My love affair with things big and powerful does not nearly cease at men or horses. Perhaps, like yourself, I am a closet, hobby, petrol head. That is not to say that I feel I could rebuild a transmission in my kitchen, it is easier to get a divorce in most states than take on that task, but I enjoy the lot and the good company of other, fellow, petrol monkeys, and take an absurd amount of pride in changing the oil, and other such stupid nonsense.

The car is an amazing and complex machine. For example, any time we get hungry, we can simply hop into the car, pull up to the drive-through window of a fast-food restaurant, purchase a tasty hot meal, spill our coffee on our thighs and sue a major corporation for millions of dollars. I think that you will agree that this is a major step forward for civilization.

I have spent the most of my young adult years driving exciting cars, and by exciting, I mean, you never knew if, say, when you turned the key, anything was actually going to happen. I learned to drive in a 1967 Valiant on outback country roads with my grandad. To give the youth out there today, some idea of what a 1967 Valiant consisted of, I believe you could hit a brick wall with one, and the wall would be reduced to a small pile of subatomic particles, while you would adjust your mirror and drive away, laughing. Australian motoring press with Wheels magazine named this Car of the Year for 1967, just to give you an idea of what colour the unicorns in their world are.

But it was brilliant! You would pop the hood and using a screwdriver, start the beast, at best, 4 times out of 7. You had to do this, mind you, because the key had become lost or jammed or something, and while anyone else could have done this as well, and stolen it, well, no one ever did.

Rotten luck.

Recently, I bought my first, ever, new car. It has one of those modern, quiet, dependable engines. All the bits in it actually work. For example, when you turn the key, it starts. Every time! It gets terrific mileage. It has a warranty, it's fully insured, and even if I have trouble of any sort, it will no doubt, in short order, be towed and rescued. It is, in a word, boring.

I have to wait a while I guess. At the rate I drive, it should be exciting in about 8-10 years. ^_~ Hope I don't get out of practice when it comes to a push start.