by gerki
His appearance was not as imposing as that of his predecessor. The latter stood there very nobly in his black look. This one now had a brownish gray color, so it didn’t look quite as impressive.
But then we sat down in it and drove the first test lap and it had already conquered our hearts. The comfortable seats, the smooth ride, but especially the magnificent panoramic view through the oversized windshield impressed us very much.
And so we bought it, our Citroen C4 Grand Picasso. “Brunte” – Swedish for “brown” we called him affectionately.
He carried us through many countries, sometimes on our way to Sweden, he was allowed to really rev up on the German autobahns. Brunte liked that and so did we, of course. He never let us down – but wait, I do remember a few situations.
Once we were on the night ferry from Rostock to Trelleborg, Sweden. The boat was full and we were standing in the middle between trucks and cars. Early in the morning the announcement sounded: “We ask all passengers to go to their cars”. And that was really early – we looked and looked and didn’t find Brunte. That was not his fault, he had not been hiding, it was so early that our brains were still asleep. Finally we found Brunte – the cars in front of us had all disembarked – and here it comes: Brunte did not start! The drivers behind us honked their horns, but then all of them had to drive around Brunte. In the end we pushed our Brunte off the boat with the help of the crew.
Well, I had mixed feelings in my chest about Bruntes performance. It quickly became apparent that it had again been our failure and not Bruntes weakness. We had simply left a light on burning in the evening, which drained the entire battery overnight. Brunte was quickly rehabilitated in our heart.
Another time I drove with Brunte to an important appointment from home. After a few meters Brunte went on strike and got slower and slower, until he just stopped at the intersection. Again I pushed him aside and was annoyed and worried at the same time. My appointment was canceled, but what about Brunte? I hoped that this was nothing serious!
Anyway, I called the Austrian Automobile Club, ÖAMTC, who came and made the diagnosis. I had refueled Brunte late at night before, and in my tiredness gave him the wrong food: instead of diesel I gave him gasoline. Brunte didn’t tolerate that, but he was able to get back on his wheels quickly after they pumped out his stomach (=tank).
And now? A few weeks ago a beautiful white SUV came into our lives and it was with a heavy heart to say goodbye to Brunte. He is now whizzing around with our children and grandchildren.
In the first time we missed him and even now, when we see him we say: “There he is, our Brunte!”
© gerki 2022-11-28