My wife and I are from Coffs Harbour. We were passing through Armidale on Saturday, October 9, to deliver a horse to Tamworth, when our horse float blew a tire.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
We were stuck at the Caltex by the airport, when an older gentlemen pulled up. He enquired about our trouble and I explained that I couldn't remove the spare or the damaged tire because the rims had non-standard openings and the socket wrench I had was too big.
He mentioned that he might have the right fitting at home. I told him the NRMA was on the way and I didn't want to bother him. He smiled and said: "It's no bother, I'm from Armidale."
HAVE YOUR SAY: CLICK HERE TO SEND A LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Sure enough in 15 minutes he was back with the correct socket. He said the socket was damaged, but he had put it into a vice and tried to fix it as best he could.
While the socket fit, the rusted nuts wouldn't budge. He wished me luck and insisted I keep the socket as a present, before driving away.
The NRMA driver showed up and he tried two or three sockets before announcing he didn't have a socket that would fit and he'd have to go get help.
"Ah-ha" I said, pulling the gentleman's gift from my pocket. "Try this."
Sure enough the socket saved the day and we got back on the road.
I hope the happy ending of this story gets back to that gentleman, and warms the hearts of the good people of Armidale with the thought that when a stranger needed help it was no problem for someone "from Armidale".
