After the late dinner and beers, we called around for tires, tubes and whatever else we could find, but it was 23h on a Saturday and most people would either be babelas or in church the next morning. Jacques from KVB offered to help us fit whatever we could find at around 09h30.
Before morning broke on the 16th (shall we officially call this Day 2?), we were up and about, speaking to Jacobus who owns one of the garages and has M&M Wheels and Tires just around the corner from him. Turns out the first M was for Marius, who lives just about 100m futher up the road. He knows that only BMW rider in town, called Pieter Snyman and he'll ask whether Pieter perhaps has a spare tire that we could use. Finally Marius comes back with Oom Pieter's number and the message that he has a tire for us.
Die tannie van die hotel was also trying her level best to help out where she could, so she gave me a lift to Oom Pieter. When we got there, the deal soured a bit, as Oom Pieter realised that we were quite desperate. Suddenly instead of "having to anyways replace his rear tire", the wording changed slightly to something in the line of "I'll give you this one from my bike, but you'll have to pay for a new one that I'll now need to fit" and apparently the new tire of his liking was R2500, so I ended up having to pay him R2500 on the spot for his old Anakee. As perplexed as I was, I didn't have much of a choice. Maybe I'm just not used to being taken advantage of when I'm in a desperate situation?
Oom Pieter smiling all the way to the bank...
The the hotel tannie (I somehow can't remember her name) was so pissed off with Oom Pieter for ripping me off, that she wanted to redeem the town and conveniently remembered that Kef who fits tires for Jacques at KVB still owes her money. She doesn't know where he lives in the informal settlement, but she knows what car he drives. She didn't give me much of a choice, so I accompanied her to go and find Kef at his house, which we did without much trouble.
So now I have an overpriced rear tire and an underpaid fitter. All we need is for Jacques to unlock his posse so that the job can get underway...
You'll also see the BMW of Jacobus (from the garage) who popped in to check that we're getting the help we need. All in all it was a town effort to get us underway again (and a lesser extent fund the Snyman Trust).
I need to find a way to get fresh flowers to Carnarvon. Any ideas?
By 10am we were fitting the new tire...
And by 11h we were full of hope with a tire full of air and a bank account full of nothing, ready to leave our tire troubles and financial woes behind with the prospect of long dirt roads leading to Verneukpan!
Topic: Dads & Lads: Namaqualand & Karoo 2019 (Complete / Volledig) (Read 4799 times)
