. In some sections of the road there are no grass shoulder but plain hard road.
For the next 10km or so I was doing at 10km/hr and reached the R&R about midnight! I was delighted and spent the night uncomfortably in the rear seat. The next morning after another 2km bumping on the grassy side I made it to a tyre shop in Tg Malim. Thank goodness they open shop on Labour Day. I haven't told anyone about this incident especially to wife.
p/s I had an experience similar to this 3-wheeler thing 12 years ago in Sarawak while driving from Mukah to Bintulu in a Rusa van. The replacement left rear tyre burst and soon shred to pieces on 3-wheel driving for nearly 30km before reaching a tyre shop at Selangau. Perhaps, this was a learning process which enabled me to cope with the recent misadventure.
I felt uneasy when I found that the spare tyre was low in pressure. Sure enough after 1km it flattened. I called Plusline but there was no service on the south way to Tg Malim. I decided to sleep in the car but could not. After half an hour an idea struck me, why not drive very slowly with the left pair of wheels on the grass shoulder and the right pair on the tar road? In that way the flattened left tyre would not shred to pieces due to friction and damage the wheel. But I have to be careful not to hit the railing along the shoulder. In some sections of the road there are no grass shoulder but plain hard road.
For the next 10km or so I was doing at 10km/hr and reached the R&R about midnight! I was delighted and spent the night uncomfortably in the rear seat. The next morning after another 2km bumping on the grassy side I made it to a tyre shop in Tg Malim. Thank goodness they open shop on Labour Day. I haven't told anyone about this incident especially to wife.
p/s I had an experience similar to this 3-wheeler thing 12 years ago in Sarawak while driving from Mukah to Bintulu in a Rusa van. The replacement left rear tyre burst and soon shred to pieces on 3-wheel driving for nearly 30km before reaching a tyre shop at Selangau. Perhaps, this was a learning process which enabled me to cope with the recent misadventure.
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