The Noddy Car

Walter will kill me for writing about his beloved car as The Noddy Car

Prime position in the study, just beneath a (very old) picture of the children

Now Walter has never been a car person. Sensible, safe sedans with good fuel efficiency have successfully made it onto the purchase list time and again. "Cars are functional" he would say (with a fairly superior tone), "I can't understand why people are willing to spend so much money when there are perfectly good alternatives"

The dinky version, on his desk. Well yes, in retrospect the signs were there

So you'll understand my surprise when I got home from a business trip last year to find a roadster tucked into our garage.

Walter, embracing his inner boy.

I shouldn't have been surprised. When I worked on the Mazda business my client very kindly let me take one for a weekend so that I could understand what all the fuss was about. I think there would have been less fuss at home if I'd won the lottery - and, looking back, I only have myself to blame.His face, when I pulled into the driveway, was a dead give away. A small boy on Christmas morning, getting exactly what he wanted.

And it's great fun, really, to go for roof-down Sunday drives to distant country restaurants for long, lazy lunches.