Little things that make life good in a small town

I mused a short while ago about some of the unexpected side effects of living in a mountain biking town.

This week I had an interaction that was not so much bike related, but a nice reminder of why sometimes it is nice to be living in a small to middle sized joint.

There are many wondrous things on tap for people living in a large city, and one of them I guess is anonymity. Around our way it is hard to get away with anything, more or less every time we go to the woods or into town we are likely to see somebody we know. Usually that is good, but this week it was great.

I needed something to get ahold of a stubborn towball on the van. I have two, which I switch out depending on what needs towing. For whatever reason, this time the one and seven eighths example decided it would happily rotate on the towbar instead of allowing the nut underneath to come loose.

I wandered into the huge green hardware emporium that is my second home on some weekends, avoided buying a sausage wrapped in a slice of white bread, and made my way to the tools department. It is easy to find many things in that area that look like they might come in handy, so I usually try to avoid going in there at all. This time I had a clear idea of what needed doing, but only a vague idea of what might be the thing to do it with.

I selected a thing I thought would work, then went looking for an expert to confirm my choice of weapon. The person behind the tool department counter looked like she would be able to give a banging scone recipe, but maybe not tool advice. She was busy anyway. Quick check of the aisles revealed nobody else in uniform. 

Then I spotted Brian. He is one of Nzo’s first customers. He and his wife Lisa found us when we had only just opened the doors for the first time. He is also a farmer, and therefore much more likely to know how to do stuff than me.

I told him what I was aiming to do.

He thought the multigrips I had might work, but reckoned what I really wanted was a Stilson. OK, I said, and must have looked a bit blank. So we went back to the aisle where I got my multigrips together and found the Stilsons. 

The one I got worked a treat.

Thanks Brian.