Creatures of Habit

Have ordered a new car for the Mrs as the old one is nearly past its sell by date.

So this will be our fifth silver car in a row, that will be the fifth Ford too…… I’m beginning to think we are turning into creatures of habit or stuck in some obsessive trait.

Perhaps an illustration that relatively ‘normal’ behaviour is not a million miles away from OCD, and also some of our son’s behaviours with regard to cars!

He had a few typically autistic traits and used to line all his toy cars up or park them all at exactly the same angles, or sort them in to the same colours and his bedroom floor would look like a giant supermarket car park.

He was also fascinated by car marques and honestly at the age of four could practically remember every vehicle just by recognising the badge.

That year we were on holiday in Gran Canaria, where 90% of the taxis are Mercedes. We were staying a little away from the centre and took taxis every evening to go and have dinner in the town. By the second week every taxi had been a Merc until one night a Toyota or something similar turned up.

He point blank refused to get in the car because it wasn’t a ‘taxi’ – despite the fact it had taxi written all over it. A minor meltdown ensued but we did eventually persuade him to get in the car.

It all clicked into place a few months later, when visiting one of our relatives who was proudly showing off a shiny new Mercedes he had just bought.

With impeccable timing, our son put him firmly in his place by shouting  “Hooray, Uncle Mike – you’ve bought a new Taxi”