(re-post)
From my window on the world on the patio of the Deli this morning I noticed a car drive by with a man doing some serious eating. Looked like he had a toothsome pastry that was threatening to drip jam down his tie so he was trying to get it all in his mouth with one hand while the other continued to steer the car. Then I watched a woman loading a trellis into the rear of her hatchback. A dog with a worried expression peering out the side of a van might have been on the way to the vet.
I began to wonder if there is anything a car has not 'housed'. People are conceived, born, die in cars. We transport stuff, store it, hide it , display it in cars. My car once grew me a mushroom and Stuart McLean has a lovely piece in one of his books about a seed taking root in the door frame of 'Dave's car'. I don't really need that qualifying punctuation, do I – we all know Dave and Morley are 'real'.) We read in cars, knit, smoke, sing, recite poetry, watch movies, write, groom ourselves, play games; not to mention all the forms of verbal or non-verbal communication that can take place between beings like laughter, anger, secrets, tears, dreams.
Has anyone filmed all this? It would be interesting, it would point out the extraordinary in the ordinary.