I went car-shopping yesterday.
Yes, I did. Betol. Tak bedek. But before anyone distastefully discounts me as some socialite/heiress wannabe, going car-shopping today, house-shopping yesterday and all things ladida everyday, I will state for the record the car-shopping was not for me. It was for this happy little harlot here:-
Yes, the happy one here is Lydia. With a Baru-Tadi-Pass-Lesen look on her face as she beams triumphantly in the Beemer-like convertible. But no, her dream car is not a Beemer. Not a Maserati. Not a Bentley. Not an Aston Martin. It's not even a Lamborghini, the sleek little number that wet dreams are always made up of. Wet dreams like mine, for example.
It's a little Frenchie she dreams of. A Peugeot 206 CC convertible. In black. So it's this little Frenchie she will definately get, she says.
With the help of Salbiah "Salby" Bee, our favourite senior flight stewardess, I tried to convince Lydia to view as many cars as possible from as many showrooms as possible since this is her first car and she just got her licence (yesterday only!!). There are so many things she needed to know first before she buys to buckle up for the ride. Not just about the car per se. She has to deliberate over insurance, car loan interests, warranties, spare parts pricing, spare parts availability, after-sale service, complimentary servicing, servicing charges, service center location (this is VERY important!), full-options vs standard prices....the list runs a gamut of unending but oh so necessary information.
As we drove along the stretch of road in Dubai that had a buffet spread of car showrooms with sparkly shiny cars glinting in the sunlight, we tried to throw car names at her to confuse her a little bit so she'd get a headache, decide to go home and idle (no pun intended!) her "very firm" decision for at least a night. Salby threw Mazda and Honda. I threw Nissan (of course!), BMW and Lamborghini (a test drive won't hurt anyone! It didn't hurt me last time. Just ran over my heart and broke it.).
Our attempts were in vain. Her mind's firmly made up. Very firm.
So to the Peugeot showroom we went.
Probably intoxicated by the heady scent of the new cars that were on display, Salby and I went a little nuts. We oohed and aaahed over the Peugeot 407 and salivated over the Peugeot 307 CC convertible. We opened and slammed car doors. We ran our fingers over pristine shiny surfaces and fiddledwith little gadget buttons. We were quite insufferable. And this time we changed our car script. Instead of trying to get Lydia to consider her car choice carefully and think it through rationally, like we did in my car earlier, we unabashedly tried to get Lydia to get that Peugeot 307 CC convertible instead, waxing euphoric about how absolutely gorgeous and how stunningly glamourous it is. We almost left out how expensive also but in Salby's very saje-aje words:-
"Baru ninety thousand dirhams aje, girl!"
Dengan penuh muka sadin. Like we all could draw out ninety grand, at a moment's notice, out of thin air. Like we buy cars as easily as we buy our underwear. Pick, choose, pantat-fit-or-not, pay. Khalas. Aaaahh....the pleasures of wishful thinking. Heh.
After a mere half-hour, with nary a glance at the other shiny ones and nary a test-drive even, Salby and I witnessed Lydia handing over her precious gold ABN AMRO credit card and very very VERY new Dubai Traffic Police Driving Licence to book a Peugeot 206 CC convertible. It will arrive in three weeks, in black and in a 2007 model bodykit. Whoaaa...2007 model liao!! My Murano must be senior citizen already then lah coz she is a 2005 model. Fat old girl then! This baby's 2007, y'all! Back to the future, anyone? Wah!
Ooohh...now I must admit....swwweeeeeet!! And to further sweeten the deal, the Peugeot 206 CC comes standard with sexy red and black leather seats and Clarion speakers. Sweeeeet somemore!
Sated and sweaty (weather this evening was almost close to merciless!), we piled into my car once again and headed back to Lydia's place so she can change out of the clothes she took her driving test in, to clothes she can celebrate in for passing that test. She shooed in the celebration proper by calling in sick for her Mauritius flight, which was in a few hours. Heh.
We celebrated quietly at a lovely place called Shakespeare's Cafe.
With a hearty meal and good shisha, we caught up on goss, gloss and all other sorts of girly noss. Well, not so quietly, I suppose....how can a gaggle of three girls be quiet at all? What with all that gossip to share and personal individual lives to update each other with? And later, Salby's boypren, Ali, and his friend, Madu (yes, as in honey!) joined us for two more shishas and more goss and gloss. Heh.
As the night got later, the air got smokier and my eyes got droopier, I bade them fare ye well after we left the cafe. Wearily, I climbed into my car and they climbed into Ali's car and we parted ways. And as I drove home to the sounds of Harry Connick Jr on my Bose speakers, only one thought was on my mind, besides that delicious grilled chicken steak and mediterranean vegetables I just had at the cafe:-
Would Azim agree to a cute little baby blue Peugeot once his garang black Porsche is sold?
We'll leave that idling for awhile, yes?
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