No topless fun allowed

An all-too-infrequent girls weekend is on the cards for me.

I thought it would be great to add some fun to our travels by going topless. The four-wheel type of topless - I'm talking cabriolet, soft top, convertible. You know, like Thelma and Louise but without the gun toting and driving off cliffs.

I jumped on the phone to local car hire companies to check prices for securing the perfect girls road trip car.

Guess what? There's no topless fun allowed here. None of the four (and I'm talking national chains here) had any.

``You don't have one?'' I asked disbelievingly.

``No,'' the man at one answered.

``Why not?''

``Well, they are not very practical are they? I mean the sun can be pretty hot.''

``Not so much this time of year,'' I suggested. ``Maybe there is just no fun allowed in X (name of major regional NSW town withheld to protect any hope of it laying claim to having a cosmopolitan atmosphere)?''

There was silence for about a minute until he realised my comment was an attempt at humour. Then there was a short laugh. ``I guess not,'' he admitted.

Undeterred, I inquired about a vehicle with a sunroof and then some other ``cute'' girly cars but I still struck out.

One helpful (?) man at another company suggested I'd have more luck hiring a convertible ``on the coast somewhere''. Mmmm. Thanks for that. The coast is where I was planning to drive to from here!

I'm disappointed beyond belief.

Obviously my expectations are way out of step with the masses here. There'd be no problem if I wanted to hire a big boofy 4WD or a ute...I'd be spoilt for choice. But it's not exactly the look I was aiming for. I mean, can you imagine Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte taking a weekend away in a dual cab diesel ute with bullbar?