Some motoring circumstances will always give you a smile. Going flat out at the Nuburgring in a Porsche 911 GT3? Cruising the strip in a 1966 Mustang convertible? Drifting sideways in a Skyline GT-R? Pulling up to your high-school reunion in an Aston Martin Vanquish? Driving away from the dealership in your first new vehicle?
Those experiences are all well and good, but not everybody has access to expensive, or even inexpensive, machinery. And stellar occasions like that don’t come up every day.
So if we’re looking to add a bit more happiness to our lives every day, and we should, then maybe we should reconsider some of the smaller motoring moments, which can happen to us each and every day.
These moments might be small, but that doesn’t mean they’re insignificant. Vehicular happiness, like general happiness, is always somewhat fleeting anyways.
Here are a few examples of what I’m talking about…
• You just backed into a tight parking spot on a street, but unfortunately your rear bumper contacted the other car. You get out of the car like nothing happened, and nonchalantly stroll by, trying not to look like you’re looking too hard at the other guy’s bumper. No obvious marks! Yes!
• Your keys fall under the seat. While searching for them you come across a half-eaten pizza sub — but also the Pantera CD you thought was lost forever, and three toonies! Yes!
• You’re doing 115 km/h in a 100 km/h zone. You pass a police cruiser on the side of the road. You stare at the cruiser in your rear view, and apply telekinetic brainpower to lock the cruiser in its stationary position. It’s working! Yes!
• You try your usual parking spot first, because it’s usually free. But this time it’s not. So you circle closer to your actual destination, but with a heavy heart, knowing those spots are the first to go and always fully booked.
But there it is! An open spot right in front of your destination!
The perfect Costanza! Yes!
• You need a bathroom break and are forced to stop at a shady gas station. You’re expecting no facilities, or third-world facilities, or facilities that require a key attached to something really long, like a shovel… But the facilities are vacant, welcoming and gorgeous! Yes!
• You run a yellow light. You feel guilty/bad. But the two cars behind you also ran the light. You’re bad, but not as bad as them. There are drivers worse than you! Yes!
These are but a sampling of potential small moments of happy motoring at your disposal. Embrace them and others. Do not let them slip away forever into the heating and air-conditioning vents. They might be all you’re going to get for a while.
