Thursday, March 20, 2008

The Long and Winding Road

I read recently that car sales are down amongst the young and hip in Japan. Apparently they would rather spend their disposable income on other stuff.

Clearly I won't be moving to Japan anytime soon as after spending a little over a month as a carless girl in a big city I GLEEFULLY signed the papers on Tuesday to spend a decent chunk of change on a car every month.

I had this fantasy when moved that perhaps I could leave behind the headache of commuting and traffic and insurance and rising gas prices and live my life unfettered by an automobile.

I guess I had supressed all memories of my "pre-auto" life. I didn't have a car in college and although I lived in a tiny town and didn't really NEED one, I was always certain that my life would have changed in dramatic ways if I had the independence afforded by a vehicle. When I finally owned my first car at the advanced age of 23, I discovered I was correct. Having a car is indeed the ticket to freedom you spend all your early teen years dreaming it will be.

My new roommate has been so kind and so patient as she tweaked her schedule to take me on errands, let me tag along on trips to the gym and included me in social plans so I wasn't stuck in our apartment every cold, dark evening but that was starting to wear thin. I probably could have tried harder to make it work but it quickly became clear-I really wanted a car.

So I finally bought one last weekend and I am completely in love. I took the long way home from the dealership and was all excited to run errands that I normally find dull. I went to about 10 different stores looking for something just because I could. On my way to my house this song came on the radio



It's probably more proof that while my body is definitely East Coast these days and I'm working on getting my heart on board, my little spirit remains pretty attached to the open road spaces of the West. In any event, it's good to be able to go to the grocery store and not think about how the heck I'll get this stuff home...

*edit* I wasn't going to say what I bought because it makes me sound like a total yuppie. So here's your clue-it's the swedish car company that isn't Volvo.
**second edit** for you coop, i will add a photo later.

7 comments:

Naomi said...

So what kind of car did you buy?

Tracy said...

Yes yes tell us, I can't handle that this post didn't lead up to a revelation of what the car in question actually is.

CoCo said...

Boo! I want a picture. (I think it's only fair, I mean if we lived in the same city I'd make you pick me up and take me for a ride, but seeing as that is NOT going to happen ...)

Tai said...

So did you get a 93 or the little speedy hatchback. You're getting pretty swedish these days.

Jamie said...

I'll bet you look city sophisticated in the new car!

Mary said...

Isn't Saab a Swedish company? If that is what you got I am totally jealous.

aporitic said...

Hey! Congratulations on the new car. Yadda-yadda "freedom," yadda-yadda "the open road," yadda-yadda "good times." That's cool.*

You know what else is cool? Harness boots like whats-his-name is wearing in your video there.

You know what would be SUPER cool? If you persuaded your Swedish overlords to add some harness boots to their product line. Then you can send me a pair for testing (double bonus points if they're brown). I'm hell of good at product testing.







*But seriously, look who's all mature and grown-uppy these days. Big-city-movin' and new-car-buyin' you, that's who.