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Saturday 16 November 2013

Its my shed, I like it, f**k off!

I've always loved cars even though I don't know very much about them, as a child I would imagine that the lines on the carpet were roads and run toy cars up and down them. I would always ask my brother, Ian to dig out the box of his old toy cars, Matchbox cars, they were my favourite! I have fond memories and photos from visits to car shows with my Grandad and Ian, as I've grown up this hasn't changed and I still love to look around car shows, although now it's with Ian, my nephew Zak, Scott & Griffin.

I bought my current car five years ago, I was very excited to own a Volkswagen and had high hopes for my little car. I took my nephew Zak with me to collect the car, which was lucky really as I spent twenty minutes at the petrol station trying to find out how to open the petrol cap, luckily Zak found a button for it under the hand brake. Yes that's right, an 11 year old had to help me put petrol in my car, the shame! It took me a couple of days to decide what I was calling my new car, well I say new car but I mean new to me, he was actually seven years old when I bought him, so I called him "Macca", named after the great Bradford City legend Stuart McCall. I loved him, I would take him out for a drive just for the sake of it. I've always found driving with some decent music on quiet roads without other drivers, especially annoying drivers, to be very therapeutic, I just love the freedom that comes with driving, how you can be in your own world, your bubble and whatever is going on in life just fades away into the distance.

Well I have to confess my friendship with Macca had a rocky start, after only three months the exhaust had gone, then the brakes, parts of the engine, even the hand brake. I couldn't afford to replace him and I needed a car for work and college so I would scrape the money together and repair him every time. I resented him for letting me down all the time, I felt like he didn't have a personality like my previous cars had, we just didn't have a connection. For the first time ever I didn't enjoy driving, it was becoming stressful wondering what disaster would happen next under the bonet. After three years I decided to pull out all my receipts and add up what I had spent on repairs, I was horrified to find it came to almost the same amount I had paid for the car in the first place! Not long after I became pregnant, and I'm sure you all know by now how awful my pregnancy was, so I couldn't drive Macca anymore, my mum had to drive him. Over those nine months I really missed driving, I started to miss my Macca. From that point on things started running smoothly for him and I found it frustrating that he was finally running well when I couldn't drive him, typical! I counted down the days until Griffin was born and I would be able to get behind the wheel again, which was delayed again thanks to the complications during labour.

Finally the day came that I was well enough to drive again, I had counted the days and it had been exactly 43 weeks and 2 days. At first I felt nervous, I couldn't help thinking what if I have forgotten how to drive? But I guessed that was silly as everyone says that it's like riding a bike, you never forget. So I packed Griffin up in the car, I decided to have my first drive without my mum or Scott there as I wouldn't feel as anxious then, and off we went. Well we didn't go far, just around the village and back, but it was amazing, absolutely amazing! I didn't even have to think about what I was doing, I just drove, for the first time ever the pieces fell together and Macca's personality came shining out, I finally felt that he was my car. I've often taken Griffin out for a drive with nowhere in particular to go, Griffin loves it, he just loves to watch the world go by out of the window and listen to music, now that he's older he sings along too.

Macca had a mini disaster at the start of the year when we travelled to Morecambe for New Year's Eve celebrations and the football match, just before the game I went out and the clutch bust. Typical the first day of 2013 and we missed the football and were towed all the way home which took hours! Luckily I managed to get Macca fixed pretty quickly and the rest of the year went well, he sailed through his mot, took us to Wembley twice, for the League Cup Final and the Play-Offs, and more recently he took Griffin and myself to Norfolk to visit friends. But it's happened again, on Tuesday whilst driving up a bypass the clutch blew, AGAIN! To be honest what upset me most of all was how dangerous it was, Macca just stalled and stopped dead, the clutch pedal was stuck and wouldn't move at all, we were in the right hand lane with traffic flying up behind us, it was pretty scary. Luckily my mum was there to help me get Griffin out of the car safely and onto the grass banking out of the way. Once again we were towed home, luckily not as far this time!

At the moment we need to have Macca looked at as we're not sure if it's just a new clutch that is needed or if there is any further damage. I'm really hoping no further damage has been caused to Macca as this could mean goodbye for him, he's 13 years old now and he may cost too much to repair. It's hard to think about letting him go, he's a very special car to me despite our ups and downs. He's the first car that I bought by myself, my statement of independence so to speak. I bought him when I got divorced, he took me to my first apartment, then he took me to a new job, that job is where I met Scott, he took Scott and I on our first date, to Scarborough where Scott proposed, to our wedding, he brought Griffin home from the hospital. Macca was the turning point in my life, when everything started to get better, when I found happiness and love. He's a part of our family and I know that cars don't last forever, that one day I'll have to let him go and find a new car, but right now I'm not ready to. So were keeping our fingers and toes crossed that the repairs won't be too big, keep yours crossed for us too because even though you may think he's a clapped out shed of a car, he's my shed. As his awesome sticker that Ian and Zak bought him earlier this year says... "It's my shed, I like it, f**k off!"

Now come on, don't be shy, who else drives a shed and likes it??


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