The True-Life Adventures Of An Imaginative Skoda
Last Saturday our car took us on an amazing, magical journey.
For me it was a journey to Coolmore Stud in Tipperary, always a magical trip. It was a well-trodden path and we had no need of the built-in sat nav. Which was just as well.
Our car opted for the less well-trodden path and appeared to be off road for much of the early part of the ninety-minute trip. Having apparently watched all of the repeats of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang over the Christmas period, it was intent on a magical adventure of its own.
For the most part, it wandered at speed through farmland or bogland, with not a road in sight. We paid scant attention, until I noticed it was going the wrong way up a motorway. It survived, but was now full of mischief and very soon was approaching the M4. For those unfamiliar with Irish roads, a motorway somewhere else in the country, more or less in the opposite direction to that in which we were driving.
It certainly was approaching the M4, at great speed, with no intention of slowing or stopping.
“No! No! No! Don’t do it!” we advised.
But it did it.
Straight across the M4 from one side to the other; miraculously without mishap.
By now our car’s magical mystery journey was far more entertaining than our own. I was glued to the screen and delighted when a familiar place name appeared. Now we knew where it was – Ballina!
Pretty soon the coast appeared. How lovely to be at the sea.
“I think it’s heading for the sea,” I pointed out, wondering if it might turn away at the last moment.
But it didn’t.
There it was, taking us out away from the coastline, leaving us wondering where it might next hit land. America?
Killala.
It dried off for a bit before plunging out into the Atlantic again, turning back at once and continuing inland, through townships unfamiliar to us.
It was almost a pity to pull into Coolmore. Almost. There can’t really be a finer end destination; but it was a great pity we never found out our car’s end destination.
Wherever it ended up for a couple of hours, awaiting our return, I hope there were happy people singing songs about how much they loved their Skoda Octavia. And a delightful Baron and Baroness to bring a smile to its bumper.
It fetched us home the normal route.
You can only have one magical mystery tour in a day.
(c) Lissa Oliver
