* * * * *
                                        
                             Directionally dislexic
                                        
Up front, Bunny is still doing well at rehabilitation for her broken shoulder
[1].

As I was getting ready to visit her, my car complained about one of the tires
being underinflated. Seriously underinflated. And looking at the in-car
display showing the tire pressure, yes, that was at a level that I would not
feel safe driving. But no problem, we have an air compressor and the adaptor
to inflate tires for it. Okay, slight problem in that I have to dig it out
from behind some stuff and set it up, and remember to close the air release
valve (ahem) but within 10 minutes I'm inflating the tire.

Only to realize that after I inflated it, it was the tire on the wrong side
of the car. I blame my directional dislexia on that.

You see, I'm one of the 10% of the population that is left handed, and I
think this has contributed to my problems in identifying left from right. If
I'm giving directions, it's all too common for me to say, “Turn right! No!
The other right!” as I gesture furtively with my left hand pointing left.
Because I write with the right hand, that is to say, the “correct” hand for
me to write with, my left hand. It just feels right. You know?

Anyway, I let out the air on a now overinflated tire and once it got down to
a safe pressure, I sent to inflate the right tire, which just happened to be
on the right side of the car, to which I immedately felt a rush of air across
my hand. It took me a few minutes to realize that the hose on the tire
inflation adaptor had spontaneously formed an inch long split.

Sigh. All I want is to get enough pressure into the tire to drive to visit
Bunny.

I find some duct tape (seeing how we have an air compressor, along with a
number of large wood-working equipment in the garage, finding duct tape
wasn't hard). I wrap the hose, and when I tried inflating the tire, the hose
formed another split! More duct tape, yet a third split.

I ended up taping the entire hose in duct tape and even then, I barely got
some air into the tire. The duct tape was helping a bit, but enough air was
leaking out that it was clear I was going to have to get a new adaptor.

[Image of the tire-inflator adaptor with a hose seemingly made out of duct
tape] I suppose that had I wrapped it tighter with the duct tape, it might
have actually made a decent hose. [2]
 

Had I been thinking a bit more clear, I would have realized I could have
taken Bunny's car to the hardware store around the corner, but no, I risked
driving my car with a low tire.

New adaptor in hand and back at Chez Boca, I was able to inflate the tire,
arriving an hour later than I wanted. When I got home, the pressure had
dropped in that tire (but not enough for the car to complain about), showing
there was a definite leak.

Sigh.

[1] gopher://gopher.conman.org/0Phlog:2026/06/06.1
[2] gopher://gopher.conman.org/IPhlog:2026/06/11/tire-inflator.jpg

Email Sean Conner at sean@conman.org

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