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What makes a car Jewish? I mean, how long you got?

In which I explain why I have been in love with my Volvo, a car that is almost as Yiddishe as me, for 16 years

April 25, 2025 09:27
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Trusty workhorse: Angela Epstein with her beloved family car -- a Volvo XC90
2 min read

The other week, we were driving through the tranquil pine-capped hills of northern Gran Canaria when the peace was splintered by a piercing yelp emanating from the passenger seat. Since I was the one behind the wheel of our hire car, I presumed my husband was alerting me to the fact I was straying on to the wrong side of the road (I have form here). Instead, Martin’s blood-curdling “shry” (scream in Yiddish) had actually been triggered by something else entirely: namely the sight of an ageing black Volvo, parked up ahead of us.

“Look, look, there are Jews here,” Martin shouted as the familiar-looking 4x4 slowly retreated in the rear-view mirror.

Well it’s certainly true that even in the middle of nowhere we sometimes bump into our brethren.

I’ll sort of miss marching over to what I believed to be my Volvo outside Tesco only to find I’m unintentionally trying to break into someone else’s