Week 23, 2025 - Community

Song of the week:

Top of mind

Yesterday (Saturday June 7th) was a blast. I woke up early (mandatory action with young kids anyway) and went off to meet some other Porsche owners in a petrol station near Dublin airport, which, to be fair, is very close to where I live.

20, mostly white dudes, standing around having a bit of coffee next to what was easily over one million euro worth of vehicles. A wide variety, too. I had my family compact SUV Macan electric car, sandwiched between a 1980s 911 Turbo and a late 80s red 944. I was the only new car there bar a 2025 911, which was far more impressive than mine for obvious reasons.

We had a route set out on Google maps but in reality, we all followed the organiser. Who lead us around the back roads of the airport, including a side-road stop to gather the pack before setting off North-East through the countryside of Meath. Then we went south-West before stopping at a roadside bar/restaurant for some brunch.

I've done car meetups a lot over the last few years. Mostly in my time as a committee member of the Irish EV Association. But those normally tended to be a stop-off at a location for coffee and chats. Not a 90min cruise around the backroads.

Our cruise was eventful. There was a lot going on for an otherwise lazy Saturday afternoon in summer (which featured extremely random). Lots of cyclists, including what looked like an actual professional event featuring Garda escort and support cars, other cars blowing around, etc. etc. It was lovely to see so much random activity around the place.

Given there were 20 Porsches floating around, plenty of phones were out to video and snap the cars as they went by. We mostly held it together as a group but got split up in spots where overtaking cycling pelotons or traffic got in the way.

The conversation over brunch was about cars, for sure, but also about the community. It was nice to have a mix of cheaper old cars, brand new cars, family cars and just weekend run-abouts represented. No judgement, just nice community spirit. And lots of stories of bigger trips (Mizen to Malen, etc.) with foreign contingents involved.

I don't know how they do it, because I heard stories of the club organising trips to places like the Cliffs of Moher and securing space on the cliff to park, take photos, etc. etc. I never got that treatment when organising EV meetups!

I'm delighted I joined the club, and more delighted I managed to get a few hours to get out on a drive like that. The interest in the car was extreme because of it's utility, performance and because I got a mad colour so it stands out. But it was also funny to see how big my car is next to 80s or 90s cars. Even the more modern 911, GT4 and Boxter variants are wide compared to older cars. I might not have been able to make lots of noise. But you need to work out your neck muscles before getting behind my wheel!

My broader point here is that I've always been lucky to land into, deliberately or otherwise, communities. Whether that's music as a kid, tech as a teen, EVs and Porsches as a middle aged man, etc. I love that these things are available. It takes you back to the point of our lives. Connection to other like-minded humans doing cool or interesting things. It doesn't have to be a flouty as a Porsche club. But I find folks who are frustrated, angry or just bored are the kinds of folks who have not found any community at all.

And even better, you can be in multiple communities at once. Even lapse on one and come back to it later. It's not a big deal. Life happens and you can't be plugged in as much as you'd like. But you'll always have the capability of being plugged back in. Because fundamentally, people are great.

Photo of the week

(via my flickr)

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Published on: 8th June, 2025

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