The naming of cars

Another of my new year initiatives is to undertake Kristen Lamb‘s course for writers who blog. Its aim is to help our blogs be of interest to readers beyond other writers — basically to encourage us to blog about topics other than writing.

We’re in the third week of the online course now, and it’s getting exciting! (Although I heartily wish I’d signed up for it last year when I wasn’t working and had more time to devote to it.) The result is that this blog will likely undergo a mild transition in content over the coming weeks as I try out some of Kristen’s teachings.

Starting with greater diversity of topics!

So today I thought we could name my new car. It’s a Volkswagen Golf (‘ultra grey’) and I’ve had it for nearly three weeks now. It’s particularly momentous because I’d been without a car since last February, when I had to give my work car back, plus this is the first brand new car that I’ve ever actually owned.

It still has that new-car smell on the inside, and I’m ever-so careful when opening the doors onto the brick wall of my garage! I daresay I will weep when it gets its first scratch.

I didn’t name my previous car, even though it was red, nor the one prior to that; but my first car, a 1975 white Honda Civic, was Lynden Brianna Orb… and my friend’s, an even older bright yellow mini, was Artagel Arutha Silk. Guess what books we were reading back then?

For some reason I once again feel the need to name this new car… Maybe because I feel so liberated. (I’ve been telling people that I’d probably be in love with any car just now, yet I have to confess that my Golf is ve-ry Smart with a capital S.)

In the first week of ownership, the spirit of my Golf revealed itself to me (right), but an appropriate name has so far not manifested. So I am appealing to my blogfriends for help. Please feed me your suggestions and it’ll be, like, a competition. Without a prize (unless you count the honour of having named my car).