What do you do when owning a Mini is not enough for you? If you live in the UK, you go to a Mini Owners Club meeting! My boyfriend owns a 1983 Mini Mayfair, so I have to be careful what I say here, but if your idea of fun is having a drink at a pub you drove to in your Mini (which means that legally, you can't really drink anyway, so why they meet at pubs is a mystery to me) and talk about your car and the spares you bought for it for a couple of hours every week, then the Mini meeting is for you!

Granted, these meetings come in handy when you do have car trouble. Someone there is bound to have a solution, or might be able to point you in the right direction. The same goes for spare parts.

I think it's great that this iconic British car doesn't really cope with Britain that well.... It will throw a tantrum when going up hills or pushing it to 68 mph and it can't stand the rain (unless you have an endless supply of WD40 on hand or alternatively tinfoil behind your grill - though you might want to hang on to the WD40 just in case). They don't have airbags, you can't stretch on long drives and you can't really fit a lot of luggage in the boot. It is still cool driving around in one, though.

I guess Mini meetings are fine when you know a thing or two about cars (Minis in particular) and you have friends there. I have been a tagalong for the last couple of weeks and got an occasional word in, but that's it. I own a rare-ish car myself, a Nissan 100NX, but I've never been to a meeting for Nissan owners... it never even crossed my mind. But then again, I guess you just have to give up this one night a week if your boyfriend's a petrolhead!