My sister's Flower Show takes place in
Prestatyn on the 26th and 27th of July
Hers is more of a fete than merely a show and this year in the craft section there is a new class 87 which is simply titled " 500 Words"
The class asks for
an amusing story about My First Car using 500 words
Here is my entry ( if any reader wants to enter please email their 500 words to jgsheffield
@hotmail.com and I will forward them on
( entries asap)
" The Colour of French mustard and built like a Small German tank my 'Austin of England ' was an acquired taste from the get-go. Ok it was 1980 and the 6 foot CB Radio aerial and furry poo coloured seat covers tried without much success to lend the Austin 1300 a sense of modern style but nothing really could change the fact that it was an old man' s car. one that you would drive only on a Sunday and with your Pork pie trilby hat on .
I was just 18.
And I worked in faraway Rhyl at the prestigious National Westminster Bank...so
I needed to pass my driving test quick sticks....after all I was in competition with the car's other owner, my twin sister and I was desperate to
eyeball all of those tropical and
oh so flamboyant sounding CB radio enthusiasts who lurked along the North Wales coast
My brother in law would cheerfully take me driving around the tree lined roads of
Tudor Avenue in upper Prestatyn.
I was sat on a cushion, nicked from my parents second best sofa.
With no seat belts and hardly an L plate in place we " roared" up and down the roads of our Welsh hometown desperate to reach third gear but never quite making it
I was a difficult and cautious learner driver.
One Sunday my brother in law suggested that we try and master the art of stopping at a T junction.
It was never one of my strong points as '
going down in the gears' was a complicated procedure in a throaty 1300 with a high clutch, but I was game.
Health and safety was out of the window back in 1980 and my two small nephews, with a collection of their mates ( one strange as it may sound a neighbouring toddler just out of nappies). All piled into the back seat in a mass of grubby knees and mild hysteria.
After negiotiating six or seven " busy". Junctions up Aberconway Road, Norman Drive and
unbelievably
Gronant Road , we all headed for home.
" Take her into the Drive !"my brother-in-law instructed , buoyed up by my performance under fire
And forcing the Austin into first I hit the accelerator and roared towards the gateway like a pro.
We clipped the stone gate post with a bang louder than anything I have ever heard before , then as I hit the accelerator again instead of the brake, the Austin of England bounced heavily into a fir tree that lined the drive.
The collection of small children were sent screaming into the soft furnishings and dash board.
Strangely my brother-in-law was not fazed by any of this . he just sat laughing in the passenger seat
I sat in my furry sweat stained driving seat in shock as my diva nephew clutching his mouth kept shouting
" My teeth, I've lost my teeth!!"
Of course he hadn't lost any of his teeth,
Not even the neighbourhood toddler was injured
And strange as It would seem I passed my driving test a week later.
Happy Days!"
