Theory versus practice

Like most people, we receive our fair share of unsolicited phone calls, but with the wonderful invention of Caller ID we are able to spare ourselves the annoyance of speaking with these people or listening to recorded messages. The other day we received one that showed

347-384-6254 SPAM? BROOKLYN

Were they asking me or telling me that this is a SPAM number? Either way, I did not answer, but found this quite amusing. I found on-line that some people have been receiving this call multiple times a day. Fortunately, we saw it just that one time.

We were supposed to go to a lecture last night but our car had a flat tire. This car has what are called “run-flat tires”:

A run-flat tire is a pneumatic vehicle tire that is designed to resist the effects of deflation when punctured, and to enable the vehicle to continue to be driven at reduced speeds - under 56 mph (90 km/h) - and for limited distances - generally between 10 mi (16 km) to 50 mi (80 km), depending on the type of tire.

An advantage of such tires is that, at least in theory, the car does not require a spare tire, which can take up quite a bit of trunk space. The disadvantage is that you have to go someplace where they sell the type of tire you need, and it seems that this car requires a somewhat unusual sized tire.

This is the second time this has occurred. The first time we were half way to Sharon and after stopping at two tire stores that did not have the tire in stock, we went ahead and completed the drive, albeit rather slowly, going to a tire store up near Sharon the next day.

It turns out that the Bronx neighborhood places did not have this tire in stock, either, and we had to wait until this morning to buy the replacement tire and have it installed. We decided it was not worth the risk of real damage or, even worse, of getting stuck somewhere, so we skipped the lecture. The local garage got the tire in last night and we had it put on this morning. The run-flat tires seem like something that is supposed to be an advantage but turn out not to work as well in practice as they do in theory.

Love,

Rebecca