Cheeky Little Thing

My friend laughed at me today.

That's not unusual, I'm used to people I know having a chuckle at my expense but I was a little surprised this time.

I've never been a car person. A box on wheels that gets you from A to B, is how I've always thought of it. I know I'm unusual and  most people see what they drive as an extension of their personality.

The Long Suffering Husband despairs of me. He is a design engineer for a large car company and buys a new car every 9 months. When we got married, my Dad hoped, in his speech, that the LSH kept a wife longer than he kept a car. Luckily, he is too busy changing his car to change his wife; he doesn't have the energy for too much variety. I am driving a Fiesta that he changed for something faster or bigger about 11 or 12 years ago. He keeps asking me if I think it's time for a new one but it still works, so why would I?

Today instead of driving my Fiesta that I call 'Apple' in a South African accent I had the LSHs car. This caused me several problems. The first of which, was that my friend laughed at me and asked where Ethel was. (I might need to work on my South African diction). Clearly, his car isn't a good extension of my personality. Although, I can't see much difference - they are both blue.

I couldn't go swimming or to the allotment in his car because my cossie was in the boot of my car and because I'm not allowed to get  mud in his.

Then, people were pulling up at traffic lights next to me and making weird signs. They pulled up, looked over, pointed at the lights, the road, grabbed the steering wheel and made 'vroom vroom' noises. I smiled and waved back and when the lights changed they sped away. At the next lights they always seemed very surprised. Occasionally, they would tap the window to get me to wind mine down. Then they asked me questions I didn't understand. "Is it an ST4?" No it's a car. "What's the engine size?" I have looked under the bonnet and can say it looks the same size as most cars. Then say say things like, "it's a cheeky little thing, isn't it."

They have no idea just how cheeky. This is my biggest problem with driving the LSH's car. It pinches your bum as you go along. It has Recaro seats that make getting in and out very difficult, with sides that hug you. These seats are definitely not built for comfort and you feel every tiny bump in the road. There is a groove on the part you sit on which opens and closes with the vibration of the car, as you go along; pinching your bum throughout the whole drive. 

Life is so much easier when you drive a car that no one is interested in.