We fled Glasgow on the A-82 heading to Fort William. The "A" designates
that the route is a major highway. The two digit number seems to
indicate something else. The A-82 is a wide, well marked road while
passing through the boring scenery of suburban Glasgow. As soon as the
scenery started getting interesting, the road became narrow and twisty.

How narrow was it?

On the shore of Loch Lomond, I was delighted to find a stop light. There
was no cross road or crosswalk. On the left was a mountain, on the
right, the Loch. The stop light was red, so I stopped. I was a bit
bewildered about having to stop in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't
even a haggis crossing sign.

The light changed and I proceeded. I went around the bend and found the
reason for the light; there was a stretch of single lane roadway. This
wasn't a case of ongoing road works, The road was just wide enough for a
single vehicle and there was every indication that it had been that way
for decades. This situation made clear the meaning of signs that I had
seen that I hadn't liked in the least little bit: "Oncoming vehicles in
middle of road". These signs seem to be used where they didn't want to
install the red lights.

Following the rule that I had observed, the more spectacular the
scenery, the worse the road, the road continued to deteriorate. I became
distracted by the sight of a large mountain immediately on my right. It
was covered with heather and had multiple waterfalls cascading down
it's flanks. The car drifted to the left, the road narrowed, the edge of
the road became ragged, the left tires left the road and returned to the
pavement with a violent thud.

I immediately detected the distinct absence of air in the left front
tire and pulled into a conveniently located car park (clearly intended
to be a viewing point for the mountain that had distracted me. It was
cold, dreary and rainy as I changed the front tire. As I was putting the
spare on I noticed a distinct hissing sound. The rear tire was deflating
as I worked.

By the time I had finished putting the spare tire on the front, the rear
tire was flat. I leaned the flat I had removed up against the car, put
on the four way flashers and we waited for help. There was a bit of
traffic and I was hoping that someone with a mobile phone would call the
local constable to see that we got help. Nothing happened. For over an
hour nothing happened. Other than more rain and wind.

I decided that more direct action on my part would be required, so I got
out of the car and stood in the rain waiting for another car to come by.
After a few minutes (sufficient to get me quite wet) a car approached. I
flagged the driver down and he stopped. He got out of his car wearing a
pair of well worn, white overalls and asked me what the problem was and
where we were going.

I told him and he proceeded to take a hydraulic jack, a breaker bar and
an cordless impact wrench out of his car along with his own spare tire.
He removed the second flat tire and put his spare on my rental car
(fortunately both were Vauxhalls), loaded both of the flats into the
back of his estate wagon. He introduced himself as Jimmy and said that
he really wasn't a mechanic. In fact, he was an interior decorator. His
daughter competes in road rallies and he drives behind her as a support
vehicle, hence the ability to change tires quickly (and often, it would
seem).

He lead us up through Glen Coe (magnificent scenery, miserable road)
directly to a tire service center in Fort William. About fifteen minutes
after arriving at the tire place, I had two new Continental tires that
matched the original tires mounted on freshly straightened wheels,
balanced and ready to go. I was about 135 pounds lighter, though that's
not the kind of weight loss my doctor has recommended. The car was
missing a wheel cover as the impact had sent the front wheel cover flying.

In the flurry of activity centered on replacing the two ruined tires,
Jimmy very nearly got away without my having the chance to thank him. I
managed to get to him before he took off. I asked him if he lived
locally, thinking I would buy him a pint later that evening. He said no,
he lived in Oban. I reckon he went about 30 miles out of his way to help
us out. When I asked him how I could thank him he said "Just call it
Highland hospitality" and took off.

If you have a mind to, lift a pint for Jimmy. I know I have and will.

Matthew (Graeme said the Scots would be like that, He is right)

PS. Continued on next rock.

"Matthew L. Martin" wrote in message
...
We fled Glasgow on the A-82 heading to Fort William. The "A" designates
that the route is a major highway. The two digit number seems to
indicate something else. The A-82 is a wide, well marked road while
passing through the boring scenery of suburban Glasgow. As soon as the
scenery started getting interesting, the road became narrow and twisty.

How narrow was it?

On the shore of Loch Lomond, I was delighted to find a stop light. There
was no cross road or crosswalk. On the left was a mountain, on the
right, the Loch. The stop light was red, so I stopped. I was a bit
bewildered about having to stop in the middle of nowhere. There wasn't
even a haggis crossing sign.

The light changed and I proceeded. I went around the bend and found the
reason for the light; there was a stretch of single lane roadway. This
wasn't a case of ongoing road works, The road was just wide enough for a
single vehicle and there was every indication that it had been that way
for decades. This situation made clear the meaning of signs that I had
seen that I hadn't liked in the least little bit: "Oncoming vehicles in
middle of road". These signs seem to be used where they didn't want to
install the red lights.

Following the rule that I had observed, the more spectacular the
scenery, the worse the road, the road continued to deteriorate. I became
distracted by the sight of a large mountain immediately on my right. It
was covered with heather and had multiple waterfalls cascading down
it's flanks. The car drifted to the left, the road narrowed, the edge of
the road became ragged, the left tires left the road and returned to the
pavement with a violent thud.

I immediately detected the distinct absence of air in the left front
tire and pulled into a conveniently located car park (clearly intended
to be a viewing point for the mountain that had distracted me. It was
cold, dreary and rainy as I changed the front tire. As I was putting the
spare on I noticed a distinct hissing sound. The rear tire was deflating
as I worked.

By the time I had finished putting the spare tire on the front, the rear
tire was flat. I leaned the flat I had removed up against the car, put
on the four way flashers and we waited for help. There was a bit of
traffic and I was hoping that someone with a mobile phone would call the
local constable to see that we got help. Nothing happened. For over an
hour nothing happened. Other than more rain and wind.

I decided that more direct action on my part would be required, so I got
out of the car and stood in the rain waiting for another car to come by.
After a few minutes (sufficient to get me quite wet) a car approached. I
flagged the driver down and he stopped. He got out of his car wearing a
pair of well worn, white overalls and asked me what the problem was and
where we were going.

I told him and he proceeded to take a hydraulic jack, a breaker bar and
an cordless impact wrench out of his car along with his own spare tire.
He removed the second flat tire and put his spare on my rental car
(fortunately both were Vauxhalls), loaded both of the flats into the
back of his estate wagon. He introduced himself as Jimmy and said that
he really wasn't a mechanic. In fact, he was an interior decorator. His
daughter competes in road rallies and he drives behind her as a support
vehicle, hence the ability to change tires quickly (and often, it would
seem).

He lead us up through Glen Coe (magnificent scenery, miserable road)
directly to a tire service center in Fort William. About fifteen minutes
after arriving at the tire place, I had two new Continental tires that
matched the original tires mounted on freshly straightened wheels,
balanced and ready to go. I was about 135 pounds lighter, though that's
not the kind of weight loss my doctor has recommended. The car was
missing a wheel cover as the impact had sent the front wheel cover flying.

In the flurry of activity centered on replacing the two ruined tires,
Jimmy very nearly got away without my having the chance to thank him. I
managed to get to him before he took off. I asked him if he lived
locally, thinking I would buy him a pint later that evening. He said no,
he lived in Oban. I reckon he went about 30 miles out of his way to help
us out. When I asked him how I could thank him he said "Just call it
Highland hospitality" and took off.

If you have a mind to, lift a pint for Jimmy. I know I have and will.

Matthew (Graeme said the Scots would be like that, He is right)

PS. Continued on next rock.


Purposely not snipped

Why am I smiling? First it was the Glasgow road system (agreed, it's a
nightmare) and now this:-)

I think you were lucky to bump into Jimmy, and don't worry Matthew, I'll get
a pint bought for him. I have several friends close from Oban who know Jimmy
Allan
(my mother is in Oban as I type this). His daughter is in the news a lot as
she races Vauxhall's, hence the speedy tyre change!

Who said the Scot's were mean:-)

Eagerly awaiting your next instalment. Surely it gets better.

Sorry about the weather, you were forewarned.

Graeme

Graeme...in London wrote:


Why am I smiling? First it was the Glasgow road system (agreed, it's a
nightmare) and now this:-)

I think you were lucky to bump into Jimmy,

Damned right! Everyone who has heard this story thinks he is pretty
remarkable.

and don't worry Matthew, I'll get
a pint bought for him. I have several friends close from Oban who know Jimmy
Allan
(my mother is in Oban as I type this).

Great! I'd really appreciate it if you could do so.

His daughter is in the news a lot as
she races Vauxhall's, hence the speedy tyre change!

She would be Linda?

Who said the Scot's were mean:-)

Or taciturn?

Eagerly awaiting your next instalment. Surely it gets better.

There are ups and downs in every adventure. We will be dining out on the
Jimmy Allan story for some time:-)

Sorry about the weather, you were forewarned.

Yes, we knew what we were getting into, but that story is on the next rock.

Matthew

"Graeme...in London" wrote:
....cut alot ofcrap

Who said the Scot's were mean:-)
Eagerly awaiting your next instalment. Surely it gets better.
Sorry about the weather, you were forewarned.
Graeme

You scorn people for top-posting yet you quoted probably 200 lines of an
off topic thread, come on?

-CAL

Great story, Matthew. My wife and daughter were in Scotland last month and
must have driven on the same road(s), from their descriptions. And how neat
is it that Graeme knows Jimmy the Good Samaritan Scotsman?

Jack Curry
small world, narrow roads-

"Jack Curry" Jack-CurryRemove wrote in message
...
Great story, Matthew. My wife and daughter were in Scotland last month
and
must have driven on the same road(s), from their descriptions. And how
neat
is it that Graeme knows Jimmy the Good Samaritan Scotsman?

Jack Curry
small world, narrow roads-



Jack,

I feel I can pre-empt the next tale. Please tell us Matthew that you didn't
travel on one of the worlds finest steam train journeys and couldn't see out
of the window.

I was watching the weather forecasts, hourly, and I was really fearing the
worst.

Oban, is a superb little fishing port and has a very tight nit community,
and yes, Linda it is. She is a local hero with her exploits in taking on the
men at rally driving. Probably one of the better women drivers:-)

Sorry I couldn't hook up. Believe me, I was riddled with guilt for not being
seen to be making an effort.

Graeme

"Graeme...in London" wrote in message
...

"Jack Curry" Jack-CurryRemove wrote in message
...
Great story, Matthew. My wife and daughter were in Scotland last month
and
must have driven on the same road(s), from their descriptions. And how
neat
is it that Graeme knows Jimmy the Good Samaritan Scotsman?

Jack Curry
small world, narrow roads-



Jack,

I feel I can pre-empt the next tale. Please tell us Matthew that you
didn't
travel on one of the worlds finest steam train journeys and couldn't see
out
of the window.

I was watching the weather forecasts, hourly, and I was really fearing the
worst.

Oban, is a superb little fishing port and has a very tight nit community,
and yes, Linda it is. She is a local hero with her exploits in taking on
the
men at rally driving. Probably one of the better women drivers:-)

Sorry I couldn't hook up. Believe me, I was riddled with guilt for not
being
seen to be making an effort.

Graeme



Wow, that's two efforts you failed to make now. LOL. We'll send pix.

kili

Graeme...in London wrote:


I feel I can pre-empt the next tale. Please tell us Matthew that you didn't
travel on one of the worlds finest steam train journeys and couldn't see out
of the window.

Please wait for the next rock!

I was watching the weather forecasts, hourly, and I was really fearing the
worst.

I'll be including reports of the weather as we went along:-)

Oban, is a superb little fishing port and has a very tight nit community,
and yes, Linda it is. She is a local hero with her exploits in taking on the
men at rally driving. Probably one of the better women drivers:-)

Sorry I couldn't hook up. Believe me, I was riddled with guilt for not being
seen to be making an effort.

I believe that you made the effort, I just can't resist tweaking you
about it:-)

Matthew

"Matthew L. Martin" wrote in message
...

snipped

In the flurry of activity centered on replacing the two ruined tires,
Jimmy very nearly got away without my having the chance to thank him. I
managed to get to him before he took off. I asked him if he lived
locally, thinking I would buy him a pint later that evening. He said no,
he lived in Oban. I reckon he went about 30 miles out of his way to help
us out. When I asked him how I could thank him he said "Just call it
Highland hospitality" and took off.

If you have a mind to, lift a pint for Jimmy. I know I have and will.

Matthew (Graeme said the Scots would be like that, He is right)


Matthew,

Just to let you know that Jimmy finally received a drink on your behalf, but
only just, as he had recently moved home and took a bit of tracking down,
but find him we did.

A bottle of claret and a white burgundy were delivered to his doorstep on
boxing day, along with a card.

He passes on his warmest regards.

Graeme

Graeme...in London wrote:

"Matthew L. Martin" wrote in message
...

snipped

In the flurry of activity centered on replacing the two ruined tires,
Jimmy very nearly got away without my having the chance to thank him. I
managed to get to him before he took off. I asked him if he lived
locally, thinking I would buy him a pint later that evening. He said no,
he lived in Oban. I reckon he went about 30 miles out of his way to help
us out. When I asked him how I could thank him he said "Just call it
Highland hospitality" and took off.

If you have a mind to, lift a pint for Jimmy. I know I have and will.

Matthew (Graeme said the Scots would be like that, He is right)



Matthew,

Just to let you know that Jimmy finally received a drink on your behalf, but
only just, as he had recently moved home and took a bit of tracking down,
but find him we did.

A bottle of claret and a white burgundy were delivered to his doorstep on
boxing day, along with a card.

He passes on his warmest regards.


Thanks from both of us, Graeme.

I would have loved to have gotten the exchange on video. I imagine he
was a tad suprprised. It couldn't have happened to a nicer fellow.

Matthew

--
Thermodynamics and/or Golf for dummies: There is a game
You can't win
You can't break even
You can't get out of the game

"Matthew L. Martin" wrote in message
...
Graeme...in London wrote:

"Matthew L. Martin" wrote in message
...

snipped

In the flurry of activity centered on replacing the two ruined tires,
Jimmy very nearly got away without my having the chance to thank him. I
managed to get to him before he took off. I asked him if he lived
locally, thinking I would buy him a pint later that evening. He said no,
he lived in Oban. I reckon he went about 30 miles out of his way to help
us out. When I asked him how I could thank him he said "Just call it
Highland hospitality" and took off.

If you have a mind to, lift a pint for Jimmy. I know I have and will.

Matthew (Graeme said the Scots would be like that, He is right)



Matthew,

Just to let you know that Jimmy finally received a drink on your behalf,
but
only just, as he had recently moved home and took a bit of tracking
down,
but find him we did.

A bottle of claret and a white burgundy were delivered to his doorstep
on
boxing day, along with a card.

He passes on his warmest regards.


Thanks from both of us, Graeme.

I would have loved to have gotten the exchange on video. I imagine he
was a tad suprprised. It couldn't have happened to a nicer fellow.

Matthew


My friend, Isobel did the delivery on my/our behalf, and obviously she had
never met Jimmy. I understand the conversation went as follows:

Ding-Dong

Isobel: "Are you Jimmy Allen?"

Jimmy: "Yes. Why?"

Isobel: "This is strange, but I have a friend in London, who has a friend in
the US, who would like to say thank you for helping him out"

Jimmy: huge laugh "That will be the chap with 2 flat tyres"

It transpires that my friend Isobel's sister is extremely friendly with
Jimmy's brother (who also races Vauxhall's). What a small world.

Graeme

Graeme...in London wrote:

"Matthew L. Martin" wrote in message
...

Graeme...in London wrote:


"Matthew L. Martin" wrote in message
...

snipped

In the flurry of activity centered on replacing the two ruined tires,
Jimmy very nearly got away without my having the chance to thank him. I
managed to get to him before he took off. I asked him if he lived
locally, thinking I would buy him a pint later that evening. He said no,
he lived in Oban. I reckon he went about 30 miles out of his way to help
us out. When I asked him how I could thank him he said "Just call it
Highland hospitality" and took off.

If you have a mind to, lift a pint for Jimmy. I know I have and will.

Matthew (Graeme said the Scots would be like that, He is right)



Matthew,

Just to let you know that Jimmy finally received a drink on your behalf,

but

only just, as he had recently moved home and took a bit of tracking

down,

but find him we did.

A bottle of claret and a white burgundy were delivered to his doorstep

on

boxing day, along with a card.

He passes on his warmest regards.


Thanks from both of us, Graeme.

I would have loved to have gotten the exchange on video. I imagine he
was a tad suprprised. It couldn't have happened to a nicer fellow.

Matthew



My friend, Isobel did the delivery on my/our behalf, and obviously she had
never met Jimmy. I understand the conversation went as follows:

Ding-Dong

Isobel: "Are you Jimmy Allen?"

Jimmy: "Yes. Why?"

Isobel: "This is strange, but I have a friend in London, who has a friend in
the US, who would like to say thank you for helping him out"

Jimmy: huge laugh "That will be the chap with 2 flat tyres"

It transpires that my friend Isobel's sister is extremely friendly with
Jimmy's brother (who also races Vauxhall's). What a small world.


It seems to get smaller every day. Thanks again. Should I send a check
or wait until I can settle up in person:-?

Matthew

--
Thermodynamics and/or Golf for dummies: There is a game
You can't win
You can't break even
You can't get out of the game

"Matthew L. Martin" wrote in message
...

snipped

It seems to get smaller every day. Thanks again. Should I send a check
or wait until I can settle up in person:-?

Matthew


You can owe me and we'll settle up in person. I might knock on your door and
sample some Q from your new kamado's one day.

Graeme (they should arrive any month now)

Graeme...in London wrote:

"Matthew L. Martin" wrote in message
...

snipped

It seems to get smaller every day. Thanks again. Should I send a check
or wait until I can settle up in person:-?

Matthew



You can owe me and we'll settle up in person. I might knock on your door and
sample some Q from your new kamado's one day.

You and yours would be most welcome. Now that the dollar is in the
toilet, you can probably make the fare. I suspect it would be all of
$19.95:-(

Matthew

--
Thermodynamics and/or Golf for dummies: There is a game
You can't win
You can't break even
You can't get out of the game

"Graeme...in London" wrote:
"Matthew L. Martin" wrote in message
Graeme...in London wrote:
"Matthew L. Martin" wrote in message
snipped
In the flurry of activity centered on replacing the two ruined tires,
Jimmy very nearly got away without my having the chance to thank him.
I managed to get to him before he took off. I asked him if he lived
locally, thinking I would buy him a pint later that evening. He said
no, he lived in Oban. I reckon he went about 30 miles out of his way
to help us out. When I asked him how I could thank him he said "Just
call it Highland hospitality" and took off.

If you have a mind to, lift a pint for Jimmy. I know I have and will.

Matthew (Graeme said the Scots would be like that, He is right)

Matthew,

Just to let you know that Jimmy finally received a drink on your
behalf, but only just, as he had recently moved home and took a bit
of tracking down, but find him we did.

A bottle of claret and a white burgundy were delivered to his
doorstep on boxing day, along with a card.

He passes on his warmest regards.

Thanks from both of us, Graeme.

I would have loved to have gotten the exchange on video. I imagine he
was a tad suprprised. It couldn't have happened to a nicer fellow.

My friend, Isobel did the delivery on my/our behalf, and obviously she
had never met Jimmy. I understand the conversation went as follows:

Ding-Dong

Isobel: "Are you Jimmy Allen?"

Jimmy: "Yes. Why?"

Isobel: "This is strange, but I have a friend in London, who has a friend
in the US, who would like to say thank you for helping him out"

Jimmy: huge laugh "That will be the chap with 2 flat tyres"

It transpires that my friend Isobel's sister is extremely friendly with
Jimmy's brother (who also races Vauxhall's). What a small world.

I trust that Jimmy was also pleased to see the beautiful Isobela at his
door. I know I would have been!

--
Nick. To find out more about helping with tsunami relief, go to the web
site of the Center for International Disaster Information
http://www.cidi.org/
Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops! You are not forgotten. Thanks.