Ode To The Pimple

 

It's a bit like losing an old friend. Over the past year I have come to hate you but then there are so many memories I have of you.

 

Neil with the Pimple at the South Downs 2014

 

Like the first time I rode in you. Neil was adamant about giving me a ride home. I didn't want him to go out of his way, but I didn't realize it was a date. I got in and there were spiders all over the place "that's okay, they eat the flies" Neil said. Then he kept touching my knee when changing gears and I didn't know whether or not he was being fresh. It turns out you were just such a cramped little car that he couldn't change gears without hitting my leg.

 

The Pimple parked in its usual place under the yew tree in Wraysbury last winter

The summer of 2014; how I felt when I saw you pull up or turn around the corner at the bus station. Eating Chinese food in you by the river (there are probably still noodles under the seat), and the nights sitting in you outside my apartment building talking and canoodling for hours just because we didn't want to say goodbye to each other. And then all the road trips; Bath, Cheddar, the southern coast (Whitstsable, Worthing, Weston-Super-Mar and Hastings), up to Aldburough and Southwold, and of course Stonehenge. Not to mention all the small towns, parks, hills, charity shops and Café Neros we went to.

 

A filthy pimple before its first car wash in 2017

You were an ecological specimen; covered in moss and lichen until I washed you after I passed my driving test. You were just the way Neil wanted you. But I didn't want to drive such a filthy car. He used to wash you when it rained with a piece of cloth from cut up shirt. It was quite embarrassing actually!

That is when our relationship went south. I started driving you and got cramps in my legs and sore knees and hips. Apparently I said some pretty mean things about you and Neil when I was learning to drive you. But even Neil said you were temperamental and less tolerant than the brand new Ford Fiesta I was having lessons on. I begged Neil to replace you but he wouldn't have it. He loved you! He almost fought a man trying to get you. He wanted another Amica and you were the last one left in the dealership and you were the last of the Amicas, in 2007 they discontinued them and moved on to a new model car.

 

Neil's badge from the campsite he stayed at in Cornwall

 

 Then last January you started acting funny sporadically. After Neil died you became a complete pain, I guess you missed him too. The clutch that Neil had replaced in March 2017 I had to have replaced again this March. Last year the fight with the getting you into gear and having to have the clutch plate welded last summer. Then finding out that the plate needed welding again after replacing the clutch this year. You were becoming a money pit. That blasted clutch and gear box would make it impossible for us to go on together.

In the grand scheme of things you weren't a bad little car. You lasted 13 years, did over 88,000 miles. I suppose in a way you were like Neil himself. Gone too soon without seeing or doing everything you wanted. And I suppose like him your poor heart just couldn't take anymore.

Although I grew to hate you for all the pain you caused me (and money you lost me) over the past 15 months I cannot forget the good time we had in you over the first few years. And giving you up did bring a few tears to my eyes. Another part of Neil that I've lost! Another part of our life together that I've had to say goodbye to.

 

The Pimple outside the flat on our last day together

Goodbye friend! Riding in you was a joy, driving you was a pain. But our time together was unforgettable. Thank you for being a part of our life!