Monday 30 April 2007

The Power of a Convertible

Hasn’t this been a great week so far? The sun, the Vitamin D, it’s all so glorious! My friend Fluffy and I had a chance to take a trip to Kingston this past weekend for business, but let me tell you how we enjoyed the convertible and the vitamin D that both came in great, big doses.
Now, the convertible I speak of is not a big one. In fact, it’s Mini, in every way including the little silver logo that says Cooper Mini. Insofar that the car is tiny, we women had to pack accordingly.

Generally speaking (because there are some of us that can-really- pack- light), when you tell a woman she has to pack, her mind will begin a whirling dervish dance that begins with what to wear, where are we going, what is the weather forecast, and last, but probably the most important thought – will other women be there? Because face it, we women like to dress for one another – but that’s another column.

Once the tornado of thoughts has calmed, we will find our biggest-small bag, and begin the stuffing process. The bag will be stuffed and re-stuffed until all of the necessities are in. Of course, by packing light, a shopping trip in Kingston will be in order, because the perfect sweater won’t fit in your bag. In fact, it doesn’t even exist in your closet. So really, packing light comes down to one thing, or two: Visa or MasterCard.

Fluffy wanted to hit the road at noon. The sun was shining and sending crazy antsy rays at Fluffy, so she showed up at 11. I wasn’t ready, which led to some toe-tapping. But she learned about the lurking dangers of alligators while she waited.
We did a congratulatory dance when all of our things fit perfectly in the Mini. We applied SPF 15 to our faces and hit the highway.

The power of the sun beating down on you when the lid is off the car is a heady delight. Music blasting (Fluffy is great at educating me on fantastic Canadian artists), toes tapping, bugs sliding off our teeth and sunglasses, the power of the convertible is suddenly apparent.
The whipping wind, the warm rays, my hair flying (very UN-movie- star- like, by the way) in every direction made me want to stand up and dance in the seat of that car.

A convertible welcomes spring, summer – it welcomes SUN. A convertible slaps winter in the face and says ‘Neener neener I can outrun the cold! And if it doesn’t quite outrun the cold, well . . . we can just turn on the heater and keep our toes warm.

Fluffy and I had a nice weekend. Business went well. But I think all we really wanted to do was jump back in the car, let the lid down and tour away. No matter how bad the hair looks, no matter how chilly it really is outside, you can’t help but feel just a tiny bit like a movie star whenever you’re in a convertible.