Goodbye Gordon

It’s been a very tough few weeks. 

As well as a heatwave hitting the UK, we lost Gordon. 

Me and Gordon used to go for long drives, spend almost every day together and he pretty much lived next door. Me and Gordon were together for 6 years and 3 months and went to so many places. We drove to Blackpool twice, Manchester countless times (we’d always stop outside the sushi bar in China town and have a look through the window waiting for it to open) he even came to Cardiff for mine and my husband’s honeymoon. 

Now I bet that’s confused you. 

See, Gordon was my Lime Green Chevrolet Spark. He wasn’t just my car, he was my first car. 

Writing this, I do have a tear in my eye and it’s not unjustified. He was a mainstay in my life and a constant companion for most of my sons life. We’ve had ups and downs, I’ve spent a lot of money on him. We have so many memories. I remember that a week after I bought him, I managed to back him into the house. A dent I never got around to fixing… I was driving Gordon before I started dating my husband and I think me giving him a lift in my car clinched the deal. My son named him. He was insistent he be called Gordon (even though Gordon in Thomas the Tank engine is blue…). I remember driving in the snow to rescue a friend who’s car had broken down. I remember the first time the clutch pedal snapped off, I was (luckily) within walking distance of home. The second time was what killed him though. Too many issues, not enough money. 

And now, here we sit as a family, in Costa with drinks paid for by the last gift he gave us. The scrap money. 

I know you must think me a fool for getting so upset over a car, but honestly, I do develop connections to objects. I have several string instruments that have names as we work together every day, it seems rude not to…

Thank you Gordon, for everything. You will never be forgotten. You weren’t the most glamorous but you were the best first car I could have wished for.