Reading Tracing Rainbows this week and all the problems Angela has had with her car reminded me that this summer, we said goodbye to our car. I am not the sort of person who is too bothered about cars. I am very much an A to B person. HOH and I and I both walk to work and when the kids were at school, they got the bus so really our car is a sort of extra thing.
I am sure that it is not healthy to give feelings to an inanimate object but I have to confess to a little tear as they towed it away. I wondered for a fleeting moment if it was a bit frightened about where it was going (not to a good place) then I realised how ridiculous I was. The thing is the car has been part of our family - oh yes it has. We bought it to take me to the Christie hospital for radiotherapy and since then it has seen some life. It has been packed full of teenagers and dog on their way to the beach for evening bbqs. It has provided a safe space to open envelopes with exam results in. It has been the place that hid me when I was too shy to go into a place for the first time. It has also been the place where I cried when work was just TOO difficult. It has sheltered us from the rain and the wind and was such a welcome sight when we were waiting for lifts late at night. It has taken family members to hospital appointments and transported us all safely down south when we moved. Do NOT try and tell me that it has not been an important part of us.
However, it is now 17 years old and it had started to overheat on a regular basis so that I was more and more tense when we were in traffic. It was costing loads of money to get it through its MOT and I kind of felt it was done. So we got something else and it's fine and the kids are less embarrassed by it and it is less likely to pack in during the pouring rain or on Plymouth's most notorious roundabout. But I waved it off, at least I did in my head and it takes some precious memories with it and I am very grateful for it. You can laugh all you want.
I love the idea of "Crouch Recovery" - sounds like some sort of physiotherapist who helps you when you bend over and get stuck!! The Daewoo has been lyingin state in the church car park all weekend, but Bob drove it home after church tonight and parked it in the road outside. We went outside with two carrier bags and emptied all the stuff - atlases, pens, pot of parking money etc etc. Our friend Arran the funeral Director did offer a cremation service, but we declined - and tomorrow the man from the breakers will come and collect it. I will wave it a fond goodbye then have a cup of tea!!
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