Huttonian ranted previously-possibly in the old blogg of sacred memory-about a bloke (I assume it is a he) who kept a car in what seemed to be his lounge, or more poshly, sitting room. It was certainly not a garage(the house had one presumably for the second car) and was an integral part of his house. To the casual observer-and all too easily observed from the road-the car did not appear to be a vintage one or a high performance machine to be hoarded and kept unused as an investment. Just a bog standard Saloon(tho' made in Japan rather than in Ireland, one suspects) Now the family in question are building an extension to the house. Perhaps it is for a new car room-a kind of his and hers arrangement; one for the Focus, the other for the Astra or whatever. Time will tell.
There could be a very good practical reason for all this building activity. With harvesting farmers mowing down power lines with gay (old sense) abandon we have been having a number of fairly prolonged power cuts recently in this area. How nice to be able to retreat to the comfort of one's own car without having to go outside, turn on the lights and heater and put on a good CD or listen to Radio Borders. One of those miniature TV's would be the icing on a very desirable cake. And why wait for power cuts (if if they are frequent in this corner of the Third World) How nice to sit in one's car and watch the TV (Digital soon) in the corner of the room with the wife knitting away in the back seat and with no cause to comment on your driving habits)This idea of a architect designed 'Car Lounge' could well catch on and we might look into the possibility at the Old Manse athough I am not sure what the Planning Czars in Duns would have to say if we put a large hole in our sitting room wall to make an entrance for our Focus and er, Astra. The Old Manse being a category 3 Listed Building. The people up the road have sliding glass doors on their Car Lounge which presumably have to be taken out if and when the car goes out for a wee jaunt. But if they are saving the road tx that won't be a worry
Hutton Haiku # 65c
Car in the Lounge,
Car in the Hall,
No 32 Bus goes tootling by,
unhailed.
(attrib to M. Fish author of 'After the Hurricane')
