Getting an old love back

 

I appreciate that there is a sense of irony in that I have owned many cars during my 31 years of existence, yet only passed my driving test a few months ago, but since I have been able to drive, and have had a car, I have done a lot of driving.  It calms me down, unwinds me and although I emerge after a long trip with a sore back and an aching knee (old war wounds), I feel so much better for it.  

I am in love with driving.

I drive to work, I drive back from work, I offer people lifts to drive some more.  I will drive simply to enjoy the weight transfer of the car from left to right going round a series of bends on a road I know well and can take at the full (legal) speed where other road users have to slow down.  I know I’m also going to heat the world up by pumping out exhaust fumes for my own recreation, but upon reading today that by 2050 we are going to have cut the nation’s greenhouse gas emissions by 90% to enable the aviation sector to grow, I figure bugger it, I’ll fly less and drive more, I don’t want to give up this freedom.

A side effect of this driving however, is that I don’t drink wine anymore, and have tossed this love into the gutter.  In the past two months, I have had, at most, two bottles of wine.  That’s not two bottles of wine per month, that is two bottles of wine – total.  My tasting has also taken a massive hit, as I figure that opening a bottle of wine that has been sent to me as a sample, and then heaving the rest of the bottle down the drain is a waste, assuming that the wine is decent that is!  So this got me thinking, have I traded one love for another?  Can you ditch something that has been a large part of your life for something new and exciting on a whim, or do those passions have deep deep roots right down to the water source in your heart?

After much thinking, the roots are deep, and as much as the new passion for driving, and the freedom it gives me, isn’t something that I’d want to give up, I miss wine.  I miss the taste of cabernet, I miss the sound of a champagne cork.  I miss the fun wine brings with friends, I miss the companionship it a glass brings when I am alone, I miss the smell of it… I miss everything about it.

What started out as just a fling became an all encompassing adoration.  There is so much to learn and discover about it, and so many new things to try.  There are places to visit, people to meet, words to write, experiences to share and the freedom I now have from being able to drive enables me to explore this relationship with wine so much more easily.

So tomorrow, after too long a break, I am getting my old love back.
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