“Half memoir, half travel, A Yank Back to England...is an absolutely wonderful book, not only about going home again but also about love and family and tradition and the passage of the years.”
—Michael Dirda, Pulitzer Prize-winning literary critic (Washington
Post)
To see the entire quote, click here.

Monday, April 5, 2010

"This is not a car, madam!"

I was in a giddy fog, quite like Mister Toad, totally in thrall to the hum of a hot roadster. Frances was shocked. She never imagined me much of a car man and, the truth was, I never had been. Cars were a convenient mode of transport, nothing more. But this was more. This was a speedy beast posing as a car. And I was posing as its trainer. But it did not last long. The euphoric fog lifted and reality set in. I knew it would not be fair, or nice, to encumber my poor old parents with bags on laps while I sat up front like Stirling, or Mario, or Jackie, or Graham, or—

8 comments:

Maggie said...

Oh dear... men and their cars! you need to visit me and I'll take you and Mrs. prodigal to see the Indy 500! But no driving for you!

The Prodigal Tourist said...

Fair enough, Maggie, fair enough.

Daffycat said...

Andretti eat your heart out!

The Vintage Kitten said...

Since I met Mr Kitten I totally get 'men and their cars' Who needs parents, kids or space for shopping bags? Give me a two seater sports any day LOL!
P.S Or I wouldnt mind a Mercedes Maybach X

Tess Kincaid said...

"speedy beast posing as a car"

Love it.

The Farmer's Wife said...

In another life, long past, I owned for about 10 months, a T top Camero. A red Camero. It was appallingly fast and when I got in, some sort of compulsion to flaunt caution took over. I think there's something the manufacturers put in the driver's seats. It takes over your brain.

(This was one of my favorite parts of "A Yank"! I truly was hoping Lew and Jessie would somehow end up riding in that car.)

ProdigalWife said...

Farmer's Wife: LOL (I really did laugh out loud). Denis also hoped Jessie & Lew would end up in the Alfa but for once sanity prevailed. Denis did hate that big car we ended up with though, especially since that was the year we had the teeny tiny archway!

The Prodigal Tourist said...

I still want that car! It had a hand-stitched leather steering wheel! So sad. A red Camero, that sounds quite nice too--you probably zipped around quite nicely in that! Did you wear gauntlets and goggles? Aah.