Fabulous frog

This beautiful car is mine for a few days, and I am enjoying every second of driving it. A fabulous 1961 DS19, it is the same colour as a frog that its snouty front closely resembles.

When parked, its long bulk sinks alarmingly to the ground as the hydropneumatic suspension settles into static mode and lowers the body. So when you start up, first you have to wait for the engine to adopt a steady rhythm from its initial lumpy chuntering, and then wait for the bodywork to slowly rise, like an old lady lifting her long skirt to reveal her ankles.

Driving from Kent to Hampshire in the DS today, along the Surrey section of the M25 and down the M3, I cruised at a modest 55 mph in the inside lane and watched other drivers gawping appreciatively as they overtook.

Today's event has been the annual general meeting of the Southern Group of Motoring Writers, at which I stepped down as chairman after five years. We are now spending the evening with Peugeot-Citroen-DS, hearing about plans for the emergence of DS as a separate brand. Meanwhile the goddess is parked prominently outside. Goddess? That's what the old DS was known as.