Petrol for the car, like food, was an
expense we could not avoid, but my
mom could get more mileage out of
a tank of petrol than any human
who has ever been on a road in the
history of automobiles. She knew
every trick. Driving around
Johannesburg in our rusty old
Volkswagen, every time she
stopped in traffic, she’d turn off
the car. Then the traffic would start
and she’d turn the car on again.
That stop-start technology that
they use in hybrid cars now? That
was my mom. She was a hybrid car
before hybrid cars came out. She