The kindness of strangers.

Just when I thought my faith in human nature had gone for good, something happens that renews it a little. We have to hold on to the little good things, and celebrate when they happen, especially when they are all we have. It hasn't been a great time for faith and belief in the basic goodness of people lately. The brutal murder of a six year old boy, by 'robbers', Jesse Foords unrepentant rapists, hopefully facing indefinate sentences, and just so much uglyness, greed and brutality that just reading about it makes it difficult to breathe.
Suffice it to say, the more I learn about the worst things that people do, the more I like sharks.

So when I got a big fat rusty nail in my tyre, and had to drive to the closest garage to fix it, I was expecting to have to put my feminism to a physical test. Driving very slowly with hazards on should indicate there is something wrong, but provokes the oddest behaviour in other drivers, impatient hooting, overtaking on solid lines and blind rises. Since I'm not the most mechanically minded was not looking forward to channelling Rosie the Riveter. There was a great TV ad running a while ago, where a jeuged up lady is offered help with changing a flat tyre, from a guy eating KFC, only to find it is instructional and not physical, because he wouldn't put down his food. Lucky for me the opposite happened, just as I had found my lug nut and jack and trying to find instructions on how everything worked, two strangers took pity on me and basically changed the tyre. The fact that they were petrol attendants at the garage probably helped as they must have been trained to do pit stops quickly. Apart from the crazy place my spare is kept, under the car it was so quick and looked easy. But it always looks effortless when you are not doing the heavy lifting. So a big thank you to two good samaritans Bheki Ndlovu and Ntoyi Malozole from Caltex,who did not have to do anything and helped because they could. Yes of course I could change a tyre if I had to, but I'm counting on the kindness of strangers to hold off that day of reckoning.