Wait police catch you den you know ah....

(a story of wonderful guidance by a wonderful God)

On Sunday, hubby noticed that a rear wheel of the car was so worn out that the steel fibres were poking out. I had to get it changed ASAP. Right, more expense than I had not expected.

I finally had the time to go down to some auto shop on Thursday, and the staff at Bridgestone said, “You need to change the other rear wheel too. It's got no more grooves left.” Great, so now it's twice the unexpected expense. I was quoted $148. Per tyre. Phew! I'll think about it, then I'll call you if I need it, yeah.

I thought I'd just drive down the road to see if there happened to be another auto shop where I might perhaps save a couple of dollars. Passed by a vaguely-car-looking shop. Its banner didn't have anything remotely related to tyres, but I thought there's no harm asking. Guy at the counter had a Singaporean accent (I thought). He was very friendly, and even though they didn't offer the tyre-changing service, he came to my car to check it out for me. I told him the other shop quoted me $140. He whistled. “Tell you what. You might as well go down to the shop where we buy the tyres from, otherwise you pay us and them. I give you the address, you go there. Next time your car got problem, you come back here to us, OK.”

Of course! I could hardly believe my fortune.

While he made his first call, he asked me, “You Singaporean?” Yup. How long have you been here? “Twenty years already.”

The first shop quoted him $115. “Thanks, mate.” He hung up and said, “Too expensive.” And I thought that was quite cool already.

The second shop... “Oh, you have second-hand? Can you tell me the prices of the second-hand and the new tyres? (pause) OK, thanks mate....My friend....Yeah, she'll come down now.”
What? Just like that? What kind of louya second-hand tyres are those that he reserved for me??? I didn't even say I want them!

Turned out they were from Japan, where they get rid of cars within 4 years, and they were $48 each. NOW I could hardly. Believe. My. Fortune. He gave me directions to get there, told me to look for Brett (“Say Derek called him.”), and showed me the exact location in his street directory. “OK, you better change those tyres ASAP, else when the police catch you, they'll put a yellow sticker on your car and they will check EVERYTHING.”

So just a what-the-heck-try-my-luck chance turned up a meeting with another Singaporean (out of the other staff in the store), who called the right shop with the right tyres from the right country. Such wonderful guidance by such a wonderful God!