Going for a run in the car as a child

[whiteandgreenandgold]

Does anyone else remember on a Sunday going as a family for a run in the car? We did this regularly when I was a child, not really sure what the enjoyment was of it but I had totally forgotten we ever did it until today!

Yep. With Sing Something Simple on the radio.

I used to love doing this back in the early 80's. Especially when it was dark and the Christmas lights were on.

Also familiar.
My parents had a mark 3 Cortina in bright orange, also known as the Vomit Comet.
Extra marks for them both smoking in the front.

This brings back memories. We often went for a “run”.

Usually through the countryside and often at night. Sister and I would sometimes take a blanket. I’m 45. Petrol was a lot cheaper back then.

Yes we did this! Often just driving around the countryside and would stop to look at a view but rarely got out of the car. I remember as a teenager sitting in the back daydreaming for the whole journey (before mobile phones)!

Yep, 'go for a drive.'

My father used to take me. Boring as hell, and often involved sitting in the car for half an hour while he went in the pub.

Yes and I used to love it.

Yes! In the early to mid 80's. Often we'd end up somewhere, a local lake to sit by or something, maybe ending up at a Wimpy Bar. We used to call it 'going for a spin'. I still do it now if I've got friends over and we are lounging around, I'll ask 'anyone want to go for a spin?' It's always a yes and we drive around the 'posh' roads and some nearby countryside. On more planned spins, it will be called a road trip where I might drive two hours or more to the Suffolk coast and we'll get out for a coffee and a walk then drive home.

In the 90's, my boyfriend at the time knew how much I loved going for a spin. We used to drive round really cool London areas and I used to LOVE looking in peoples windows at night (only those with no net curtains), I got so many ideas for my own flat by doing that. Eventually we started to call it 'doing windows'. We'd drive around really slowly, saying 'look, look at the colour of their walls'. Ahh the good old 90's when I used to spend a lot of my evenings 'doing windows' from the car.

Thank God for Rightmove!

My parents in law still do this 😅

Aw we sort of still do this. We always try and ‘go’ somewhere on a Sunday. Normally somewhere we can get a decent coffee and /or an ice cream. Wander round a reservoir, a different park to the usual or a museum sometimes.

sometimes we take a picnic or we treat ourselves to lunch.

our dd is three and she loves these days! I assume by the time she is about 10 she will hate it lol.

We did this a lot too, also on a Sunday afternoon. I’d forgotten about it but it was generally to get my grandparents out of the house.

Yes, we used to do that, going for a Sunday afternoon drive in the countryside. There was usually a random picturesque village green, where we would stop and they'd get the 'picnic' out, and then my dad would make us play some ball game or other afterwards.

Mine are young adults and still like this sort of trip out. Not parks to play in, but will happily wander round stately home gardens, go for a coffee, wander round a lake or whatever.

My grandparents did this with us in late 60's. They called it going for a motor. They took buses to work so the car needed a run. It used to take my Grandfather ages to back it out of the garage and between the houses. Totally pointless as we'd driven to visit them!

Yes, I remember doing a Sunday afternoon drive with my Mum and I used to love it! It was usually about mid afternoon after the roast had been eaten and everything washed up.
Lovely memories!

We did it, I got very car sick so had to have vile tasting sickness tablet that I couldn't swallow, it was a battle every time to get it down and was followed by an Opal Fruit, still can't stand Opal Fruits! The tablet sent me straight to sleep so I have no recollection of where we went or what we did! I think the flask of tea and bottle of squash came out in a lay by somewhere.

Yes, it was called "going for a drive". We do live near a popular coastline so we used to drive up the windy coast road, get out and eat some chips and ice cream then drive home. Always on a Sunday.
It was different to a day out at the beach.

knuts I used to take my teen DD out for drives when her MH was horrific. She was exceptionally poorly and too scared to leave the house a year ago and the drives around town were the start of her feeling a little better. It was one of the only times she would interact with me.

Yes, definitely a "thing" and although we did not do it, wider family members certainly did and would often take a pair of folding chairs, flask and tin of sandwiches.

When we were kids we used to go away caravanning so Sundays would be saying farewells, packing up, driving home, unloading the caravan and then homework.

My dad had access visits on a Sunday and we used to spend lots of the day just driving around enjoying the scenery. This was the 90s.

My dad enjoyed it because his parents took him doing the same thing in the 60s and he loved it back then.

Hope your DD is getting better @Thissickbeat- I think it’s a good way to be with them with little pressure. Interestingly, I’ve worked on projects for isolated older people as well, and when groups provide transport, in minibuses or shared cars with volunteer drivers, often the transport to the event is one of the things that the older people really like.

it took a couple of years of intense support from me to DD, including the driving, to get her to feel confident about interacting with her peers again, and while she sometimes still has wobbles, on the whole, her mental health is pretty good, so carry on the driving if needed! I do miss those days now we rarely drive together.

Yes, I remember going with grandparents too and driving to a harbour and watching the sea!

Sunday afternoon. Drive around for a bit. Park up on the sea front and drink tea from a thermos. Grandparents would do the puzzles in the Sunday paper or in the Puzzler magazine. Sing something simple on the radio and then drive home. Absolutely nobody left the car. Other people on this thread are describing trips out which I don’t think of as ‘going for a run’ like we did in the 80’s.

My parents both smoked in the car too!

Yep, we would often go for a drive... Usually ended up at some 3rd grade stately home.

One Sunday we drove 3hrs to the seaside where it started to pour with rain just as we were parking. Dad braved the gale force winds to get us all fish and chips, which we ate in the car. And then we drove 3hrs back home again.

That was one of the better drives.