MY BELOVED PORSCHE 911
Back in 2012 I was able to purchase my dream car, a Porsche Carrera 911.
14 years later, I said goodbye to that car last week. Just shy of 50,000 km on the odometer. In Porsche years, it was barely an infant. But something in my head kept telling me it was time to downsize, time to move on. Back in 2012, this was supposed to be the first of many 911’s. The salesperson at Pfaff Porsche convinced me my first 911 should be modest. No sports exhaust, S version or fancy Bose stereo. So I kept it to a reasonable minimum, sure that in a few years I would have the opportunity to move up the food chain.
Except that never happened. It’s not that I didn’t try. Some years ago Alice and I took a 2023 or 2024 911 out for a test drive on the highway. The car was gorgeous, but the technology had changed. The normally aspirated 6 cylinder was replaced with a mild turbo engine. And the noise in the cabin made having a regular conversation impossible without yelling at each other.
Porsche had moved on from the simplicity that made their cars so attractive. The new cars were bigger, more powerful and a lot more expensive. In the meantime, EV’s were knocking on the door to my heart, making the purchase of a petrol car all the more difficult.
How long is too long to own a car? I figure 14 years is plenty long enough. My sons are only interested in EV’s, so there was nothing keeping me from selling the car. Something that I’ve thought I should do for at least since Covid days when the value of my 911 was at its peak. Still, in 2026 I did okay. In all honesty its been the cheapest car I’ve ever owned. It held its value very well.
In non monetary terms, it’s a bit of a mixed bag. I won’t lie, the first few days not seeing it in the driveway left me sad. Did I make a mistake? This was my aspirational dream. How could I sell it? What dreams are left? Tough questions that I don’t have the answers to. Of course one might think this is the essence of shallowness. And that assessment might be right. A 911 was always the car of my dreams. Admittedly I worked my ass off for many years. The 911 was an affirmation of my hard work. And besides, I truly loved the way this car looked and drove. It really did put a smile on my face every time I drove it.
Still… I feel like I needed to push myself to be pragmatic. I’ve gotten many years of pleasure from my Porsche. If it’s not time for a new dream, it’s at least time to move beyond this phase of my life.
I week later, I still have moments of regret. The 911 is truly a special car. I don’t believe any car will mean as much to me in my life, not just for the way it drove, but the way it made me feel while driving it. It will always remain my beloved Porsche.
Istanbul
SHOT WITH THE FUJIFILM X-PRO3, XF27 F2.8, XF18-55 F2.8
We’ve been home a month now. Plenty of time… maybe too much time actually, between the trip and and being settled back to life in Toronto and writing this.
Istanbul was memorable. I’d say it was one of my favorite trips. It had a bit of everything; wonderful, warm people, delicious and flavourful food, a taste of at least two, maybe three seasons (from snow, to spring) and a sense of adventure that comes from being just a little out of one’s comfort zone.
Why Istanbul? It’s funny, when Alice and I are sharing (debating) cities we’d like to visit over the Christmas holidays a few cities came up. Some were too hot, or overcrowded and some were too cold (I’m not going to a place that’s actually colder than Toronto… although some days Istanbul was alarmingly close). Istanbul seemed to fit the bill for us, a little bit of an adventure but maybe (hopefully) not too much, a different culture and food. Sure, I’d always wanted to visit and this seemed like as good a time as any. Before I knew it, the flights were booked and that was that.
What did we see? Well, there were too many places and sites for this post and as much as I try as a photographer to “capture a moment”, the truth is that a lot of site seeing shots are nothing special to look at. Most of them are probably on my iPhone where they will stay for a very long time.
Istanbul is nothing if not a city of contrasts. The modern and the ancient. The very poor and the very rich. The hungry and the well fed. The smokers (just about all of the men) and the non-smokers (most of the women and children). The secular and the non secular.
It’s hard to imagine a city that is so overrun by shops selling decadent sweets, from baklava to Turkish delight. I didn’t get a handle if this was all for the tourists or a split with locals, but my gosh, the sweets were everywhere… a dentist and an Ozempic salesperson’s dream. Beside the assault on your taste buds and stomach, the visual beauty was really something to behold. The sweets are all geometrically lined up to show off their perfect shape and glistening “come hither” appeal. To say it was hard to resist is an understatement.
Istanbul is also a city of artisans. Whether it’s the guy in the window making delicious stuffed flatbread (Gozleme) or “dough with meat” (Lahmacun), the gorgeous ceramic shops or the hand made carpets hanging in the windows, Istanbul thrives on it’s traditional crafts. For a tourist, it’s as much eye candy as the actual eye candy.
Of course we played tourist and visited the Hagia Sophia Mosque, the Blue Mosque as we as the Grand Bazaar and the Basilica Cistern. The real highlight of Istanbul though was taking the ferries and getting lost in the streets that didn’t seem to end with fascinating history and neighbourhoods. The Ara Guler Museum was also a highlight with the Robert Capa photography exhibit. I’d say it was particularly well done.
So that was it. Eleven days, more km’s walked than I thought possible. We were strengthened by the never ending hill climbing and cat watching (yes, they are everywhere). There was so much to see, so much to experience and so much to eat. Turkey in the summer may be next.
