By 2012, our Forester James was almost 10 years old and needed some work. Nothing was really wrong, it just needed new tires and something something engine belt something, and there were little things like the handle on the hatchback being rusted out so it was hard to open and close. It was going to be a few thousand dollars worth of work but one of the reasons we bought a Subaru in the first place was so it would last a couple of decades, and our original plan definitely would have had us put the money into the car and keep it.

But I could tell Sir Monkeypants was sad at the idea of putting money into a car that he didn’t like, only so that he could drive it for another 10 years. And then he got a bit of a bonus at work and so I channeled my guilt and convinced him that now was a good time to just get a new car.

He shopped around a bit and had a few favourites on paper, but when he went for the test drives one car shone above the rest, and so he bought one. It was a 2013 standard transmission Volkswagon Golf TDI in dark blue, with a manual transmission and Bluetooth something or other and super duper good gas mileage and lots of other fun things. And he was happy.

Now, you may think this story has a sad ending because of course, after a few blissful years we found out that the Golf TDI is part of one of the biggest automotive scandals in history, because to get that awesome driving experience combined with low gas mileage they cut a few corners when it came to the environment. Now our car is definitely worth less (if not zero) for resale value, and it might have to undergo some changes that will leave it less fun to drive and worse on gas, two of the very things we valued in it.

BUT, this story is really mostly happy because there is no doubt that Sir Monkeypants really does love driving his car, and has no regrets about ditching the Forester for the Golf, and continues to enjoy driving it for the moment. We are hopeful it will work out for the best but for now, all is well.

Our old VTO license plate was almost 20 years old when we got the Golf, so Sir Monkeypants treated himself to a new plate, too. His new plate starts with BRSY and so he named his new best buddy “Breezy.”

And NOW, we are finally at the story I wanted to tell when I started this whole massive, massive backstory, and aren’t you glad you aren’t sitting next to me at a dinner party right now?

It was a huge deal when we got the Golf because we were all so happy for Sir Monkeypants – he just loved driving again. He had so much delight every time he went to the pumps, he’d have to tell me all about it when he got home. He’d volunteer for every carpool just so he could take his car out for a spin, and he never complained about traffic “forcing” him to take the long way home. It was like the end of the Automotive Dark Ages and the kids and I wanted to make a big fuss over the whole thing.

So ever since we got BRSY, whenever we see another car with the BRSY prefix, we call out, “Breezy bud!”, because those cars are related to ours somehow. This is a tradition going back to one of my nephews, who as a toddler used to call out “sister car!” whenever he saw a car of the same model and make as their own. Eventually I got the idea to start taking pictures of every BRSY license plate I saw. I had the plan to turn them into a massive poster for Sir Monkeypants some Christmas, with his own BRSY right in the middle. It would be a tribute to the fact that he finally has a car he loves to drive.

It’s been three and a half years and I actually thought that I’d have pictures of almost all the 1000 BRSYs by now. But I’m still hovering around 30 or so, even though I probably spot one or two of them a month. For a while there I gave up, but now I’m back at it. I’m both a collector and a completionist by nature and I just can’t let it go.

So, here’s some of the collection – and if you’re out and about, and spot a BRSY, maybe send me a pic?