As I am typing the word “Vauxhall Astra” into my computer, the spell checker’s ominous red line of death has appeared under the word “Vauxhall.” “Valhalla,” being the most recommended suggestion for my apparent blunder leads me to believe that my American computer, loaded with software for the American market of course, hasn’t the foggiest idea of what I’m talking about.

Have you?

Well to fill you in on what I’m getting at, the Vauxhall (Opel) Astra is one of Europe’s best selling cars. I’ll spare you the details, but in general it’s a small car like a Ford Focus, but it’s a huge sales success. In the years when it’s not taking the number one position in sales it’s usually trailing a close 2nd or 3rd. It sells many thousands of units a month, and by now I must imagine that the total number of Astras running in the world must be well into the millions. By any measurable standard it is just as recognized in Europe as the Ford F-150 is recognized in these United States.

So the question remains, why has no one in the United States ever heard of it?

Well think about the landscape on Mars and the landscape on Earth. If you grew up on Mars like my wife did, you grew up with a red landscape and an eerie atmosphere, and for all of your life that is all you have ever known. It doesn’t excite you and you don’t feel the need to talk about it. If there was, however, an unusual and rare flower that you should happen to come across growing out of the red soil, you may want to try to sell it to your friends on Earth.

But that is where all the hype and exclusively tend to destroy that rare Martian flower. Everyone would want one, everyone with the means will get one and as a result it ceases to be so exclusive and rare anymore. In this instance it would be more exclusive to have something you’d find everywhere on Mars, like Martian rocks, rather than something that is far less common.

For an example using Italian cars I’ll take the Alfa Romeo Brera and a Ferrari. Everyone in Italy can buy a Brera. It’s not too expensive and the looks are just phenomenal, yet a very small relative proportion of Italians have the means to buy a Ferrari. In my area of residence in the U.S. Ferrari’s are so common that they don’t really catch my attention anymore. If I should happen to see an Alfa Romeo Brera however, I don’t think you would be able to shut me up for days on end.

My current watch dilemma is very similar to the case of the Alfa and the Ferrari. You see countries tend to export only the higher end stuff to other places and not the stuff you can find everyday. That is why you can buy German chocolate here, but not German bread. Right now what I covet is this:

This is the Seiko SBQJ017 and this is a watch that any person in Japan can go out and buy at any time. It is a remarkable quartz watch with a perpetual calendar and 4th “GMT” hand. It has a battery that will last around 10 years, an excellent quartz, and at only around $500 it is not too expensive at all. Yet in these United States you cannot find these ANYWHERE!!! Even trying to import one from Japan is a huge challenge since these are not in huge demand for these watches over in the United States. Seeing how there are plenty of people with money in the United States, and the fact that you can buy Rolex watches almost anywhere, you have to think about what is more exclusive, the Rolex, or the Seiko?