Tires and Politics

I remember when getting a flat tire was a common thing, and I got so I could change one in a matter of minutes, but that was on cars, not pickup trucks. I've been driving pickups since 1970, and I only remember changing one tire since then. We were visiting my daughter on a Sunday, and she lived way out in the boonies at the time, so it must have been around 20 years ago. Pickups have regular spare tires, not those doughnut things, but they are mounted on the undercarriage and difficult to access. They don't have bumper jacks, they have screw jacks, and you have to crawl back under the truck to position them properly. Once you get that done, it's not so difficult, or at least it wouldn't be if somebody hadn't driven the lug nuts on with an impact wrench, and if it isn't raining at the time which, of course, it was. It never occurred to me to call somebody. I mean, it's just changing a tire. How hard could it be? The good news was that, with me out in the rain for a couple of hours, the womenfolk had lots of time to talk amongst themselves back in the house. I have a tendency to spontaneously dominate a conversation, or so I've been told. Nowadays I just step outside for a cigarette once in awhile, which serves the same purpose and is much easier than changing a tire in the rain.

I'll bet there are lots of people who don't know anything about Aleppo. I know that it's in Syria, but that's about all I know about it. When the Russians invaded Afghanistan, I was the only guy on my paper mill crew who knew that it was a real country instead of some mythological place like Shangri- La. Maybe that's why they have wars in places like that, to put them on the map. I read somewhere that tourists actually go to Vietnam and Cambodia nowadays, which they never did before the war.

Speaking of Syria, I saw on the news this evening that the UN or somebody has declared a cease fire. That usually means the good guys are winning and the bad guys need a time out to regroup, but I didn't think there were any good guys in Syria. I suppose I should pay more attention to stuff like that, but who has the time?