A passing of time… today I gave up my beautiful car and driving!!! Such a huge change after being on the road for almost 60 years!!!! All those years, all those miles. All those wonderful places…
I loved driving and always thought I was rather good at it, having completed all those years without even a bump! I supposed I must have been.
Driving at times with great stress placed upon me. A child needing to reach the hospital quickly, a husband unconscious in the passenger seat!! Chasing a coach to the next stop, when my dear Dad had made a mistake on times when going on holiday with a friend – we made it. Just a few of the memories of brake-neck speed. I am proud that i was always very alert, with that quick clear thinking that is SO needed when on the roads or the odd desert track…
I have loved every single minute of it, with the music playing and a youngster in the back learning the words to some great songs and singing along with me. The delights of those days. Oh that passing of time…
I still have a few years on my licence with no medical recommendations, although I have not driven at night for sometime, but feel the time to retire from driving is now. I want to end with a good record and never be a danger to others.
I now have two very good apps for taxis on my phone, a good free bus service into Lincoln and elsewhere but oh! for the early days of speeding down the the M40 into London and the trek of the A1 and traversing the odd roundabout in Cairo and of course the then desert roads of Dubai to AlAin, Abu Dhabi and further afield. Someone kept me safe during those times?? I did love speed!!! Only being booked twice!
Some very hairy times driving through the desert in fierce storms (remember Jenny) only those that have done it will know how difficult it can be, especially in the early days, missing the free roaming camels was a skill.
I will miss the wind in my hair, the open road of youth and the smell of a new car but most of all I will miss driving, you were my friend…