Just the other night, I was out with a good friend and as
per usual, we were indulging in very typical deep and meaningful male type
conversations. One of which, of course, always ends up being a discussion on
our “magic numbers”, otherwise known as the number of women we had been with to
date. Each time this topic arises in our group, I’m always slightly shocked
when the other guys reveal their new figure which is usually substantially more
than the last time the topic was covered and it gets me wondering… what
actually drives a lot of these young guys to move from girl to girl in
meaningless encounters, never really taking the time to start a real
relationship with just one woman?
But
then it strikes me that I’m actually just as guilty of exactly the same thing
they are.
My first love was at the tender age of 17. I gave her my
full undivided attention for a grand total of 4 weeks before the relationship
ended in total wreck. I was hurt by the experience and so naturally, the next few
that came along, came and went quite quickly. I avoiding getting too attached
at the fear that things would just end badly again. In fact, this attitude led
to me reaching a number of around 17 in the same period of time that most
people would be closer to 1 or 2. In my case however, the story has a slight
twist, as my magic number relates not to the woman I have been with, but to the
cars I have owned!
The first love I refer to was in reality, an Emerald green
MK6 Ford Escort with low mileage and immaculate bodywork. I had literally thrown
all my hard earned savings at her and even treating her to a fancy set of wheels,
as well as polishing her to the point of obsession. Unfortunately though, it
really did end in a wreck when I managed to place her quite abruptly through a
hedge at around 60mph before ending up on the roof only a few hundred yards
away from making it home in one piece. Luckily I wasn’t hurt physically in the
crash, nor was anyone else, but my pride was heavily damaged and I was gutted.
From that point on, I found it hard to become as attached to
one car, which has led me to change my cars far more regularly than I need. I find that I now get more enjoyment shopping
around for the latest attractive alternatives than I get out of the one sitting
on my driveway. Deep down I’m sure the reason is that I’m scared of becoming
too fond of one in particular, just to wind up seeing it crumpled and turned to
scrap again. I can’t complain about how things have panned out due to my
attitude though, as I’ve managed to build up an impressive list of fantastic
cars I’ve owned including Peugeot 205’s,
BMW 3 series, drift spec’d Nissan 200sx’s, and an Audi TT, to mention just a
few… each of which have provided hours and hours of motoring enjoyment.
So now I look back to the original conversation I have with
my friends and think, maybe these guys don’t mean to act the way they do, maybe
they’ve just been hurt by their first loves too and this is their way of
dealing with it? Maybe a nightclub is to them, is like me shopping for a new
car, even though I know I probably won’t keep it for very long? Who knows!
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