An unfortunate series of events and basic old age have forced us to retire the trusty old family van. She was a good vehicle, a solid vehicle, but to quote Hendrix “And so castles made of sand fall in the sea, eventually…”

So…

We got a 2011 Mini Cooper Countryman!

Sort of the exact opposite of a family van. Although, it is a four-seater.

Cindy drove it home from the dealership and we moved the van out to the side of the driveway and rotated which car was parking where. I hadn’t actually even driven it yet, so I decided to take it for a spin around town. But first… to pick a CD, the first CD to play in the new to us car.

I mean, this is important. The wrong CD could taint the whole vibe of the car. I knew just what I wanted to play. It was a recent purchase from a band that I have the entire catalog of, but never listen to because all the files are .flac and I have never converted them. Lazy.

At any rate, I used to have one of their albums and loved it and recently got this one.

“The Cult – Pure Cult”

This is a greatest hits collection and Track One is “She Sells Sanctuary”. The video blew me away, back in the day when a videos swayed my opinions of bands and when videos were a normal part of MTV. Ian Astbury doing his little jig in an odd pirate-ish get up on that weird black stage was a visual treat. I always see that in my head when I think Cult. Perfect.

We drove around town, Ian sang and Duffy wrangled his strings into a symphony of road music. It was awesome.

As an aside, did you like Ian’s stint as D21C? I thought visually and vocally he did pretty well.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMvf92jLhrk      Anyway…

The car handles amazing and rides great and I loved it. The stereo is still a mystery console of buttons, but I figured out the CD button at least.

Stopped at home and gave Joey and ride, picked up my mom and gave her a ride and then brought the car back to its new place in the garage and let it rest for a bit.

Welcome home Swarley.