Wednesday 6 May 2009

P is for...

Panda

And if you were expecting a real life black and white panda: sorry!

When I moved to England in 1992, I didn't move to a big town or even a small town. I moved to a small village, with about 150 inhabitants. That in itself wasn't so bad, the bad thing was, there was no way to get out of the village. There was a school bus and I could take that, but it had the stupid habit of not driving during school holidays. There was also a postal van that had some room to take one or two passengers, but only going into town. Then there were the taxis and of course I could try and get a ride of of one of my colleagues. After about a year, I was fed up with that and decided to take driving lessons. It really was third time lucky when I finally got my license. However, having a license didn't really do me much good, since I didn't have a car to use it on. Fortunately I had a fantastic colleague who helped me buy my very first car: a Fiat Panda!

It gave me freedom to go whenever and wherever I wanted. I took trips to Salisbury and Oxford, I showed the Lake District to my parents, I got lost in London trying to take my sister back to her hostel and I moved all my possessions back to my parents' place when I decided I wanted to be in Holland and not in England. I loved that little red car.

After a few years however, the brakes weren't as good as they used to be, the heating had completely stopped working and it consisted mostly of rust. I had to get another car, but my first car still holds a special place in my heart.

For more P words, please check out ABC Wednesday

PS: for more freedom, check out yesterday's post as well, since it was Liberation Day in the Netherlands!

18 comments:

  1. Panda - thought just as many others of an animal at first, Good chioce for the P word

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  2. First car was a panda does sound funny...but what great memories are in it...and it is a good P...

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  3. One's first car always holds a place in one's heart. Otto and I didn't get one until we were expecting our second child. We bought a Nash, a brand that doesn't even exist any more.

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  4. First cars have a way of wrapping themselves around our hearts, don't they?
    I never heard of a Panda before but its a perfect choice for the letter P.

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  5. Great idea for "P" day! Have to admit that I never thought of a Panda and one's first car, but this is great!

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  6. Your Panda reminds me of a Ford Pinto, but being a Fiat, I'm sure it was a much better car! We never forget those first cars.

    I did read your post on Liberation Day. What a fascinating story! You're so lucky to have gotten this story from your grandmother; such family history is priceless.

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  7. I had several Fiat cars : Fiat 1200, FIAT UNO... the fiability wasn't high but they were nice cars anyway.

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  8. What a wonderful first car story! Reading this made me grin this morning!

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  9. I'm interested in the Fiat, since, of course, they're joining with Chrysler to see if they can save it.

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  10. Good story! Thank you for sharing! All first things are important and never to be forgotten: first job, first house...I don't drive but I remember the first car I was driven in by my husband, when we were first married. It was a Goggomobile, a very small one.

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  11. That first car is a great thing, isn't it? My first one was a '69 Volkswagon, powder blue. My sister drove it until the early 90's, and we were both sad to see it die.

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  12. Good memories of your Panda. First cars always seem to have a personality. Mine was a blue Renault 5 which I loved but the day came when the repairs were costing more than the car.

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  13. Nice choice for your "P" post. I don't think I've ever before seen a Panda car. Interesting story.

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  14. I've never had a Fiat, but I've seen plenty of Pandas! Our first car was a little yellow Morris Minor. We took it around the Lake District on three cylinders and it survived. They don't make cars like that anymore!

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  15. Sounds like that Panda was a good friend! It was a great first car!

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  16. Great post! Reminds me a VW Rabbit that I used to own.

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  17. So you have Fiat Panda(kind of animal)for car model.That's sound interesting as for in my country very own made car we have Produa Kancil(deer)& Produa Rusa(also kind of deer).Funny isn't it..but it's a good budget compact car for Malaysian.
    Have a nice day & Thanks for the visit.

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  18. Aww, what a great post! You're exactly right about first cars holding a special place in our hearts - I think I tend to remember all the good things about mine and none of the bad ones ;) It's also interesting to hear what prompted you to learn to drive, seeing as that's what you do for a living now!

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Any weighty (and not so weighty) comments are welcome!