Reefs of Freedom: Bob Summers' Joyous Ride

It's a beautiful summer evening, perfect for a drive. I always loved the way the wind would make my hair whip around in the open top of the Porsche, and how it would hit me like a giant wave when I'd go through tunnels. When I was younger, I was always told that it was dangerous to drive with my hair open, but now, as an adult, I can do whatever I want.

I pull up to the red light at Haverstock Hill, and see three men on their bicycles cross the intersection. They are wearing baggy shorts and tight T-shirts, and they have their long hair flowing freely in the wind. The feeling of freedom they must have is incredible, knowing that they can travel wherever they want without having to worry about paying for anything. It's such a shame that we don't live in a world where everyone can get around like this.

The light turns green, and I accelerate smoothly into the intersection as the three men cycle past me. As soon as I'm far enough away from them, I downshift and let out a loud whoop as my foot hits the floor. The engine roars in response and immediately sends all four wheels spinning madly. This car is truly amazing; there's no other machine that can take you from a dead stop to 100 miles per hour in under 6 seconds, which is extremely useful when you need to get somewhere fast.

I turn onto Highgate Road and start accelerating even more; eventually I hit 60 miles per hour and decide it's time for some real fun. Flicking on my turn signal quickly to indicate that I'm turning left into Essex Road, I press hard on both pedals to engage launch control. The rear wheels break loose slightly as they spin even faster than before, but instantly find traction again when they touch down on the asphalt surface to send me flying through the corner without losing any speed whatsoever.

I shift again down to second gear just before hitting the apex of the corner, then lift off the throttle slightly while simultaneously braking lightly with both feet while still holding down both pedals hard with my right foot. This action results in both rear wheels locking up and causing my car to slide sideways along Essex Road until both front wheels hit tarmac again; once this happens, all four wheels are spinning again to send me straight back into acceleration mode once more.

The whole process repeats itself over and over again for about two minutes as I weave in and out of traffic at speeds well beyond what is legal or sane in this city. By now I'm probably doing somewhere between 170-190 miles per hour; this is extremely fast even for me considering how often I drive here. However, strangely enough, instead of getting nervous every time something unexpected happens like it usually does whenever I speed this much, I actually feel liberated instead of threatened by it all.

In fact, if anything scares me at all right now it's how much fun this is! Every time one of those little yellow cars with their flashing lights on top catches up to me and starts following closely behind me just waiting for me to put one single wheel wrong so they can punish me with fines or worse still impound my car forever...well let's just say that it doesn't make me feel good at all! But thankfully none of them ever seem to be able to keep up with me for long; eventually they either give up chasing or else simply disappear from view completely once they pass over some hill or bridge because unfortunately these small European cop cars have terrible aerodynamics compared to mine!