I don't like Wednesdays - although this is generally because nothing interesting happens on a Wednesday. Today turned out to be more interesting than I would have liked.

When I got to my car after work it was horribly hot, so I set off with the windows down - and realised there was a dragging noise somewhere in the vicinity of the left side of my car. I'd just been on that side and hadn't seen anything, but I was just in the right place to pull over into a spare space in a layby. And discovered that my left front tyre was as flat as a pancake.

Since this has never happened to me before, my first instinct was panic. And then ring the RAC. So they said they'd be about 45 minutes. So I cleared the rubbish out of my boot so they could get to the spare wheel. Today would be the day that I'd forgotten my book. But I thought I'd stay with the car while it cooled down. Which it had, quite nicely, by the time they rang me an hour later to tell me it could be another hour...

At which point I went back into work on the basis that I needed food, drink and a toilet. At which point I realised I was carrying a bag containing five cereal bars, two 200g bars of chocolate and two jars of pasta sauce. Not that you can eat pasta sauce on its own, but I certainly wasn't going to starve.

Since I wasn't there, this meant that the RAC man dropped off his last job round the corner and was therefore at my car before I was. In fact, by the time I got there he had the jack under it and was in the process of taking the wheel off.

He couldn't find anything that caused it. And he remembered that he'd just seen a tyre place around the corner that I'd forgotten that existed. So I will be paying them a call tomorrow morning, and doubtless handing over larger sums of cash than I planned to spend this month.

It turns out that the spare wheel is horrible to drive with. I had always just assumed that all five wheels were the same, but not. This one is smaller. You can't go above 50mph, but I wouldn't want to. Apart from the fact that it smells of new tyre, once you go fast it sounds terrible going along the road, and makes the steering wheel and pedals vibrate.

And all that time I spent hanging round the left side of my car (which I rarely go to) made me notice how scratched it was. It took me a while to remember that was caused by Tuesday last week when I drove into a hedge. So at the weekend I'll be taking it to Tescos for a wash and then see about polishing or painting it, depending on what makes it look more cared for...

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