DOING LIFE

DOING LIFE GETS WHEELS

Apologies for keeping you all in suspense ... a few impatient commentators were stalking Doing Life. With Conroy starting up his own consulting business from the beginning of February, his company car will be something of the past and we had to source another set of wheels.

This past Saturday morning we visited our local Toyota dealer, Halfway Toyota Fourways, to have a look at the latest Toyota models on their showroom floor (@ the Arena). The Auris impressed us both and especially its funky/sporty looks appealed to me. The Toyota Representative, Robert McKay immediately arranged a test drive for us in an Auris 1.6RS. Its an automatic with a manual override, very snazzy I must say. Returning from the test drive, Conroy decided right there that his purchasing this little spirited car for me. Can a girl be so spoilt?

We were very impressed with the professional no-fuss treatment we got from Robert McKay ... no silly salesman talk. Of course I had to get a Fern Green Metallic, as most of you know, green is my favourite colour. Thank you Robert, we will definitely refer any potential Toyota client we know of, to you.

So here is the official hand over of yours truly's new set of wheels, which was late yesterday afternoon. (Robert McKay on left) Even my DH was eager to take some pics, very unusual for him.

Robert even spelt my name correctly on the Congratulations sign seen here on the window. There are very few people who makes the effort to put the dash on the 'í' of my name. So his definitely scoring big time here.

Its raining today, so I did not use my new set of wheels as I did not want it to get dirty so soon and used our Toyota Avensis instead to do my normal rounds this morning. Conroy will be using the Avensis from February.

The Auris is only our 4th ever car we have purchased during our 24+ years of marriage. Our very first car was a Mazda we got way back in the mid 1980's. The Mazda was our only car for a few years and we always had to plan our trips carefully. In 1997, Conroy bought me a Corolla and we passed the Mazda down to family. At the end of 2007 we sold the Corolla to Suzette, an ex scrapping student and dear friend of mine and Conroy bought me the Toyota Avensis. So it is now the third time I am getting spoilt with a brand new car. Please don't get it wrong, I am not a car addict, for me its only important to get from point A to B and it does not matter how I get there, as long as it is safely.

I know one should not play the comparison game, but the Auris is nearly three times the price of our very first home in the mid 1980's. One could never have imagined that a car's price could become so close to a house's price.

So there it is, the beans have been spilt. Looking forward to many funky kilometres in my new sleek

green machine.