HIGH NOTE
The late 1980s. Somewhere in the wilds of the English countryside, I get my hands on a tired Volkswagen Mk1 Golf. Not the sprightly GTI of legend. Rather a wheezing 1.3 GLS on bicycle tires. In keeping with its wine-coloured paint job, it drinks more oil than petrol, but still makes the 10.5km twisty country lane run to school in under six minutes. Complete with hedgerow scratches, tire squeals, fading brakes and shaking heads from other petrified road-users.
The four-speed manual stick shift works overtime searching a gearbox that feels like a wooden spoon stirring drippy cake mix. Meanwhile the London City Boys wear red braces, pinstripe
