The Last Ditch by Tom Paine

This past week has been an excellent one for me. Firstly Ms Paine the Elder achieved superb results in her second year exams at Cambridge University and won another academic prize. Secondly, the Labour Party lost its deposit at Henley, which I have hopes is just the beginning of the political extinction of the greatest internal enemy the British People ever had.

They say good news comes in threes. Years ago, as an impecunious young married lawyer in need of money for furniture I tearfully sold my pride and joy. During University and Law School I had a 1957 Wolseley 15/50 which became more than a car to me. It was manufactured in the month I was born and was a familiar sight in my home town as I grew up. It was usually parked outside church when I went to Sunday School as the lady who owned it often "took care of the flowers."

Some of my early memories were of another 15/50 that had been my father’s first decent car. He and I became classic car enthusiasts when he bought the car for me. We restored it to such a condition that it won the 1950’s section Concours d’Elegance at The Wolseley Register‘s National Rally in three consecutive years in the 1980s.

I have always regretted selling "the Emperor Justinian," as the car was known. Especially as it changed hands again soon after and all trace was lost. I have not known the car’s fate for 20 years and had sadly presumed it to have gone to the great garage in the sky. I have just had news that it is safe, after years off the road, and is back in the hands of a Dutch enthusiast who has carried out a full restoration. I even have a recent picture (converted to left hand drive and registered in the Netherlands).

I know it’s only metal, bakelite and red leather and that I should not be sentimentally attached to an object, but you can’t imagine how delighted I am to know "the Emperor" is still alive and well.