I was driving home from shopping last night in my 2002 2.0JTS 156, which is
all that makes this ramble relevant.

I found myself cruising along a new piece of road with a great smooth
surface. Limit on this new dual carriageway is 40, my speed was more suited
to a new dual carriageway. I had the radio turned off because all it
receives these days is a sort of repetitive 'thumping' interlaved with Chris
Moyles chunterring on about something.

I could hear the gentle swish of a little road noise, but the loudest sound
was the clock ticking quietly! There were no boy racers in Corsas, no
grannies in both lanes, no trucks throwing up mud and no busses pulling out
in front of me. I was warm, comfortable and for those few minutes, I felt
like a Lord. A roundabout loomed and as I exited, probably too quickly, I
caught up with an old car. It had no rear bumber, the tyres were narrower
than my mountain bike and the exhaust pipe looked like a straw, but the reg
said 'D' (1985 ish?). The 'label' had clearly fallen off years ago, but I
think it was an old maestro. I trundled along behind him for a while,
through a few sets of lights and I thought to myself, "I wonder if he can
hear his clock ticking. In fact, does he have a clock in there?". I don't
know if he had a clock, but he looked chilly in his big coat and hat. I
don't know what the temperature was outside because I couldn't be bothered
looking at my car's external thermometer reading, but I know my dual climite
control is set at 21.5 degrees C all year round and all I could hear was my
clock ticking.

I hope my car lasts that long, but I'm afraid that I'm influenced by all the
bad publicity that still surround Alfa, so I don't expect it will. I don't
know when the 156 first appeared, but it must be more than 10 years now. I
wonder how many of them are still on the roads?

GT