We got a flat on Christmas day. 11 a.m. just off the A1 while on the way to lunch at my parents'.
Dp very heroically jacked up the car, undid the nuts etc. - and he was wearing beige chinos and a white linen shirt! I, like a good woman, stood at a safe distance holding the baby and swooning at my heroic alpha male.
The bloody wheel wouldn't come off. Dp pulled, pushed, everything. It was stuck. So we called my parents and got two brothers and an uncle to the rescue. Still wouldn't come off.
All this time loads of cars slowed down and everyone stared. We had pulled off the A1 and were in the entrance to a country lane which had a barrier across it saying road closed, but which people were just driving round. So they had to drive very slowly round us, and they didn't even make eye contact! We were a little put off by this - we had a baby with us, and it was Xmas day.
But one of the staring people turned out to be our saviour. She sped off and rang her dh on the mobile and told him about us, and asked him to look out for us on his way back from work about an hour later. He came by, looked at it, explained what had happened (apparently the wheel can corrode onto the car), took a flying leap and it came off. He stayed to make sure we could get the spare on!
What a love - and he wasn't even happy to take the bottle of wine we thrust into his arms.
Some people really are lovely!