Saying Goodbye
Wednesday, November 24, 2010 - Posted by Amanda Bast
Monday night I bought a new car (oh the wonders of a real job!). A 2011 red Mazda 3 GS to be exact. I bought this car from this man. Let me tell you, it is one sexy piece of machinery (the car, not the man). The front looks like it's smiling at me and when I turn the key, the dash makes this little beedilybee! noise and says "Hello!". It also says goodbye when I shut it off. Having Bluetooth means I can call people FROM MY CAR. I can push a button, say "CALL HOME" and it CALLS HOME. Without me ever having to touch my phone. This astounds me. The sound system is marvelous. The heated seats are marvelous. I have a trunk! That I can put things in! Trunk things! Also when I drive, the car doesn't shudder when it switches from 1st to 2nd gear. It starts even if it is very cold. Everything about it is just phenomenal.
Buying a new car means selling my old one. My 1999 silver Honda C-RV (aka the Bastmobile) is in the process of being sold to some university students. As much as I love my new baby, I can't help but feel sad and nostalgic about my good ol' soccer mom car. It was the car I learned to drive on. It has taken me many places and has been a place where I have created many memories. To satisfy my inner memory junkie, and to properly commemorate the Bastmobile, I will now provide you of a list of memories. Feel free to add to my stories in the comments.
* Learning to drive in the empty Farmer's Market parking lot.
Dad (very calmly): Don't hit the pop can.
Me: OK
Dad (still calm): Don't hit the pop can.
Me: OK
Dad (calmly): Don't hit the pop can.
Me: OK
Dad (calmly): You hit the pop can.
* Driving home from high school (wow) with Ben and Owen in the backseat, blasting the Backstreet Boys while driving through downtown St. Jacob's. Yeah, we were cool.
* Cottage road trips, including my first ever solo trip with Zoe the Schnauzer (in which it was thunderstorming and she jumped off of the seat and went halfway under the driver seat), the epic Metal Madness trip with Goo and Leb (we wore bandannas the whole trip and I hit an already dead rabbit), and many other solo trips that were spent singing on the top of my lungs for three hours, resulting in a hoarse voice by the time I reached the lake.
* Driving to the University of Guelph for 4 years, 45 minutes each way. So much thinking, singing, praying and saying hello to the donkeys on the farm near the stop sign happened during these 4 years. Also driving through intense snowstorms on back country roads where my cell didn't work (sorry Mom!). And one speeding ticket.
* Taking various university friends grocery shopping and loading the back end with heavy items. I was paid in Sesame Snaps, which made it totally worth my while.
* Creation of the Dumfries. Tyler, Neil, Kristen and I got unnecessarily lost on the way to a camp in Ayr. I can't really explain this other than it was ridiculously fun and resulted in some solid life-long friendships.
* The next trip to the camp in Ayr. Tyler and I got very very lost on the way to the camp and were an hour late, despite the fact we left half an hour ahead of everyone else. I have never wanted to strangle someone so much in my life. I didn't talk to Ty for the rest of the weekend. We've patched things up somewhat since then. But we still don't like to talk about this incident.
* DTRs. Many of them happened in the C-RV. Some good, some bad.
* Road trip to Ottawa. Probably the longest trip the C-RV has taken. Kristi, I will never forget all the hilarious crap that happened on that trip. It is a huuuuuuuuuge, awesome memory full of FLAVA, the Val, Batman and man-points.
* Picking up friends from the train station (Dawn, I want to do this again soon!). If I stayed in my car, I didn't have to pay the dollar for parking, but one time I really had to pee. I essentially paid a dollar to use the gross disgusting washroom. I'm still upset about that dollar.
* Finally, getting married. Not really. My character in a play getting married, and me coming out to my car between shows to find a "Just Married" sign tied to the back.
When I was little, I did eventually learn to love my new furniture. If you have any other C-RV memories, share them with me. I'm going to think about these memories while my bum is being warmed in my Mazda.
