(DIR) Hitori Dake no Renga - The Literate Anti-Comic
 (DIR) Floodgap Gopher Fun and Games
        
       Hitori Dake no Renga - So Long, SL2 (25)
        
       Image:
 (IMG) panel-25.jpg
        
       I just thought I'd do a little self-catharsis and make this
       little obituary to my 2002 Saturn SL2 (that's it in the panel),
       the last of the much loved and now much lamented original line of
       Saturn cars.
        
       It was all I could afford when I was a poor student in 2002, but
       little did I know it would be my faithful companion for years.
       Moreover, this was the car I first came to love driving in, and
       the first one I made major drives in to boot: it was this Saturn
       that drove me to Canada and back three times along US 395, and
       all the way to Cape Cod on US 6 (and then from there to Maine,
       down to Georgia, and back to California), plus the car that
       dependably took me hundreds of miles to visit friends and family
       on a regular basis. I don't think people understand how you can
       become so attached to what really is, in a modern sense, your
       noble steed. And cars, like animals, become injured and arthritic
       as they age, and finally they die. And at over 170,000 miles, it
       was dying and time to put it to rest.
        
       Could an automobile, driven long enough and to places varied
       enough, accumulate so much worldliness that it could become aware
       of and even cherish the role it played in its owner's life for
       almost seven years? I'd like to think so. And I miss it.
        
       As a postscript, I went back to Honda for the car I'm driving
       now, because the Saturn that GM runs today is not the Saturn I
       liked. They sell Opels now (essentially a US Vauxhall), and
       low-build quality at that, not the truly unique small cars that
       made them standouts for so many years. That spiral downhill
       started, fyi, when they stopped with the polymer panels (which
       were also great), and perhaps that's just another reason GM is
       going in the toilet, besides the UAW and all that.
        
       From your heartbroken driver, rest in peace(s), old friend. I'll
       never forget the adventures.
        
       Copyright 2008 Cameron Kaiser except noted. All rights reserved.
 (TXT) What on earth is Hitori Dake no Renga? (FAQ)
 (HTM) Hitori Dake no Renga Web version
        
       Previous:
 (DIR) Hitori Dake no Renga - The Private Agony of Joyce Kilmer (24)
       Next:
 (DIR) Hitori Dake no Renga - Fermat's Last Renga (26)