SpaceTM's Joe muses on cars

Above: Rain on a taxi window, London

I've always thought there was something romantic about staring through a rain-smudged window. It frames the view, turns it into a movie scene and conjures up all kinds of scenarios concerning travel, loss and the arrival of the unknown. 

 

When I was a child I would press my face against the window and enjoy sensation of cool glass against my warm skin (especially if the car heater had created an Amazon-like humidity). Then I would sit back and look at the outline of my features left on the glass. My dad hated that! 

  

I can't drive so I've never had my own car. That means I've never felt that sense of ownership others get from their automobile. Cars have an almost wombic association to me. They carry me around and protect me – and I'm not required to do all that much except just sit there, or maybe give the odd direction once in a while. You can't exactly press your face against the window if you're supposed to be driving. Well, not easily anyway...