Sir, – Recent correspondence reminds me that I bought my first car, an Austin Mini, second hand in Cork in 1965. I was able to carry out basic maintenance for the six years I owned it and, apart from some rusting, which I had repaired, it served me very well. Petrol for my first trip to Dublin cost me £1 each way, as it was just five shillings a gallon at the time. I had many memorable journeys, including a round-Ireland trip in 1969 when my wife and I travelled to Achill and on to Belfast via Armagh and back to Cork without a hitch.
In 1971, I was transferred to Dublin to a position that brought with it a company car. On our last trip in the Mini, with over 88,000 miles on the clock, we went to the Gate Theatre to see my former headmaster’s wife, Rachel Burrows, play the part of Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s play The Importance of Being Earnest. Rachel was a regular and much-loved contributor to Sunday Miscellany on RTÉ radio. To our amazement as we left the theatre there was another Mini parked next to mine. It was identical, down to the same colour and bore the registration YZD 248. My Mini was YZD 249. – Yours, etc,
Rev PETER T HANNA,
Innishannon,
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Co Cork.