This morning heading into work I stoped off at the local Grocery store for some
carrot juce for breakfast. On the way back to the car, I was struck yet again
by the beauty of a large monterey cypress across the street. silhoutted in the
predawn light, with the black outline of the Santa Cruz mountain forrests behind
it. Gulls were flying in the parking lot. It was one of those clear cool crisp
morinings that made me happy to be alive. As I reached the Land Rover, I was
thinking it was one of those days when I wanted to bundle up and spend the day
driving a roadster along the coast and in the mountains reveling in life. I
yearned for the TR to be on the road. I Gave a fleeting thought to removing the
Green Rover's hard top early this year. As I motored down the coast, looking at
the clear fresh dawn thinking how wonderful it is to be alive I started weighing
a day of hookie versus the project emergency that developed Fri that I needed to
handle today, and my good sense lost out. I parked the green rover at the park
and ride. opened her cowel and forward roof vents for fresh air. As I trodded
to the van pool, I glanced back at the Land Rover, sitting somewhat out of place
among the cookie cutter clone cars, pointed at the woods, with a patch of the
ocean and Monterey on the other side of the bay in the background, I knew that I
was making the poor choice.
When I got to work I read Scott #1's latest pondering on the meaning of life,
farie, and LBCs. Scott I have an answer that works for me. Its called being
alive and experiencing life and nature, and the inate cussidness of inatimate
objects (AKA overcoming adversity).
Those LBCs we drive, ether in reality or dreams, expose us to a microcausm of
life. It exposes us to enough nature so that we become one with the wind, sun
and what ever elso is going on at the moment. A Roadster goes beyond the TV
like front windshield by bringing you all of nature beyond the windscreen and
ploping you down in the middle of it. The cars are just quirky enough its an
adventure getting darn near anywhere. Driving an LBC exposes you to life.
I used to replace my car once avery 2 or 3 years until the Green Rover came into
my life. She is an adventure. An attitude. The TR3 showed me how
outstandlingly beautiful forrest roads can be in a fog. Those quirky roadsters
promise to expose you to life and the joy of being alive, complete with
occasional healthy doses of adversity.
Modern cars do it all for you and protect you from life. Quiet, over refined,
no noise, vibrations, air conditioned consistancy, humdrum reliability, snooze
at the wheel ease of anything. The inperfections of nature are effectivly
blocked out and viewed through the wide angle TV like windshield. Boaring. A
dead sameness.
A roadster shakes you by the seat of the pants, and puts you in the middle of
whatever nature is dealing out that day and throws in a bit of adventure for
good measure.
Pry my cold dead hands off the steering wheels of my LBCs. Not if I can help
it! They will cling onto the memory of life as best as they can.
Heres to life, living and the persuit of that BN7 that sitting out there
somewhere waiting to show me a little different view from what the TR3, Land
Rover and MGBGT has so far shown me.
I guess its why my other passion is large format photograpphy. You need to
look, feel, and be in life to expose a large format image. With a modern auto
focus, auto exposure 35 mm you get great pictures without even having to look at
your subject. No pain, minimum effort. A tiny negitive, too small to show the
details of life when you try to blow it up. New cars are like that.
TeriAnn
TeriAnn Wakeman One of these days, I'll be old enough that
twakeman@apple.com people will stop calling me crazy and start
LINK: TWAKEMAN calling me eccentric.
408-974-2344 TR3A - TS75519L, MGBGT - GHD4U149572G, 109 - 164000561
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