...the gateway to Exmoor...

I love these old railway posters and when looking for this one online I discovered that I could buy them as prints. Sadly this one for Minehead, soon to become our nearest ‘town’, is a little out of date in more ways than one.

Aside from the distinct lack of retro swimming costumes when I visited (although considering it was November it was hardly surprising) the beach has far less sand than the poster suggests. And the railway poster itself is also somewhat misleading: the only train line which serves Minehead these days is the West Somerset Railway, heritage steam line and the perfect place to play out your Polar Express fantasies with a trip to visit Father Christmas.

Which means we will need a car. As pretty as steam is, it is not the most time effective way of reaching one’s destination. So a car it is.

I passed my driving test the day after I received my A Level results in August 2000. Quite why I chose to schedule a driving test the day after results remains lost in my history, but take it that day I did. And, to my surprise, passed first time. I had no car to drive and was unable to be insured on my parents’ Volvo as the engine was too large and I was too young. And shortly thereafter I went down to Exeter to university where there was no need for a car for it was small, permits were expensive, my hallmate had one (and conveniently lived very close to my parents, so it turned out we could share lifts) and you could get a taxi from one end of Exeter to the other for about a fiver. Oh, student days. Occasionally I borrowed an (ex) boyfriend’s car. Occasionally Husband would borrow his parent’s Astra when we wanted to go surfing. But by and large, we managed.

And then we moved to London. Where parking was even more expensive and, mostly, the buses and tubes are more than adequate. And when they aren’t, there are taxis. But now, we need one. And had no idea where to start. We began by looking at auto trader but the idea of being conned into paying cash for something I couldn’t return, couldn’t wear, or couldn’t sell again on e-bay struck the fear of something into me. And so I pretended that the problem would go away.

And then one day last week, it did. We are to inherit Husband’s Dad’s car as he has bought a new one. It may have driven a million miles up and down the motorway but it has only had one owner and it is the first car we drove after we got married as we borrowed it for our honeymoon.

Now all we need to do is find somewhere to park it…

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Image by BR from here.

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