First Cars

I can't believe it. Lee's actually bought a car (I've decided to come over all Ceasar-ish and write my journals in the third person. I'm not talking about myself, I can assure you). If you're reading this Lee, happy motoring.

Back in March I bought myself a new car, only my second since I passed my test back in August of 1995. For eight and a half years I drove an M-reg 1995 Vauxhall Corsa, originally in "Flame" red but latterly in partial pink. Never buy a red, non-metallic car, it will inevitably turn pink, or possibly orange. But, in spite of its cosmetic faults I truly loved that car. Aside from a dodgy window (that was eventually fixed by the incompetents at my local Vauxhall dealer after about four attempts at fixing the wrong part), it never went wrong in any major way. I had a couple of accidents in it, neither of which were my fault, at least as far as the insurance companies were concerned. I might have been responsible for the multi-car pile up that ensued after I mistook a right turning stop light for a straight on one whilst on my way to Kingston. The cars behind me were too close and piled into each other in my wake. I escaped after a small bump in the rear from the car behind which left me entirely unscathed. The other accident where some idiot in a tiny Bedford van pulled out from a side road on me was entirely his fault. I managed to stop just about in time, only lightly bumping the imbecile, only to have the fool move the van across my front scraping my bumper. The cheeky bastard had the gall to say that it didn’t matter if my car was a bit damaged since my paint was so faded. Bastard. I’m glad I eventually got the money put of him, but not before some considerable trouble with my insurance company. The bastards took months sort it out. They even tried to charge me more for my renewal because the claim hadn’t been settled. I actually had to say that I wasn’t going to pursue the claim to get a cheap renewal (in the end I found a new insurance company. Actually, the same insurance company through a different broker that somehow worked out drastically cheaper.), but fortunately, a week later, I got a letter from the idiot van drivers insurance company saying that they were going to pay for my repairs. Very serendipitous.

But there are good memories that go along with my little Corsa. It was the car that saw me through 4 of my 5 university years (I only got it just before my second year when I was living quite a way off campus). People I loved travelled with me in that car, friends that I cherished. One friend even tried to name it Colin (alliteration again). It didn’t stick.

It was reliable, I don’t remember it ever letting me down, but in the last few months I started to worry that it would. I worried enough to buy a new car, a 2002 Vauxhall Astra 1.6 litre SXi in Blue (my favourite colour) from a dealer in Reading (equally useless, they gave me a flat battery. Fortunately I made the journey back without stalling. The dead battery would have prevented me from getting it going again.) On the way there I hit terrible traffic. A journey that should have taken little more than an hour took nearly three times that. My little Corsa held just about made the final journey, though the wheezing coming from the front suggested that it was more than a little sick.

Just as I drove away from the dealer in my new car I looked back at the little red Corsa that had been my companion for so long, The little, red Corsa that I had shard so much with. I bid it a fond farewell. It was time to move on, I knew that. The trip to Reading had proved as much. But I still felt like I was leaving an important part of my past behind in a dealers forecourt in Reading.

So Lee, enjoy your first car. You’ll never have another like it.