Today I am writing about finding more than groceries when shopping – a Morgan Classic Car. You know, you go out innocently to buy some bread and vegetables and end up getting carried away…
Finding More Than Groceries When Shopping
A Spur Of The Moment Thing
The sun was shining and we needed bread and Barnet Boy (BB) has been talking about getting a new mobile phone. Completely on the spur of the moment I suggested to BB that we should head off to a shopping centre for an outing. Before you sit in disbelief that this could be exciting, let me remind you that we live in rural Italy. We have to travel a fair distance to go anywhere to look around some shops. Yes there are some local supermarkets so it is easy to get groceries when shopping. But if you want to look at clothes, electronics, etc, you have to go a bit further afield.
About 40 minutes from us, over the border in Tuscany, is a shopping mall called The Etruscan Centre. It is a nice drive through the countryside to get there so off we went.
Morgan Classic Car Surprise
We walked into the shopping centre and immediately came across a display of two classic cars, one of which was a Morgan classic car.
Troubleshooter
Now I have always liked the look of Morgan cars. I remember in 1990 watching a programme called ‘Troubleshooter‘ and hearing about Morgans for the first time.
Troubleshooter was a UK reality TV series. An experienced business person visited small and struggling small businesses to advise them on how to improve their turnover and management practices. As someone running a small business myself at the time, I was always glued to the screen when the programme came on and really enjoyed them.
The Morgan Motor Company featured in a, now infamous, programme presented by Sir John Harvey-Jones.
Troubleshooting Morgan Motors – Or Not!
The Morgan Motor Company Ltd in Malvern, Worcestershire, UK, was established in 1909 and originally produced a three wheeler. The Morgan 4-4 was created in 1936 and is the longest running production car in the world. Each car is hand made for the customer and tailored to their specification. Harvey-Jones was very critical of the hand made production and lack of modernisation, and horrified by the waiting list for the cars. He said they would go out of business if they didn’t modernise production.
Well the Morgan directors insisted they were in an elite market and proved Harvey-Jones wrong. The exposure on the programme helped them of course! They currently produce 850 cars per year for elite customers and continue to have a waiting list.
Morgan On Display At Shopping Centre
I gave a gasp at seeing the Morgan at the local shopping centre. It was the first time I had seen the car in the flesh so to speak and it was very exciting.
All thoughts of groceries disappeared from my mind of course and the camera came out.
Needless to say the car was not displayed well for photography Getting the right angles to avoid clutter, people and other things on display was tricky. BB was very patient as always as I muttered to myself and shuffled around trying to make photos work. But I was pleased with the results!
A Successful Shopping Trip
With the exception of the mobile phone (the mobile phone shop was no longer there) this was a very successful shopping trip. As well as the Morgan car photos, I bought a black and white leopard print fleece. We also bought some interesting food, not usually available locally, that made a nice lunch when we got home.
And then as BB was paying the bill in the supermarket I happened to see a movement of a bird and looked up. In one of my earlier blogs I talk about the importance of looking up in case you miss something.
What a roof! I had never noticed before but you know what they say. Have camera, got to take a photo (well BB says it anyway).
Before you go
My name is Dorothy Berry-Lound an artist and writer. You can find out more about my art and writing at https://dorothyberryloundart.com.
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Thank you for reading!
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