1131 Flat tyre

Driving the mighty panda down to the fiero mercato yesterday when the beast lurched to one side and made a flapping sound, Gomme a terra I thought... changed wheel and dropped down to our mechanics workshop, they were both outside helping a chap re load his car, he'd had a flat tyre too, I realised they were actually closed for the holiday, so started to put the wheel back in the car, but, they wouldn't let me, Luigi took it away, whipped it off the rim checked the innertube ?!?!?, repaired it, cleaned the inside of the rim, replaced the tyre balanced the wheel and carried it to the car, and the charge...€4-00, Lovely people, I dread to think what the cost would have been in GB.

Category
Cost of living - Utility Services

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 08/18/2005 - 03:36

It's true, they're everywhere, I have been old that they insist on you having winter tyres fitted in the winter months, and they don't allow you to have the "Thermal" ones fitted in summer, so I guess this makes for a healthy market. Ohh yes and then there are the beloved snow chains too. :)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 08/18/2005 - 04:18

Speaking of Pandas (loved the garage story by the way - absolutely typical of the Italians) I went with some friends to the Abruzzo Zoo yesterday. There are Marsicano bears in dem der hills but there are also some at the zoo. I wish I hadn't gone now because they are in a stunningly boring concrete based enclosure and look bored witless - very sad. There were also lots of Pastore Abruzzese mountain dogs which I thought a bit odd since you can see them all over Abruzzo - Oh well.

Not long after I had been living here I had to go to Rome to pick up to some friends. My Fiat Tipo had been ponging a bit of petrol and so that afternoon, at around 5:30, I was out in the piazza having a look under the bonnet. One of my neighbours also came to have a look. We found that the petrol pipe was perished. "No problem" says he - Nicola. "We'll ring Mario". Which he duly did and who duly appeared. "You need a new petrol pipe" he said. "I’ll go down to the shop and get one".

It turned out that Mario works in a car parts shop in the local town of Sulmona about 10 minutes away. Off he went, opened up the shop, retrieved said pipe, returned to said piazza, fitted said pipe and Bob was my new uncle. "How much do I owe you?" said I. €1.50 said Mario. “Is that all?”. "Yes, have a good trip to Rome". What can you say to that?.... :)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 08/18/2005 - 08:17

Clive you say Grazie, smile and name your next born after him, a friend said the big thing about the Italian people was their "Humanity", an odd phrase, but, you see examples every day... :D

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 08/23/2005 - 06:25

Great stories, guys! Just shows that there are some nice & helpful people still out there! :)

Experiences in the UK vary from huge rip-off (bang went my shopping cash!) for minor repairs to a very nice guy at a small garage in rural Glamorgan, who did small(ish) jobs for free when my car got broken into for the 2nd & 3rd times early this year! :cool:

However, now newly arrived in Edinburgh I'll have to hope & see if I can find an equally 'reliable' garage...

Stephanie