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So tomorrow starts the end of the process of buying the new car. I get to do the banking part of it. It’s rather a daunting thing, but then, this will only be what, car number four for me. Yellow chevette, blue volkswagon, plum saturn….. all long-driven by me.

Gosh, how I remember buying the chevette. It was more money than I could ever imagine spending for something. My first car. Something made me decide to buy a manual (possibly the cheaper price tag). Only problem – I’d never driven stick in my life. This meant going to the dealer and doing all the paperwork for the transaction and then having my Dad drive me and the car home.

What followed was a period of time of me backing and forwarding up and down my parents’ dead end street. Let the clutch out. Put the clutch in. Repeat. Up to the corner, now back up. Eventually, up to the corner, stop at the stop sign, turn out onto the next street and go around the block. Then hills! Quite a few driving lessons later, I was able to slip the clutch and drive without stalling no matter what.

Now I love driving a manual transmission and wouldn’t drive anything else by choice. Love having 5th gear, love being able to downshift. It’s gotten me out of some bad spots in my day.

But what ever convinced me to get a manual in the first place? I have no recollection at all.

After I do the banking, I will clean out my 1995 saturn for the last time.