Two Cars, One Driver, Briefly

Please click the photo above to play the daily videoThe new car had its first proper commute today. Until now it had been treated rather like a guest, admired, driven with care and parked with the kind of precision usually reserved for exams. This morning it simply had to go to work like the rest of us.

There is a moment, a few days into owning something new, when it begins to stop being an occasion and starts becoming part of the routine. I noticed it at the first set of traffic lights. No glancing at the dashboard in quiet wonder, no testing of buttons out of curiosity. Just a red car, a slightly sleepy driver and the familiar Klang Valley crawl. It took the traffic with better grace than I did.

The morning's work went smoothly enough, which is to say it got done, and by late morning I had the rare and slightly disorientating feeling of being on schedule. This lasted until lunch, which was a meeting. Lunch meetings have a curious double life. They promise food and deliver agendas, and you leave with the faint sense that the sandwich was mostly ceremonial. Still, it was productive, and the coffee was decent, which counts for a great deal.

The afternoon belonged to physio. There is a particular humility in lying on a treatment table while someone gently but firmly identifies every muscle you have been neglecting. Each stretch arrived with a polite explanation and a less polite sensation. I emerged walking a little more freely and with a renewed respect for parts of my body I had largely been taking for granted.

On the drive home my thoughts turned to the MyVi, which has been patiently waiting for some attention of its own. It needs to go in for repairs, a task I have been mentally postponing with impressive consistency. It feels slightly unfair, really. The old faithful has done years of uncomplaining service, and the moment something shiny and red arrives, it is relegated to the to-do list. I made a mental note to sort it out soon, and then made a second mental note to actually follow through on the first.

The evening brought the day's main event. Anita took the new car for a drive. I would like to report that I sat back and relaxed, the very picture of serene confidence. In truth I was a fairly attentive passenger, offering the occasional observation in a tone I hoped sounded helpful rather than supervisory. She handled it beautifully, of course, and seemed to settle into the quiet of it far quicker than I had. The car, for its part, appeared entirely indifferent to who was holding the wheel, which is perhaps the most reassuring quality a car can have.

By the time we came back the house was dim and still. One car tucked away, the other awaiting repairs, and two people who now, it seems, share custody of a red EV.

A quieter day than the last, but none the worse for it. Some days are milestones. Others are simply the miles.