Avoiding Flat Chat

Silence-keep Assist: Unofficial App Of Dependable Subie.

- Ash Westerman

IF THERE’S ONE thing that fills me with terror on a road trip, it’s the thought of having to sustain conversation for hours on end. To mitigate any possibility of this nightmare scenario, I always make sure I have a failsafe back-up plan for music sources. In the Forester there’s the DAB radio, of course, and my phone is plugged in to provide Spotify via CarPlay. But just in case the Telstra network melts down, Chernobyl style, I also keep my trusty iPod Classic plugged into the auxiliary port.

Then I remembered the two small red LED lights on the Forester’s centre stack, there to highlight the CD slot – yet another music source! I’d been remiss in not bothering to assess this quaint laser-based relic that dates back to the ’80s, so to redress this, I’d stashed a handful of ’90s banger discs in the glovebox.

As my partner and I headed south for a weekend away on the coast, I felt comfortable that the music situation was well in hand, and there’d be no awkward silences, or protracted chats about our ‘future as a couple’.

As we settled into a hushed highway cruise, I unclipped a gleaming disc from its case, only to be met with a surprised look from my partner, as if I’d just put on a trilby hat. “Gosh – feeling a bit retro, are we?” she asked.