I was cleaning out my car the other day in preparation for getting rid of it. Another vehicle of memories, and I clearly underestimated the depth of the center console. Who knew so much could fit into such a narrow space?
Giving my car a once-around on the outside, make sure there weren’t any new kinks or dents, my eyes wandered over the license plate. Standard issue. It, too, will be gone. When vehicles change hands, all of it changes hands. Title. Registration. New owner must get new plates. I remember when I did it, and how I had never given any thought to a vanity plate until the question was on a form.
Vanity plates.
Running errands over the weekend, I saw a few. I tend to look at license plates while sitting in traffic. Usually checking the state. Around these parts, it’s as equally likely to be Illinois as Wisconsin. You can make certain judgements about driving habits from license plates, the part that holds the license plate to the car and, sometimes, the stickers or emblems on the back. Missouri drivers, for example, tend to slow down when merging onto the highway. Wisconsin drivers tend to either speed, or start-and-stop before driving below the posted speed limit. And they’re not very good at using turn signals, either.
And then there are the vanity plates. Some seem obvious, some seem to be in code, like LUV 2112 and some take a minute or two to work out the owner’s version of shorthand. Only so many letters will fit onto a license plate, after all, and sometimes you have to give the owner points for creativity.
So while sitting in traffic while running errands, looking at license plates, it occurred to me that I have yet to see a vanity plate in Vancouver.
Though I take public transit, cars are everywhere. And they all have license plates, but I cannot recall a single vanity plate. Not while walking around neighborhoods, walking back from the train station, walking around downtown. Not even watching cars from the bus.
Curious.