… free air?
My wife and I went out for supper this past week and took her vehicle, a Jeep Renegade. I was warned before we left – you’ll get a warning that the tire pressure is low – it always happens when the first cold nights happen as they did this past week.
Sure enough – the low tire pressure light came on when the vehicle started as well as an image of the Jeep and which tire was low. It was right front at 2.2 bar and the recommendation was to pump it up to 2.4 bar. No problem; I’ll stop at a service station in the town we were going to dine.
I remember a similar stressful moment from last year. What the heck is a bar? What are the chances that there will be an air pump where we’re headed that measures in bar? Around here, everything is PSI. I guess that’s a fallout from having Fiat in Italy assemble your vehicle. Maybe my references should be tyre?
At dinner, I did a quick search to convert 2.4 bar to PSI and I was good to go. Or so I thought – it turns out there were no public air pumps in the village where we were! We headed home and I checked to make sure that we had a $1 or $2 coin available because I knew where our local air pump was.
I drove to the location that we use often and the sign on things indicated that the pump was broken.
“There’s one outside the Circle K”.
Off we went.
Study this picture from Gemini – there will be a test later.
I pulled up to the pump and grudgingly grabbed the $1 coin. Then, I saw a 2 as the first digit in the price so I grabbed the $2 coin. But that wouldn’t do the trick – after further inspection the price was $2.50 and written in paper over top of the previous price! Have tariffs changed the price of air?
My wife said “take both coins”.
No way! The machine wouldn’t give me change.
Then, I noticed – at the bottom of the pump was an option to tap to pay.
Seriously; it’s come to this?
I filled all the tires and reminisced on the drive home. Growing up, air was free at the Fina station two blocks from our house. Long bike rides always started with a trip there. Later, it was a place to ensure the car tires were well inflated. As a courtesy, you’d carefully coil the hose while hanging it up.
In fact, air was free and available at all the service stations in town. The machines were just an external fixture at the service stations. It seemed like a nice courtesy instead of a money grab.
Things have changed so much.
So, for a Sunday morning, your thoughts please.
- when was the last time you checked the air pressure in the tires of your car as winter approaches?
- if you needed to pump air into your tires, where would you go?
- could you pump your tires with a bicycle pump?
- what’s the price of air where you live?
- where on your car could you find the recommended tire pressure?
- what things are wrong with Gemini’s picture above?
It’s always nice to read your thoughts on these posts. Please share them in the comments below.
All of the previous posts from this series are available here.
Please share your thoughts here. I’d enjoy reading them.