When push comes to shove, material possessions don’t really matter. Stuff can be replaced, people can’t. Some of us like to travel light, others are hoarders, (you never know when X,Y, Z, may come in handy). But whichever end of the scale you’re on, there’s probably something that you possess that would take a piece of you away if it were gone. Maybe a family heirloom, a childhood toy. A possession that is more than the sum of its material parts. I don’t mean in the way that my dressing-gown is much more than a dressing-gown. It’s a figure-disguiser, a duster, a tea-towel, a smudge remover, a tissue and a screen cleaner. Oh, did I say all that out loud?

What often comes to mind is something I wrote a few years ago about a car that had reached the end of her mileage. I was distraught at the mere thought of us parting company. So much so, that I thanked a twist of fate that made me have to work the day the tow truck was booked to take her to that great scrapyard in the sky. I left the keys for a neighbour to deal with it. Afterwards I thought long and hard why I had become so emotionally attached to that particular car. She had come into my life unexpectantly. I needed a car urgently, on paper she wasn’t what I would have bought, it was a convenient set of circumstances. And yes, I refer to her as she (because when I bought her a ‘Molly’ name badge had been left in the glovebox). She was with us through a fairly intense and changeable part of our lives. And she was Never Just A Car…….

Goodbye my friend. For all the family get togethers, the visits with friends, the fabulous days away, the wicked nights out, the unforgettable holidays and the trudge to the allotment. You’ve taken us to all these places and waited patiently to return us safely home. You’ve been our taxi, our ambulance, our cart-horse, our coach, our delivery van, our shelter and our freedom. Thankyou to one very special car.