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Not having a car
Filed under GeneralApr 26I’ve never learned to drive, I had a go once back in 2004 but after crashing into a tree and nearly turning a car over I realised, it wasn’t really for me. I was never that keen before I found I was such a dangerous driver, the cost both environmentally and financially always seemed to out weigh any benefits. My costs for a year on public transport are anything between £500 and £1000 depending on how much traveling I have to do. It’s come down since I’ve move to Devon as surprisingly everything is now on my doorstep (publishers, foraging territory, places to go walking). I’ve heard that to keep a car it is around £6000 a year, which is at least 6 times the most I’ll ever spend and about what I live off for an entire year!
I could go on about the environmental impact of the car but I think it is obvious what a few million machines spewing out noxious gas can do to the environment and besides that’s not really the point of my blog today, my point is I’ve always made do without one.
For short journeys I walk or cycle and for longer journeys I’ll either get the bus or the train. If I want to transport something I have to either ask a willing friend or make do.
Recently there has been a lack of willing friends so I’ve had to make do. This meant I traveled on the train or walked with a large array of gardening equipment.
A couple of months ago I traveled from Totnes to Reading, in the process making myself known to the guard on duty that day. In the morning he helped me look for my great aunt, who was traveling in from East Grinstead in her Nun’s habit (as she is a Nun). Then in the early evening I traveled back wearing a suit and pulling a garden shredder. As the train pulled into Totnes I got talking to one of the passengers who now lets me use her back garden as an allotment. If I had driven this chance meeting may never have happened and I wouldn’t have an outdoor area to grow in this year.
Fast forward a few weeks and I’ve pushed a lawnmower from Totnes tip to the far side of town, carried bags of potting compost on my back, like a medieval peasant carrying grain, and recently I traveled from Bristol to Totnes with a wheelbarrow and some garden tools.
If you’ve never taken anything unusual on the train with you I would highly recommend it for nothing more than the other passengers reaction. I couldn’t help but think their bemoan of ‘who brings a wheelbarrow on a train?’ may as well of been, ‘who brings a dead body on a train?’ for the venom in some of their reactions. It’s a mixture of horror and wonder, you’re seen as some kind of underclass for the sheer audacity of wanting to transport a piece of metal from one town to the other. I heard whispers of ‘that’s the **** who took the wheelbarrow on the train’, muffled laughter and even disgust. My usually thin skin had to thicken for the journey as I buried my head into a book trying to avoid eye contact with the other passengers.
On the upside the hills of Devon combined with my lack of motorised transport mean not only have I lost the extra stone in weight I put on over my biscuit fuelled winter I’ve also managed to quit smoking. Cycling up a steep country lane whilst smoking nearly gave me an asthma attack so my only option was to either quit or spend a life indoors.
So there are down sides and up to not having a car, there are certain things I simply can’t do but as I’ve never really driven I don’t miss any of them. I think we as humans adapt to any situation we are in and despite this being a very much car dominated society there are alternatives.
2 Responses to “Not having a car”
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Ann said on May 11th, 2010 at 10:32 pm
Our son recently turned 18, but has no desire to drive. We live in a rural-ish area in north eastern Ohio (USA). It’s all car here, unfortunately. We would all like to ride our bikes more, but everything is rather far away. We are resisting getting a second car, and are thinking more in the line of electric bikes. There is no public transportation at all. Most of the US is like this, unfortunately. I very much enjoy your blog and website.
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Dave said on October 28th, 2010 at 10:16 am
Hello Ann, sorry for the late reply I’ve only just spotted your comment! Electric bikes do seem to be really taking off here and I’m sure its the same in other parts of the world. I have a folding bike now which is useful when you need to get somewhere 5 miles or so from the nearest bus stop.
We are lucky in the UK to never really have too far to go and although it’s expensive and unreliable we do at least have a public transport system!
Glad you like the website, and I’m glad someone out there reads my blog!
