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Ditching the Clown Car for Middle-class Mediocrity
Our car is tiny. Most cars in England are tiny, but ours is especially small. It is a two-door ancient little tin box that gets us from A to B without much hassle, but getting all five of us inside is laughable. The car is cheap, rusty, moldy(!), and makes mysterious noises. The gas gauge isn’t accurate, and neither is the gas light, so there have been several times now when I’ve been left on the side of the road with an empty tank of petrol because I had no idea I was running on fumes. The stereo is broken and reverse gear is very difficult to find. But hey, the car is purple, so it has that going for it.
My kids really dislike the car. They have to climb over everybody and everything to get in and out, and whenever we want to go somewhere as an entire family, my oldest has to sit squashed between two car seats and grumble the entire time she’s back there. I’m pretty sure grumbling isn’t a requirement for sitting in the middle, but she would probably disagree.
For a while, the toddler was sitting in the front, so before all five of us would get into the car, my husband and I had to negotiate who got to drive and who got to sit in the back while our daughter grumbled at us for squishing her to death.
My dream is to own a people carrier. Mini van. MPV. Something with at least six seats, but preferably seven or eight. I fully accept that this dream plants me firmly into the “soccer mom” category, but I couldn’t care less. As I drive my shoebox around town, I see cars that set me drooling. Ooh! That one has a sliding door! I like those tinted windows. Wow, an extended mirror stuck to the back so you can see behind you better! Mmmmm, power steering…. I peer into cars as I walk past, and I jot down model numbers and manufacturers. I spend hours searching on the internet for specific cars on sale near my home, and research cars in the library.
Just think of all the room we’d have in a bigger car! I could stick the kids in different rows so they can’t hit each other while I’m driving at 60mph! We could go visit far away places and have room for our luggage as well. We could even take friends with us! Ooooh — we might even get a car with a working stereo — the possibilities are endless.
Perhaps lusting after a mini van makes me a mediocre middle class momma, but that’s something I can live with quite happily. In my big car.
You do realize that the title makes me think of Michelle Duggar, getting the sudden urge to flee the compound, don’t you?
Snort @ Tia.
I had to give up my beloved small car once I was pregnant with our third. Mr. K. already had a small truck that he could not put two car seats in, so it made sense for me to get the Mom Taxi. Now with four busy children, I often spend more of my waking hours in that van than I do my own house. It now has over 100,000 miles on it, but everything still works. Even the sterio.
Mmm I dream of a car with power windows and power locks. And you know, a working transmission. Of course, these would be more attainable goals if I wasn’t feeding and clothing two kids!
First off, Tia? You’re hysterical.
Sarah, that sounds absolutely hellish. I hope that you can get your “big car” one day soon.
In our early twenties, we lusted after sports cars with awesome stereos. In our thirties, we lust after mini-vans and are happy with a functioning stereo. Ah, how things change!
LOL! My dream car is a 12 passenger van. We have to get one before December because we’re expecting #6. And our 7-passenger minivan will no longer seat us all. Even now we’re maxed out and I hate that there’s no room for friends or people that we need to pick up from the airport. Poor Sarah, I’d ship you our minivan, but it’s a little far