You're a gipsy - no one's physical or emotional property - so catch that light that wants to show the audience your face, and let's see your mind and body tell us that you'd rather be dead than lose your freedom." Arauzo then dances her final moments with the erotic frenzy of an erupting Krakatoa.Gades turns to the Torero, poised to take possession of Carmen "Jairo, turn with a glance of contempt at Don Jose He's a loser in the game. Such was the Poverty Row from which was to emerge the greatest creative force in Spanish dance today. Yet, states Gades, "I'm a labourer at culture, simply doing a job. If you call that being an artist, well and good."Earlier this month, putting the finishing touches to the revival of his Carmen currently running at the Peacock Theatre in London, Gades might have been directing actors, not dancers.

We ate, my plate full, theirs with just enough food to look polite. My wife's subtle hints ("I want a Volvo") had their effect, too. It was she who caused my conversion, though not with anything she said. As a musician, she regularly drives back from gigs late at night. I found it increasingly difficult to get to sleep until she came back - visions of fiery infernos on the M1 came into my head, and would not leave.It was after she came back from Leicester (on the M1) that I said that I would not mind just looking at a Volvo estate, and 15 seconds later we were on our way to a garage Within a month we had one. The Wentworth is a 940 turbo, but has air-conditioning and other such goodies.I have since become immensely comfortable with the car.

It is reassuringly solid - it feels like a quality car, and is full of thoughtful touches. Its boot is not as big as our five-seater Espace's, but dogs, cellos and children somehow cram in.Interesting, though, it is not. When I first tried it, I felt as though I had driven it a thousand times before It is relaxing rather than stimulating. I do not know how to open the bonnet - a sad state of affairs for someone who used to sleep with a socket set.Oddly, I have decided it may not be that safe. Sure, it is a good place to be if you are going to have a crash - but, as with most luxury cars, you feel so insulated from the outside world that you could easily lose touch with it. We were sitting in ours when we heard a burglar alarm go off; it was a while before we realised it was our own.But that is irrelevant I have now become Volvo Man I have a wife, a dog and two children, and I am middle-aged I will probably join the National Trust soon. I am, of course, still inner-directed - I like the Volvo because of what it is, not what it says about me In fact I dislike what it says about me Not that I care, of course, because I am inner-directed..