Life is too short to drive boring cars!

Who said “Life is too short to drive boring cars”?

No one told me when I hopped in my first bright red convertible that real life does not always deliver what you dream about. Life is indeed short! However, in spite of good intentions you get to drive plenty of boring cars.

My first real car was a second-hand gold coloured Ford Escort I nicknamed Ernie. I bought Ernie on a student loan for $3,000 in the 1980’s. I qualified for my driver’s license in Ernie.  I drove through flooded rivers (with my nervous Nanna as a passenger) and learned to navigate the traffic of the big smoke in this little car.  Whilst Ernie suffered no penalty from traffic infringements or accidents, we did get into a few scrapes.  There was the embarrassing incident of side swiping a parked car while my workmates looked on from the staff-room…and there was also the matter of the brick mailbox we reversed over the top of!   Good old Ernie though, never missed a beat and would go on to be my younger sister’s first car. I would go onto another.   

Along came marriage and then came family and there was no room for impractical cars.  Country roads and recreation, along with the children’s paraphernalia called for big four-wheel drive wagons. There was a procession of those; according to budget and season. First came the old two-toned ‘cruiser, which we rattled around Australia in and almost rattled ourselves out of, before it retired. Then there was the near new white one and later, a brand-new blue one- for a season.  

Sometimes we did not get to choose the car. The time, the place and the promotion of the day would decide for us.  Occasionally though, life offered better than boring cars. 

Another forty years would pass by before I got to drive-and own another convertible. This time it was a bright blue beetle that was in the right place at the right time.   For a season I enjoyed driving around in a less than boring, shiny blue convertible Beetle. Sadly, it too had to retire when Australia’s harsh climate played havoc with the electrics. Sometimes, practical reality crashes in on your dreams.

Today, I’ve compromised. I drive a near new SUV that is bright red.   It’s not a convertible but it does have great air-conditioning and comes with new car warranty.  Who gets to define boring anyhow?!

Life is not finished yet and I can still dream.  Maybe, just maybe one day I will get to drive my very own bright, red convertible again.