I hate making decisions that actually matter. Ones from which there’s no return. I know I just moved across the country on little more than a whim, but that’s really not a big deal. I had (just, it turns out) enough cash to cover the expenses that arose and of course there was the job that I came over for in the first place. No, I’m talking about decisions far more important than that. More important even than what to eat for dinner. What I’ve been agonising over ladies and gentlemen, is whether to sell my car.
Some of you will have put up with me gushing about it previously, but a quick rehash for whomsever needs it. It’s a sports Volvo (pause for laughter). No really, Volvo make fast cars and I own the best recent example of the breed. It’s a ’96 850 R manual sedan that’s bright red. The reason my R is better than later Rs is that the later ones are all AWD, which means they’re not mental. Mine is FWD (pause for choking), so it does burnouts and squeals when you want to be stupid. It’s one of the best handling FWD cars ever produced, it has trick suspension and an LSD so understeer is very minimal and it pulls out of corners beautifully. It’s on par with a late 90s Impreza WRX, only far more comfortable to live with and people don’t hate you for driving one. Also, no one expects a Volvo to pull that well, so it’s great for surprising people. It was brilliant driving over from Perth, trucks disappeared in seconds and it’d cruise at a hundred and.. some.. all day with no complaints. I love it, I really do. I named it Hans.
This is also where I point out that I’m not really a motorhead, just an enthusiastic car geek. In general I hate modified cars (because the vast majority are rubbish), prefer not to squeal about driving like a dickhead (unless I’m embarrasing a dickhead with my Volvo.. somethings need to be done) and don’t have a wikkid sik subwoofer to pump out doof doof at stupid volumes.
And so I have a problem. I also actually like driving. I’d rather drive to Melbourne from here than fly there, if I had the time to waste doing it. It’s cost about the same, minus the cab fares to and from the airports. The problem is, I drive it once a month. Maybe. Which makes the $3000 (minimal) per year upkeep somewhat steep. So every logical fibre of my being (there’s more than you may think) is telling me to sell it, pay back the loan I took from my Dad to buy it in the first place, and focus that cash on things more immediately useful. Like a new PC to replace the aging sea anchor I’m using at the moment here. Or a shelf to put my books, CDs and DVDs on so they’re out of boxes and actually useful. Little things like that. On the other hand, I’ll miss it terribly.
I hate making decisions…