A tiring tale

Good news: it's raining! Our creek is nearly dry and our garden is parched, so rain is good.

Except that it's also bad. Yesterday when I picked up my Volvo, my mechanic told me that the rear tires were dangerously bald. "Don't try to drive in the rain," he said, "or those tires will take you right off the road."

But I needed to be on campus this morning for a meeting and I don't currently have access to the faculty helicopter, so I drove--carefully--to Wal-Mart, where the tire guy acted as if I was interrupting some very important business and then quoted me a ridiculously high price for tires.

So I said no thanks and drove--carefully--through the pouring rain to a tire place downtown, where they quoted me a price $20 lower per tire, which sounded like good news until the tire guy came and told me that he could not in good conscience rotate the front tires to the rear without warning me that the front tires were worn nearly down to the metal.

"I wouldn't drive on those tires in the rain," he said. "They'll drive you right off the road." He and my mechanic must be reading from the same playbook.

I couldn't afford four tires so I bought two and drove off--in the rain--carefully. So far I've stayed on the road pretty well, but the rain falls on the tired and the tireless, so who knows where that road might lead?