This last couple of weeks has been difficult. Not only have I been deprived of many of my normal communication channels (and there is a whole lot more to say about that), but it’s also been a period where I have ended a love affair.

Three and a half years ago I had made the decision to end my stint as a classroom teacher and to embark on a life as an itinerant IT super-person. I had lofty aims of developing a specialist business where my ever adoring clients would call me up and I’ll zoom around to their place of computing, fix their problems and they’d pay me – handsonely and immediately. Dreams are, of course, free.

A large part of the dream came true when we found the prefect vehicle. I had always wanted a Subaru Legacy and durng the September school holidays three years ago I found the most perfect car. A white (arctic white even) Legacy GT with almost all the bells and whistles that a girl could ever want. We named her. She became Trinity. Then I got the personalised plate and next came the part that made her totally unique – signwriting. When I mentioned to people that Trinity was going to be signwritten they shuddered at the thought of marking that gorgeous paintwork. But Trinity’s signwriting only made her more beautiful. The designer and the sign artist (surely nothing was too good for my dream vehicle) created a work of art.

And I drove her. All over West Auckland. Up and down the motorway. Up and down State Highway 16. ‘Random’ people would text me about my number plate and the design of my car (and once or twice my driving habits). I drove her long and hard and loved every single kilometre of it.

Then, suddenly (well it seemed that way), petrol prices doubled. And I completely stopped selling computers. It was just me, my 12inch tablet pc and my lunch jumping into Trinity and zooming up the motorway. The writing was on the wall (as well as the car).

I thought long and hard and I allowed my muse to show me the figures on paper. She was broken into. I went for a Warrant of Fitness and for the first time ever … she failed me. Then in a worse horror, she threw a bit of a wobbly and came to a grinding halt. I immediately called the tow truck and had her delivered to intensive care. No expense was spared but in my heart I knew that this time it was really over.

This last weekend we have almost every trace of signwriting from the car. Although she is still personalised by her plate she’s now clean and white and … she’s for sale. With that decision, she’s no longer Trinity. She’s now the Legacy.

I drove her last night and she drove exactly as she had always done. But I felt different. I need now to move on from this affair and I need to find a replacement who doesn’t capture my heart (and my wallet) in quite the same way. Would anyone like a well-loved 1998 Legacy GTD VDC at an almost give away price? I promise I’m moving on.