From: Nigel Hay (Nigel@milweb.net)
Date: Tue Feb 26 2002 - 00:32:20 PST
A very positive and sensitive work about the delights of privately owned
military vehicles is called "Tank Girls" and is avaialble from that humble
military bookseller, Chris Evans www.chrisevansbooks.com - it may explain
why people own MV's....
----- Original Message -----
From: <JaxInCalifornia@aol.com>
To: "Military Vehicles Mailing List" <mil-veh@mil-veh.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2002 7:32 AM
Subject: [MV] Why do you own that?
> So I was downtown today at Collier Hardware looking for a bungee cord for
a mirror for my Volvo-Valp... long story, don't ask.
>
> Anyway, I walk out of the store and I'm fixing the bungee to my mirror and
I notice a "classic" hippy girl in her 20s walking my way, thin, shapely,
halter top, long brown hair, wearing a sarong dress and grower sandals, not
that I really noticed her all that much... yeah, ok I did. But, I am not
supposed, hey I'm 49.. uh, + 5 and looking more like "Hank Hill" everyday...
thats "Benny Hill" if you are in the UK.
>
> Anyway, she stops right behind me where I can't see her and I just keep
fiddling with the mirror, until she moves into view about 3 feet away and
says, "Why do you own that?" (Why do I own that???) I knew this was coming,
well, that something was coming, but this line was a first. She sort of
sang it as she said it and added a cheesy grin at the end, like my MV was so
incredibly offensive how could I live with myself knowing what an affront to
the peace loving peoples it was in our commune... I mean our community.
>
> I said, huh? But, I heard her fine, I was just cleverly trying to buy time
for a verbal reparte that was about to start. This is where she tells me
how the military sucks and kills things and then I try not to get mad while
I explain about my vehicle's historical significance, maybe talk about
patriotism and such...see I been there done that a lot in this college town.
But I tried something new, "Oh, you mean my Volvo?," I said as my brain
finally engaged. This absolutely stopped her cold, like a deer in the
headlights! "This is a Volvo?" Her voice went up about 3 octaves as she said
Volvo. "Yep, in fact it's really more like a Volvo station wagon," I said
station wagon instead of troop carrier, taking a slight liberty with the
details.
>
> It worked. She was stunned. I realized I totally disarmed what was about
to be a really good arguement.
> (Note..in my part of the world, the Volvo is the epitimy of a politically
correct vehicle, if such a thing could exist, but the Volvo station wagon,
hey now that is P.C. on steroids... every Rasta hippey with 6 dogs owns one
here) And before she could recover from the shock, I added, because it's all
wheel drive I use it to gather plant samples in the woods and sometimes we
haul the kids to upper creek (a popular swiming hole for hippies)... this
was the coup d'gras, (sp?). A real gotcha.. she had no where to go now, so
she just stared at it for a moment and said, "Wow, that's really cool, it
looks so military though?" Yeah, I know, just think of it as beating swords
into plow shares." Am I good or what? I'm on a roll now! "That's so
awesome she said... wow (that's two wows in a row now) that is really,
really cool!" I was going to tell her it ran on recycled diesel fumes too,
but then why push my luck? She was happy and I had my mirror fixed, so I
let well enough alo!
> ne. As she left we both waved bye.. I got the peace wave of course.
>
> Jack
>
>
>
>
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