When my car was new, some 10 years ago, I used to spend most Sunday mornings washing it and keeping it clean. I’m always up before my son and cleaning the car early on a Sunday morning usually meant I wouldn’t be ‘bothered’ by the chatterbox who lived 2 doors down and seemed incapable, most days, of getting herself dressed. I would find it acutely embarrassing talking to her whilst she was in her pyjamas, so went out of my way to avoid it. After washing the car, I’d invariably damp dust the interior and wipe down the seats too. Later, I’d get the vacuum out and vacuum the carpets. I’m not a total dickhead and didn’t want to wake any neighbours and the noise would keep talkative neighbours at bay anyway.

Now, I see hardly anyone cleaning their car except for the taxi driver who cleans the inside of his, and likewise the young man further down the street. He has a Welsh dragon on his number plate and I’m sometimes tempted to ask where he’s from but don’t as I’m worried he’ll think: dear god is this old bag trying to come onto me? LMAO.

I’ve used the supermarket carwash twice, once with my son who declaimed afterwards: never take me in there again, and once on my own. I find the sloshing of the shampoo, and the brushing, quite soporific though my son was clearly unhappy at his experience. I drove the half mile home, only to have to wipe off black smuts from all over my car. I’ve no idea if the carwash did this, or if I drove through something, or if it’s ‘just’ general pollution from the roads. This house is certainly the dustiest I’ve ever lived in, and I’m sure my Mum has a good laugh, wherever she is, every time I have to dust, and I do, frequently. To explain; she often said that I didn’t dust enough so me dusting often would now make her smile. Either way, I baulk at the prices at the car wash, especially if I have to then clean off smuts gained on my way home. Sadly, lacking my own drive, and drain too, my little car hasn’t been getting the TLC she deserves. The local garage that did the service didn’t wash the car either and I miss the Suzuki dealer who was close to my old house who would service the car, and clean it too, inside and out. The dealer here is too far away, dearer than the local garage too.

Now, I’m left to try and clean my car in a furtive manner, early in the day, and hope the suds drain away quickly before anyone spots it’s me. We have no drains in the top of the street, and the 2 further down have been clogged up since before I moved here. Seriously, clogged drains, rivers that are no longer dredged, building on flood plains, covering everything in concrete, higher and higher population; no wonder the UK can no longer cope with the rain and we have flooding in increasing and worrying regularity. But I digress…

With few private drives around here, I’m not even sure if we’re allowed to wash our cars as they are invariably parked on public roads, albeit, side roads. I’ve googled, found nothing useful, so it was before 7am, on Sunday morning, that I was to be seen furtively washing my car. I didn’t use as much suds as I would normally as I was concerned they wouldn’t wash away but it was raining slightly, so it wasn’t an issue. I also cleaned the insides, though will need a dry day before I risk taking the vacuum out to the car, or a garage cleaner to be safe; they’re often more powerful anyway.

Despite being 10 years old, the car has done less that 45,000 miles which is well below the national average and looks in fairly good condition albeit with some minor dings. In 8 years, living in Wales, I had a small ding when the car was brand new and some impatient woman drove at me in a narrow road, didn’t wait for me to reverse out of the way, and she clipped my mirror, leaving dark paint on its shiny red surface; I was, understandably, furious but she drove off on her merry way. I also had 2 nails in the tyre, same damn one, and I never knew if this was deliberate or merely picked up. The fact that it was the same tyre, the tyre that was impossible to see from the living room window, made me suspect… Anyway, here, in less than 2 years I’ve had a roofing nail in my tyre from when I parked in a different street because mine was blocked, someone scraped the back of my bumper, didn’t leave a note, another clipped my bumper and she stopped though it was just a minor scratch so I dismissed it, and of course more recently, somebody has slightly dented my car door with their white car and left white paint door my car; mostly this has polished out but the dent remains. Nice drivers around these parts…

It’s now 7.40, the car is clean, my son is up, and the sun is trying to make an appearance in a blue sky dotted with fluffy clouds. Could be a nice day. There’s a bacon sandwich on the cards for later… Enjoy the sunshine if you have any, and have a great Sunday or whatever day you read this :)