Citroën

My first proper job was in Weybridge, and to get there from my folks' house, I had to get a train up to Raynes Park to catch the one that went down to Weybridge. And then there was about half a mile's walk from the station.

After I had been doing this for a few weeks, my uncle offered to sell me his Citroën C5 for £900. I suspect that this was a very generous price but as my salary was, I think, £8,900, it was still a daunting purchase.

But I never regretted it. It was a fine looking futuristic beast, like something out of Thunderbirds. And it had a 'hydraulic suspension', such that about thirty or forty seconds after I'd turned the ignition, the car would rise up. It would, as many people told me, have made a dreadful getaway car.

And apart from its fab looks, what it was also great for was ferrying around musical equipment, and so it was very useful for my band, Halo Jones, and we referred to the car as the 'Jonesmobile'.

Years later, when I was working in London, my walk from Waterloo to the office would take me along Roupell Street, and there would usually be three or four old Citroën parked near The King's Arms. I guess there was someone living around there who was a specialist mechanic, and it always gave me a nostalgic twinge.

And then, this morning, on Niebuhrstraße, I saw that splendid orange fellow on the left of the picture. They really don't make them like that any more.