Your story – Heather Scott

Remember your first car?

I didn’t learn to drive until after I was married, Andrew filled in the form for a provisional licence for me and got me to sign it without me realising, so when the licence arrived it was like a fait accompli so I was more or less forced into booking lessons. The first car that I drove and learnt in, aside from my instructors car, was one that we both shared a grey mini that was very basic but did the job. The first car that I drove that I really called mine, because I always wanted one and choose it, was my spitefire 1500. She was light blue and lovely, I called her Lyla because the number plate was LYA767P, the only car number plate I have ever been able to remember. Although she was mine and I bought her and paid for her, with my money, Andrew insisted that she be registered in his name because that way we could insure her with him as the first named driver and me as the second one; as I had never had car insurance in my name he said it would be too expensive to insure her in my name.  I never had an accident in her but I do remember one icy day when I was driving her to the school where I worked I was driving out of our village and  past the village school which was on a bend, I didn’t break but I deaccelerated, there must have been black ice, and the car spun, luckily I was so shocked I didn’t try to fight it and ended up facing the way I had come, it’s a miracle that I didn’t crash into the school wall.  Our first spaniel, Sammy, loved that car, if the roof was down she would be in the front seat standing with her feet on the side letting the wind blow her ears. I drove that car until after Gareth was born, his moses basket would fit in tightly just behind the seats so wasn’t going anywhere. The kitchen staff at the school where I taught told me, after he was born, that they would watch me carefully every day squeezing myself out and then later back in behind the wheel worried sick  that I was going to bring on the birth. When Gareth became big enough for a car seat Andrew and I swapped cars, he took my spitefire and I drove the mini. He eventually skidded into the back of someone on the ice, I nearly cried because he had damaged my beautiful car, so we had to replace her. She was the only car I ever really cared about otherwise they have really only been a necessity. I didn’t register a car in my name therefore getting my own insurance until we moved to this house over thirty years after I learned to drive.