The Smart Car

I have to take a little interlude from our Friday Fun day and talk about Thursday night. The Zanders came by after we picked up our van. They were driving a Smart Car, which they will be buying soon. This is a French car that looks like a glorified golf cart (to my gas-guzzling, cowboyed, arrogant, no-eye-for-real-class kind of American mind, I'm sure). It has tremendous gas mileage, and despite its size, is basically a steel cage on wheels. In fact, it is so squat that it can be parked perpendicular in a parallell parking spot. Michael let Scott and I drive it around the block. It has a tiny engine and of course, no pick-up, but it's basically made for putting around town, which is great in Europe, but often not as well suited to our wide-open American spaces. Anyway, it would be an around town car for them, and save them a load on gas--just depends on what you want to use it for. Pretty cool, altogether.

The boys got in the car (which is shockingly roomy despite its size). This particular model was a convertible. Blane was unfazed when the roof retracted while he was in it, which was a big deal. Last September, Papa drove his convertible up so Blane could see it, and B was so freaked out when the roof retracted that he refused to get in the car. Anyway, the boys proclaimed it really cool. It was great to see the Zanders as it has been a while since we've been together--funny how that happens when you live about 2 miles from each other. They came in and we visited a while.