Poppy is sold.
Stephen and I bought Poppy together in 1994. (Remember the night I got the new car audio Julia? We drove as fast as we could on the motorway out of Christchurch. You in your pajamas.. Both of us singing out loud and laughing with love at it all. We fantasised about not stopping - and it wasn't that night, but it turned out that our days of driving away and not stopping were not far off).
Poppy and I have driven the length and breadth of New Zealand and seen more adventures than I could ever remember. Stephen and I went everywhere in her, 4WD mountain passes were favourite weekend destinations. I went on my 2001 "Find Myself" journey in her. Paul and the kids and I adventured around New Zealand in her.
In her I've sung my heart out, cried my eyes out, laughed my head off. I've slept countless nights across the front seats.
Poppy was, on more than one occasion, my escape vehicle.
Sometimes I simply escaped into her for a moment of peace listening to "Halcyon" by Orbital.. Sometimes I escaped everything and everyone and drove off into the sunset.
I bought poppy as a compromise with Stephen. I always wanted, as long as I could remember wanting a car, a 40 series Toyota Landcruiser. Stephen wanted a reasonably new car. So we ended up purchasing a nearly new 70 series Landcruiser (poppy). And I definitely did fall in love with her.
11 years passed before I saw The-World's-Most-Beautiful-40-Series-Landcruiser by the beach in Sumner. Julia was there that day too. A new chapter of my life was beginning, and with her encouragement (not to mention the moral and financial support of my mum) I bought it.
No compromises this time, but this entry is to pay tribute to Poppy (though her name is unlikely to survive the transition to the new owner who's a fencing contractor called Boof). You saw me safely through almost the first third of my adult life and you'll not be forgotten.
The Red Landcruiser is sold.
Long live the Red Landcruiser...

• TODAY
• Carillon
• On cue
• Elicit an email
• where oh where ...
• The Outlook for Thursday
• Fraser says the mountains are closer when it snows.
• Suspend your disbelief.
• Emotional Bridging
• They made me do it!
• "You are Beautiful"