If you’re not really into cars, racing, engines and that kind of stuff, you may not find it very interesting visiting the interior of a car paint shop, especially one in Hamilton, ON, of all places. That’s what I thought I’d be, bored out of my mind while I waited for my friend’s car to get a new paint job. But, I was wrong! In fact, I had so much fun, became so curious and learned so much while spending two hours in a car paint shop that I wanted to write this experience down and share it with you all.

Maybe during another time of year, this time at a car paint shop may have not been so interesting. But since it was springtime things we’re rather bustling and unique. Like I mentioned, I was there because my friend was getting their car painted. One of the first things I did while waiting was walk up to an elderly lady who was also waiting for her car to get painted. I ask her, “So why are you getting your car painted.”

She replied, “Because it’s spring and I want my car looking fresh like the blooming flowers.”

I thought this was fascinating, and more so when I asked another person why they were getting their car painted and they said the same thing. It lead me to wonder if the human psyche has some kind of biological reaction to springtime. Maybe we developed the habit of spring cleaning and refreshing our home and possessions this time of year because of some ancient instinct our animalistic forefathers bore. Anyway, I won’t get too far off track there.

So, basically, what did I learn visiting the car paint shop Hamilton kindly provided to us? Well, what I learned actually had nothing to do with painting cars at all. What I learned had more to do with human nature. You see, I may not be able to prove that it’s an instinct scientifically, but there’s something about springtime that gets people cleaning and fixing things. Maybe its the excitement of winter ending or preparing for summertime festivity. Either way, it’s real and we can’t deny it. So what I learned visiting that quaint car paint shop was that humans are habitual creatures indeed, and sometimes we ourselves can’t even fully explain why it is we do the things we do.

3 other things I learned:

1. Hamilton is not as boring of a city as I expected.
2. Painting a car doesn’t take as long as I thought. (The car paint shop we went to is called Tip Top Auto Body at 350 Sherman Ave N and they did a fantastic job, in case you were wondering)
3. Despite people’s inclination to get their car painted in spring, I’m stunned as to why people wouldn’t choose brighter springtime colors instead of dark greens, silvers and reds.

I hope you learned something too from this experience. Thanks for reading and make sure to visit our blog at TLI Colombia for more interesting articles.