Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Things I’ve learned on Rota



Below is a short list of life truths that have been reinforced during my time on Rota.

1.)    Convertible pants are an extremely versatile invention
First of all, they convert between pants, shorts, and even capris, which just oozes practicality. Also, the zip off portion (between pants and shorts) proves very good for removing large, biting ants from your pants without needlessly exposing yourself to co-workers
2.)    GPS units do not lie, nor do they fully tell the truth
This is fairly self-explanatory – while these (and maps in general) do not outright lie, they often tend to withhold vital bits of information concerning your location
3.)    Your first instinct about a bird’s location is either going to be spot-on, or it will be so horribly wrong that you will be embarrassed to admit it to anyone else
Soooo many examples of this – today, I heard a bird and estimated it’s location to within 5 meters (wow!). The other day, I heard a bird, confidently strode off in the appropriate direction, only to realize that I walked 180o in the wrong direction. Sigh.
4.)    A surprisingly large number of trees are capable of sounding like crows
Reading this, it sounds like I have a severe auditory issue. But seriously, trees creaking in the wind/rubbing branches can sound like crow. Especially when you’ve been looking for 1 bird for FOUR days and haven’t seen/heard a single peep.
5.)    Boony bees show no mercy
This is the colloquial name for the local wasps – they are extremely aggressive and will sting you repeatedly if you move the branch they are on. Supposedly you should stay still, since movement pisses them off. I’ve also heard that you should run like hell. Mike really epitomized this one the other day, coming home with 19 stings L
6.)    When you have a flat tire, you should stop and fix it immediately. Also, your car owner’s manual is full of wise words of wisdom.
 Now I don’t know a lot about cars, but I can change a tire, and have done so on many previous occasions. Today, I was driving and heard a strange noise that sounded like something in the muffler – like I had hit a rock, which knocked a small hole in the exhaust system.
I kept driving (20 mph on a dirt road) about a min later, I noticed the car was pulling to the right, hmmmm
 Ok, definitely a flat tire – look! The car park I was heading toward anyways!
This is a photo of my tire after this thought process.

In total, I drove 100 m (MAYBE 150 m, tops) during this thought process. By the time it dawned on me that I had an actual flat, I drove maybe 30m to the flat, shaded car park, which I thought was a great spot for tire changing. Obviously (judging by the poor tire), this was a very poor decision. As I was looking at the owner’s manual to figure out how to lower the spare, there was a warning that if a flat occurs, you should pull over immediately, or you risk damaging your tire beyond repair. I have indeed confirmed that this is the case.

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