Every time we buy a new car, we do it.
Noel and I pack ourselves into our new car and drive out to Rangiora, an outlying suburb of Christchurch, to blow the cob-webs out of the new car and buy a present for it. It’s tradition!
The one time we didn’t follow this tradition, we had nothing but trouble with that car, so we assume that traditions must be followed and each new car must face this challenge.
So yesterday — Waitangi Day — we jumped into Warp 8 Mark III and raced out to Rangiora. Once there, I picked up a First Aid kit for the car. Not exactly the most flash of presents, but a present nonetheless!
Warp 8 Mark III, for those of you out of the loop, is my new car. I’ve got the license plates Warp 8 (being the Trekkie I am) and this is the third car to bear those license plates.
The car we decided on is a 2001 VW Beetle, yellow in colour. My nickname for it is Bumblebee, named after the Transformers character of the same name in the Generation 1 cartoons. (For those of you who saw the movie — Bumblebee was originally a VW Beetle, not a Camaro… making the scene where the new Bumblebee opens the car door at the car yard and smacks into the Beetle funny.) The girls across the street said it looked like Spongebob Squarepants without the sponge holes. Noel and Jacqui keep saying it either looks like a ready-to-pop pustule or a lump of custard, whereas Dave and James both have said, “What a gay car” (to which I replied, “Um, hello!” and “Well I don’t give a shit what anyone else thinks… I like it!”).
It comes down to I’ve always wanted a VW Beetle (either old school or new) and now I have one and I’m happy!
Now if I can just find that little Transformers Action Heroes Bumblebee so I can blue-tack him onto my dashboard, I’ll be happy…
Beam Me Up, Scotty 