It is walk to school week this week. Which is fortunate as the car is currently in the garage having major surgery. Such major surgery that in fact I did wonder whether to let it just pass away quietly and send it to the great scrap heap in the sky. But we need a car for our holiday next week and the thought of buying a new car in a week just filled me with horror. So its being mended as we speak.
Whats more it does feel a bit like one of the family. Its the first car I bought all by myself for a massive £450. I like the way it has got actual bits of bare metal on the top. I like the way it brings down the tone of the road I live on. I like the way that white is my least favourite colour in a car but driving it makes me feel like a cop in a terrible '80's drama. I like the way the sunroof doesn't shut properly when opened. I like the way I forget that at the beginning of every summer and wonder to myself why I don't open the sun roof more (yep, did it again this year, had to rope in brother-in-law to help me close it). I like the way it took me and the girls all the way down to the south of France a couple of years ago. I like the way how, on the trip down, eldest could pay the tolls from the passenger seat side because, you guessed it, the drivers window doesn't work either. I particularly like the fact that the satnav will be worth more than the car. I like the fact that I have forgotten to lock it like a hundred times but it is so knackered that no-one has ever tried to nick it. I like the fact that early one morning I once found a well dressed young man asleep on the backseat who presumably was unable to make it home after a night out. I particularly like the fact that after I kicked him out and he had rather sheepishly apologised he had the gall to ask which way I was driving so I might take him home.
And in case you are wondering why I am sad enough to take a picture of my car, I'm not. Eldest daughter did. I can only assume that she feels the same way about it as I do.
In Mexico my ceel phone was worth more than my car and I had one of those old crap phones that didn't even have a camera.
ReplyDeleteIt was good to own a piece or scrap metal though when the lock on the door stopped working.
Now I drive a (slightly) newer Daihatsu, but I still get looks from the weirdos in the 'Tuscan' castles that I live amongst.
Also, you have a SUNROOF. How lucky are you.
Nice. I have a ceel phone. Some sort of new technology perhaps?
ReplyDeleteHow lucky am I? Why my cup runneth over. :-) But a ceel phone is right up there on my "wish list of cool gadgets" to own.
ReplyDeleteI love the guy sleeping in your vehicle asking for a lift.
ReplyDeleteIasa - must admit that after the shock it kind of made my morning!
ReplyDeleteIt amazes me how we can get so attached to a vehicle. I am the same, think of it as part of the family!
ReplyDeletethey are a part of the family....that's why they usually get named and loved and abused a little.....
ReplyDeletelove your story !
Lorac and Beth - so relieved to hear its not just me!
ReplyDeleteI'm a stubborn walker... not for some ecological reason... I'm only afraid of all the other cars that populate the streets... I'd like to drive in a desert with no other people around!!! I've got driving license and I had a little, funny, red coral car... when I had to drive her (yes..."her") to the scrap yard my kids cried... and me too! ...it's not just you :)
ReplyDeleteBye!
A whole car for 450 pounds? It must have a whole history to it for this money. Old cars are definitely much more interesting than new cars.
ReplyDeleteAnd I love it that this guy asked you for the lift.
Polly - Yup whole car for that money. It came with a free tube of super glue which is unfortunately stuck to the dashboard. I can only imagine some repair incident that went horribly wrong. I expect the would be repairer narrowly escaped getting getting his fingers stuck to the radio or something....
ReplyDeleteChiara - I SO understand the crying thing with the kids. Exact same thing here with a different car.