Driving. It can be a mundane transportation solution, a convenient method of getting you from A to B. Today is different, and I won’t be clock-watching or following arbitrary orders from the car’s navigation system. Today is about letting those stresses (and all others) melt away. To focus on the car, the scenery and the next piece of tarmac on the road ahead.
The day starts before dawn, and once-routine actions such as adjusting mirrors and pairing my phone take on significance in their unfamiliarity. I’m in no hurry; I take time to connect with the car. I push the starter button; the engine turns briefly, then catches, and my anticipation for the day builds. The car’s systems whirr into life, symbols glow on the instrument binnacle. A brief moment of reflection, then I select drive and ease into the cool dawn.
My driving history is a standard one. On reaching 17 I booked lessons and a test, somehow passing first time, and was soon racing through the English country lanes with friends who had done the same, inspired by the annual Festival of Speed we were lucky to have at Goodwood, on our doorstep.
Our cars became a proving ground. Not only in the principles of physics as we learned to handle them, but also in a broader sense as the practicalities of buying, taxing and insuring a car offered life lessons in reality. Most of all, our cars represented a new freedom.