Thursday, January 27, 2011

The Diablo that didn't turn heads

Your children will always offer you a different perspective on things, and it's often worth listening to them. Their eye-opener comments often pop out from the backseat of the car, as happened to me last week.

It was the last week of the school holidays and I had promised the kids an outing. We were cruising down Republic road (nobody was fighting yet, which was a good sign) en route to Adventure Golf in Randburg, when he pulled in front of us. I'm not a big car afficiendo, but the bright yellow Lamborghini Diablo ahead of us did catch my eye (do I hear some of you guys drooling?).

"Hey, look at that car!" I announced to the kids. Instead of the "cool!" response I anticipated, their comments ranged from "that's a weird car" to "how can you get inside that thing?" As we waited for the light to turn green, and my brood debated how many people could squeeze into the speed-machine, a passing car distracted them. Across our line of sight a little ol' beat-up VW Beetle sputtered past. 

"Wow! Look at that old car!" "Cool!" The flashy hot-wheels was quickly forgotten as they oogled over the jalopy. 

Yep, kids can teach us sometimes. Speed and status are attractive, but stability and sensibility endure.