Last Tuesday was St Valentine’s Day, the day earmarked to celebrate that uncontrollable and unpredictable emotion we call love which we all acknowledge manifests itself between anything that breathes.
However, we seem to ignore the fact that there is a gene predominantly present in the male species that triggers romantic and emotional feelings not towards living creatures, but to that jalopy or other in the garage.
It is a fact that there are men out there who ‘love’ their car more than their partner, and can easily spend more time caressing, fussing and talking about it rather than about their partner.
An Englishman with that common name of Edward Smith is the king of the car-worshippers race who made headlines in the UK a few years back after he unashamedly admitted to having had sex with 1,000 cars and to having had ‘romantic’ feelingstowards vehicles.
Smith was quoted as saying that “there have been certain cars that attracted me and I would wait until night time, creep up to them and just hug and kiss them”.
And as perverse as that may sound, a recent survey carried out in the UK also showed that British motorists spend “twice as much time maintaining their cars as they do their relationships”.
In fact nearly five million UK drivers (12.6 per cent of the driving population) spend up to two hours per week maintaining their cars, while half that number (6.3 per cent) admit to spending the same amount of time maintaining their relationships with loved ones.
The research also found that nearly half of British male drivers value their cars above other personal possessions, while 14 per cent of those polled said they had their first kiss in a car. When it comes to women, one in nine spend one to two hours a week maintaining their car.
Even famous rock group Queen had released a song titled I’m inlove with my car, with the lyricsinsinuating sensual feelings towards “such a clean machine”.
These statistics are also true for Malta. I know people who would endlessly chatter about their car, with a passion I will never really understand.
My passion is not for the object itself but for the influence thisfour-wheeled invention has had on society since its conception in the 18th century.
I can never quite understand those people who live and dream of cars. I also cannot come to terms with people who appreciate a sports car more than a blonde behind the wheel.
The beauty in the car lies not only in its design and outward appearance, but in the mobility and versatility it has given us.
However, putting aside pollution for a moment, I cannot possibly imagine a world without cars. In Malta we have more cars than we have mobile phones, with a total of 311,947 licensed motor vehicles on our roads.
Please, like your car; but if it’s love you’re after, look elsewhere... even though cars don’t give you hell for looking at other cars!
motoring@timesofmalta.com