Dealership

I walk past the car showroom and garage most days.

Often I look in the window at the muscle car for 30k

or the vintage Ford for 30k

and think:

Well, I ain’t a car freak or a petrolhead or anything

but they’re pretty damn smart to look at.

I also say this about the bloke on the mobility scooter

who has added a hard shell to it to protect from rain.

That’s bloody ace, too.

So that’s the extent of what I know about cars.

Today I had a little glance at the cars on display,

and a little worm from in my brain

waved at me

And reminded me that no matter what I think

I’m very unlikely to afford anything like that.

I don’t mind too much, I suppose. I’m not bitter

about it. I’ve had jobs that paid a lot, and been skint at times.

There’s not much I can do.

I don’t know why that worm came and chatted.

I don’t mind the concept that these things are out of reach -

at least for me -

I think.

I used to drive a little automatic Honda Integra

til that overheated and got scrapped.

Then I drove a horrible little piece of crap

which conked out when my friend put the battery back

the wrong way around.

I’ve never really wanted to have a massive house.

Just something nice and cosy and clean is OK.

It’s easy to say

these things

don’t matter to me. That they are, only, things

whether you have them or you do not.

But looking at the cars on the showroom floor

I know for sure I’m never going to stride in there

And drive one home.