Furry Steering Wheel Cover…

For Christmas, Santa gave me a furry steering wheel cover.

I have, for years, decried such accessories as affectations, and foolishness… having been raised in a house where my Father, who was a TERRIBLE driver, felt that most accessories interfere with a driver’s control.  Being taught to drive, by him, when I was 16 years old, and being a youth who had not yet found his place or identity in the world… many of the judgements he made, despite his own bad driving habits, became deeply entrenched, and eventually, my own.  I do not allow ANYTHING to be put on the dashboard, while the car is moving… not even for a moment.  I do not allow anything to dangle from my mirror.  I insist on the back headrests being removed from the back seat. (We don’t have kids)  And I have always fought the comfort and warmth of a steering wheel cover.

The seed was planted when I was young.  Comfort was bad.  Comfort was unsafe.  Comfort was living on the edge.  (Actually, driving with my Dad was living on the edge… but that is another Blog, for another time…)

For years, my wife had complained that, even though we park our Car in a garage, the steering wheel made my hands cold, and while driving, if I went to hold her hand… mine would be too cold… and she had offered on many occasions to purchase for me, the gift of a steering wheel cover, so that my hands would not be cold, coming in contact with the cold steering wheel.  I spurned all such offers.  Comfort was bad.  Comfort was unsafe.

But, Santa gave me a furry steering wheel cover… and when Santa gives a gift… whether it is an ugly sweater, dogs playing poker painting, or as in this case, a  furry steering wheel cover… it would be ungracious to not use it.  Plus, as Santa knows and sees all… realistically, it is in my best interest for Christmas’s still to come, to be on Santa’s good side.  Santa knows when you make a face, and don’t use a gift that “he” has gone to a lot of trouble to pick out for you.

So, on Boxing Day, the steering wheel cover got installed on the steering wheel… and it was nice.  Warm, soft and comfy.  Toasty to the touch, on the coldest of winter mornings.

As I write this, it is a beautiful day, in early March.

I live on the West Coast of Canada, and for the past few weeks, we have had a succession of gorgeous sunshiny days.  We enjoyed great weather for the bulk of the Olympics, and now that we are in March, the sunshine, warm weather and blue skies continue.

This morning, on my way to an appointment in North Van, in a car driving beside me, I saw what appeared to be a thirty-something male, driving with his T-Shirt off.  It is THAT warm.

I look at the steering wheel, adorned with the its fluffy grey fun fur coat, and wonder if it is time to put the gift from Santa away, until next Fall ?

Certainly, with flowers bursting into bloom, and trees beginning to show signs of the buds becoming blossoms… it is surely Spring.

So… I slip the cover off the steering wheel, and feel the hard firm plastic that, for so very long, was the epitome and definition of driving safety.  It sits on the passenger’s seat beside me, on the long drive home.  I know it is an inanimate object, and has no feelings or thought… but because of its elastic, it curls up into a ball, like one of my cats.

Oh, what the heck, I’ll keep it on another month.  You NEVER know when we’re gonna get a cold snap !!!

Thanks, Santa !!!