Driving

I have always loved cars and driving. Dad had a passion for cars and I seem to have inherited that. Mum loves driving too and will often take herself off for a drive, for a change of scene.

When I was about 8yrs old I had a recurring dream that I had climbed into the car which was always parked on the steep road outside our cottage. Suddenly I was driving Dad’s Classic Rover on a motorway. (Sorry – don’t know the model). I was driving comfortably and went to pull over when the brakes failed. I started to panic and shouted for help. Dad appeared, running alongside the car and telling me what to do. I was able to park the car beside the local newsagent. A strange dream which I remember more than 40years later.

But since then I have always been fascinated by cars – not so radically that I know my way around an engine but enough to know what I like  – speed, quality and looks. I don’t profess to be the perfect driver, but I am careful and know how to accelerate, drive safely  and drive to the conditions. But most of all I really enjoy driving. I do know my limitations though and I’m not sure that I could manage a really high rev sports car.

On Saturday the road leading out of our town was closed because a motorbike had collided with a car. Tragically, the result was fatal.

We were diverted out of the top of the town, along country roads, which are familiar to me, but not to others. I was alarmed at how slowly the car three in front was going. Every time a car came towards us, the driver hit the brakes, causing us all to to have to react suddenly. The frustration of the car in front was palpable as he overtook at the first opportunity, narrowly pulling in when an oncoming car approached.

Roads are busier, cars are faster, drivers make terrible mistakes and the results can be devastating.

Be safe.

Driving – a poem

four wheels and an engine,

not any make will do

a pink one a blue one

4 wheel drive and sports

fill it up jump right in

hit the open road

what’s coming round the corner

slow down – if only you could