Manu Feildel and his Vespa

“My favourite road trip was when I was twelve years old. My Mum had a Renault 5 – it was a tiny beige box. We were crazy to go on the road with that but we went from Brittany to Marseille which is about a 13 hour drive. My sister and I were in the back. It was full summer and so hot! We stopped every hour to get something. It was the longest journey ever. I thought we were never going to get there.

When I first arrived in Australia, I lived in Melbourne. I decided to jump on a bus to go to Sydney. That was another 12 hours! And when I got to Sydney, I fell in love. So I got back on the bus to Melbourne, to pack my stuff. And then I got back on the bus a third time to come back to Sydney. The only good thing about it was it was only $50 bucks each way. But I would never do that again.

I listen to music when I ride my Vespa. Something funky so I can tap along on the peddle. I’m a big fan of music. First thing in the morning, it puts me in a good mood on the way to work.  My Vespa takes me anywhere. I can park it anywhere. It costs me $8 in petrol per week and the insurance is something stupid like $400 per year. It’s very convenient.

I’ve never learnt to drive a car because I left France when I was 17 to go to London. Having a car in London is a bit silly, the public transport is so fantastic, so from 17-26 I still didn’t learn to drive. Then I came to Sydney, so from 26 to 36 I still don’t have a car! So that’s the reason why I don’t drive. And now I think it’s too late. You need to do something silly like 150 hours of lessons to get my Ps – you know, when can I do that?

To be honest, I would love to get my licence. Maybe I should go to Thailand and buy a fake one! I would love to have a car, be free and take my kids away on the weekends.   So I’m thinking of getting a chauffeur. That would be nice.

In the meantime, I take plenty of cabs. Fifty percent of taxi drivers drive me nuts. They never know where they are going. If they do know where they are going, they always take the long way ‘round. When you don’t look they press another button and it’s always three or four dollars more on the fare. They smell! They either smell of cigarette smoke – which is disgusting.

Or they have no idea about their B.O. problem! And that is also why I’ve got a Vespa! Because I don’t want to go in cabs anymore!”