When having a flat you (or somebody else) should always find out why you are getting a flat. Find out where on the tube is the hole. If it looks like something on the road punctured your tyre look carefully for a piece of glas, wire or a thorn stuck in your tyre. This is then going to put a hole in your new tube, and the next, and the next..

If the hole is on the innside it could be from a spoke sticking out innside the rim. It then has to be filed down. Your shop should look into this also when replacing the tube.

Third is the "snake bite" hole. Two small holes on the side of the tube. This is from riding over something like a sharpish edge of a sidewalk or similar with not enough air in the tube. The rim is then going to hit the edge and pinch two small holes in the tube.

Sounds strange with the valve breaking fom you trying to pump it. I always use the tubes with car type valves as I find them strong and easy to deal with.

Getting a flat when the bike is parking indicates that it is a small leak of som type and therefor not rare really.

The tube is not the problem as such, it is the tyres that are "letting the glas or metal into the tube", The tyres should protect the tube.

You can get "tire liners", long thin strips made of some tough material like Kevlar to put between your present tyre and tube to help shut the nasty stuff out.

You can buy new almost puncture resistant tyres that are not cheap but still cheaper than buying tube after tube and paying friends for fuel to pick you up.

You could keep costs down by learning to patch the tubes and search the tyres for glass and stuff but that is not an option for you. Also you still need to keep pumping more air into your bikes wheels every week or so and you can not really do that without help.

I suggest you go for "safe over fast" and get some puncture proof tyres for your bike. That is tyres made totally from some sort of hard foam, often used on wheelchairs and walkers but also on bikes. Ask your bikeshop or search this forum. They are being discussed from time to time. Most peopel who try them (comuters and peopel who ride quite fast and far) say they are less fast and not as comfortable as pneumatic tyres, but I think that is a small price to pay for someone in your situation.

I made a search: http://www.bikeforums.net/search.php?searchid=3314903

Edit: http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...puncture+proof