The Nerd

I have some pretty big news that I haven't shared with you, dear readers, I do apologise!  Well, it's big news to me but I imagine to the vast majority if you this will not be exciting at all, but...

I bought a car!

 

This is The Nerd.  Isn't he a cheerful, smiley chap?

What is he, silver?  Bronze?  I don't know, I like to call him "grubby grey."  OK, he's not the prettiest, but I love him just the same.  

He's a 1994 Vauxhall Astra, and I bought him for £200 - yes, just £200!  Long-suffering readers may remember that I was taking driving lessons all last year, and I passed my test (first attempt!) in November.  After a brief perusal of the internet for cheap second-hand cars in the Bath area, I came to the unfortunate conclusion that, well, there weren't any.  I couldn't find anything for less than about £700, which, although I now realise this is cheap for a car, was beyond my meagre savings at that point.  I had also discovered that one cannot rent a car unless one has had a full license for at least one year, so I was worried that my shiny new driving skills would languish, un-used, for months and months and months until I could muster up some cash to buy myself a vehicle.  So, imagine my delight when a friend of my boyfriend's announced that she was selling her old Astra!  This was actually doubly-delightful, since my driving instructor had an Astra - that's a pretty good recommendation, wouldn't you say?  So I jumped at the chance, and The Nerd came to Bath in March.

It hasn't all been smooth sailing - I have already had to replace a wing mirror (which I knew about in advance) and the battery (OK, that was my fault...) and although we ("we" = The Nerd and I) have been all the way to Gosport and back twice visiting my family without incident, I keep managing to get lost every time I come back into Bath - although Bath is a notorious black hole of one-way systems and illogical lane disciplines.  And let's not talk about how much my insurance cost as a new driver, albeit an aged one (hint: significantly more than I paid for The Nerd).

I've also just realised that the top picture isn't The Nerd's best side - he's flashing his asymmetric hubcaps at you, but he's also proudly showing off his best new wing mirror, and to be honest it's the first time I've been able to park him anywhere where he wasn't squeezed in too tight between an Audi and a BMW to be able to get a decent photo, so you'll just have to excuse us.  We're doing our best.  We are getting very good at parking, which is another infamous flaw of the beautiful city of Bath - The Nerd and I have a permit, but if we didn't, we pretty much wouldn't be able to park anywhere near my flat - he's usually two streets away as it is, but since I live in the Central Bath zone (somehow Bath has 14 parking zones!) he is allowed to rest at such illustrious addresses as Royal Crescent and The Circus, which I think he's secretly quite pleased about.  It pleases me too, because I'm fairly confident that nobody's going to try and steal a grubby old Astra when there are so many, swankier cars nearby!  I drove to my fella's flat a couple of times this week which (forgive my carbon footprint!) is a short journey, but ever so useful for practise, and it was so nice to be able to see The Nerd out of the window!  I think my boyfriend is already sick of me talking about The Nerd (he doesn't even like the name!) - after all, he's American so he's been driving since he could crawl - but hey, it's my first car and the novelty hasn't worn off yet!

What was your first car, and more importantly, what was its name?