I used to hate Lily Allen’s music with a burning passion. Even more than I hated everything that Apple made. These days I’m surrounded by Apple products (typing on a MacBook Pro right now), and enjoy Lily’s music.

Some people, who know my when I thought this in the past, mock me as if “changing my mind” is some horrible weakness. The only weakness I had was making such insular, definite decisions. Particularly on things that I didn’t fully understand at the time. Changing your mind isn’t a weakness but a maturing of the person, who now better understands the world around them.

But that’s an aside. I can now strike the third thing off the “things I’ll never do” list.

And that is… I’ve bought a personalised number (license) plate for my car. I think my exact quote in the past was “even if I had enough money for one, this would still be at the bottom of the priority list”. Money plays a lot into things that I once hated (convincing yourself that you dislike something is a great way to avoid the fact that you can’t afford it and therefore, possibly, jealous of those that can).

It’s not fitted to my car yet and it’s not an extravagant purchase. It’s one that uses the current, standard, layout of AA99 AAA (no it’s not the one in the picture at the top of the post), which means no auction is involved and the price isn’t punchy as a result. But I saw a number of advantages that, years ago, I never.

At the same time I was driving one of a series of old cars. These days I drive new or near-new. The dealership called me the other week to try and convince me to replace it. For only a few thousand I could have the exact same car, but with a newer registration. I nearly fell for me. Age snobbery is a thing. By putting on a personalised plate, it avoids that. Whatever car I now have will show the same. It’s likely that I’ll keep my cars longer so, in fact, I’m sure buying the plate will quickly save more than the cost of it very quickly.

One thing I do know is that the process of buying and having one put on your car is slightly confusing, so expect a post to go up in the coming months explaining the process as I’ve found it. I have all the documentation for it, and need to speak to a garage about getting the plate made and fitted next, but that’s where some of the current confusion is, so a discussion with someone more “in the know” at the garage will help.