Little bolt spoils two days

Small things are capable of much more than just amusing small minds. They can cause havoc in otherwise well-organised lives. This week I was in Pretoria for work and minutes after leaving late in the afternoon, my car indicated that the radiator was low on coolant.

I stopped at a service station but when I opened the bonnet, I saw a small plastic screw on the radiator had disintegrated and water was gushing out.

There was a spare parts dealer across the road, but I didn’t want to walk into their shop unprepared.

Women won’t be happy, for example, if they attend an event in the same outfit as someone else.

Similarly, men believe it’s an insult to our masculinity to ask for a spare car part if we don’t know the correct name.

Luckily, I had my cellphone. I googled the name of the little plastic bolt that is used for bleeding the radiator.

It’s called a plastic radiator bleeding bolt, my cellphone told me. Who would have actually thought?

But knowledge isn’t just power. By the time I had learned the name of the bolt, the spares shop was closed.

I taped the leak shut as well as I could, parked my car at the Menlyn shopping centre and Ubered home.

After a night of worries about the safety of my vehicle, I had to use the lovely Snapdragon’s car to drop little Egg off at school.

She was in a foul mood.

“I don’t want to go to school. I hate netball. And I hate homework,” she told me.

“Your life is a party,” I replied. “I have to Uber to Pretoria, hunt down a bleeding bolt and fix my car.”

“There’s no need for such language,” she said.

Eventually I arrived in Pretoria. My car was safe, I tracked the bolt down and within three minutes I was ready to go.

But such a small thing as that little bolt spoilt two days.

Very soon, we will participate in landmark elections.

My ID card is ready, I have a shortlist of parties I may decide to vote for and I know exactly where my local polling station is.

No bleeding, no bolts. I’m dedicated to be part of our country’s solution.

I may not be much of a mechanic, but I’m a good citizen.

And small things won’t prevent me from continuing to be one.