Germany is a car country, what with all the pride they take in their Mecedeses, Audis, VWs, Porsches, Opels, Smarts and so on. Thus, every weekend, one sees long queues at car washes. And even during the week, car washes are usually busy.

I know of people, who give their vehicle a thorough clean and vacuum-clean on top, polishing any wooden or plastic interior and the outside varnish with (very poisonous, I’m sure) chemicals to a lasting shine every week. EVERY WEEK.

I think this is rather crazy. Don’t get me wrong, I have some car DNA wired in, so I like my little red vehicle a lot.  I also love the nickname it was given by a colleague. Because it is so tiny, he called it “varnished spark plug”. It is a commodity, I wouldn’t want to swop for anything (except a classy sportscar, maybe, but now we’re talking the unaffordable). But it is a commodity, after all. Not a thing for worship.

I don’t use my car as a junkyard, as I have seen it done in some movies. But I use it for transport. Not only passengers (mostly just myself), but groceries and garden stuff, too. So it does get dirty with time. Whenever I notice, that my shoes need a clean, after using the car, I might think of a vacuum clean. As this happens only with the dirt in it almost reaching ankle height, I come to maximum three or four vacuum cleans per year. At such occasions, the exterior gets a little soap up, too. I run it through automated car washes, that give me the opportunity to stay in the car, while it gets washed by the machine. I love watching this process, sitting all save and dry inside.

Yesterday was the day for spring clean. Have a look.