Living Without... a Car

As promised in the July newsletter, following the unfortunate demise of our old but faithful family car, I have been keeping an occasional diary to record the good and bad aspects of living without a car. If you missed the original article, you can read it here.

14 June: Today my son Joe has gone to an event in London by train. The train left too early for him to get a bus to the station and although it is bikeable, at about three miles, he didn't fancy leaving his bike chained up at the station all day, or cycling back late at night after what would certainly be a long and tiring day. Therefore, we have already dipped into our ‘taxi fund' to get him to and from the station.

Gardening in the front garden today, I wondered if I could safely leave the hoe out there while I had a break for lunch. The chances of anyone wanting to steal an ancient, not very well cared for hoe are pretty low, but it's amazing what can go wandering... Anyway, what struck me was that rather than thinking that if the hoe did go walkies, I'd have to pop down to B&Q to buy a new one, I was more concerned that getting to somewhere I could actually buy a hoe, and bringing it home again, would be a major inconvenience.

Is it the ready availability of everyday items nowadays that makes us value them so little? It's just so easy to replace things, finances permitting, that we rarely think twice about it. Maybe, if replacing an everyday tool involved making a special trip, or even making the new item ourselves, we would treasure these humble possessions and do everything we could to protect them, cherish and maintain them, and keep them out of landfill (or from wandering...).

16 June: It's Book Group tonight, and I'll have to go by bus despite the buses home being rather few and far between. I'll take the opportunity to pick up a few things from the large Sainsbury's that I can't buy locally.

It struck me yesterday that the first ‘carless' Book Group meeting is also to be the first since we transferred the venue to a town-centre pub from the bookshop, as the bookshop has recently changed hands and their central management don't seem interested in supporting it. Is this pure coincidence, or is Bacchus, God of Wine, trying to tell me something?

25 June: I knew that I would miss being able to go to garden centres on a whim whenever I saw a gap in the garden. Last weekend I decided I really needed some new plants for tubs where I'd been hoping in vain that last year's plants would re-emerge. However, a trip on the bus to Poole farmer's market, and on foot to Broadstone's farmer's market were quite enough to fill the tubs with some beautiful fuschias, pinks, lupins, convolvulus and firecracker vine, for a fraction of what they would have cost in a garden centre. I reused last year's compost, but if I had needed new, I could have got round that by ordering some from my milkman.

11 July: Surprisingly, there have been very few occasions when I have even thought about not having a car. In fact a few nights ago when my son went for a sleepover I mused about whether I should eschew my normal Friday-night tipple in case he should want to come home early, until my husband pointed out that picking him up was not an option anyway.

The main difficulty arose when we realised that my younger son would benefit from having a motorbike for when he went to college in a year's time, and that it would make sense to purchase one now so he can gain plenty of experience before braving rush-hour traffic. There is one motorcycle dealer and one motorcycle kit retailer within easy bus/walk distance from here, so our choice would be limited.

However, that limitation in some ways made the process of buying bike, helmet, jacket, trousers and boots much simpler. Choice was limited, but we chose the best option available for each item, and were done. There was no point worrying that there may be a better fit, or a better deal, to be had elsewhere. Yes, maybe we could have saved money if we'd been able to shop around, but at some point you have to say, ‘Yes, this is the one,' and the more choice you have, the longer and more frustrating that can be.

This made me think about the amount of choice we have nowadays. You want a jar of jam - but which one? Go into your average supermarket and you will find on offer everything from anaemic-looking value brands to fancy-packaged ‘conserve' at four times the price. Which do you buy? And do you end up wondering whether you've wasted money by paying for the upmarket brand, or whether you would have enjoyed a different brand more? Chances are, next time you need some jam you'll decide to try a different brand to see if it's better, so have to make a choice all over again.

That's just one item on your shopping list. And it doesn't stop at food shopping. What furniture to buy, what car, where to go on holiday, which of the many TV channels to watch, which internet provider? What is the long-term effect of all this decision-making and the worry that we may have made the wrong choice, not looked hard enough, been conned by clever marketing?

It must have been very different a couple of generations ago. Even if you weren't limited to the food you had grown yourself, your local shop (i.e. the only one you could reach on foot) would have had one pot of jam. Buy it, or don't buy it. There's no need to worry about whether you chose the best option. How simple is that?

These days we're made to believe we need, and deserve, the best of everything. The top-of-the-range mobile phone makes us perfectly happy, until we hear of a new one with an added gizmo. Then dissatisfaction creeps in. Can't afford it? Oh yes you can, says the salesperson - take out our credit deal and you'll have nothing to pay for six months. Suddenly, it is within our grasp. Once again we tell ourselves we'll economise for a few weeks so we can clear the debt. Which works well... until we spot another ‘must-have' gizmo.

8 August: Yesterday my husband had a day off work so we planned to have a day out. So, what were our options?

Well, there were several... from Poole we could have gone to Wareham, Weymouth or Corfe Castle by train. We could walk down to Poole Quay and go on a boat trip to Wareham or to Brownsea Island (the birthplace of the Scouting Movement, the inspiration for Kirrin Island in Enid Blyton's Famous Five books, and one of the last refuges of the red squirrel).

In the end, we settled for a walk along Poole Quay and a pub lunch, followed by a short stroll to the Lifeboat Museum. And a lovely day it was too!

18 August: One thing keeping this diary has shown me is that as a family we don't get out much! We have had relations visit a couple of times in the past couple of weeks so were able to have some 'days out' then (and, finally, a visit to a garden centre!) but on the whole, we're pretty happy to stay close to home. There are plenty of lovely walks within minutes' reach of our front door, it's very easy to while away an afternoon in the back garden - pottering or just enjoying the sun - and public transport gives us more than enough options for going further afield. I've now heard that the new car probably won't arrive till the end of September and I can't help wondering why there is such a delay given the reported state of the car industry - have we chosen the one make of car that people are queuing up to buy? In mid-September we'll be going to stay in West Cornwall and given the poor rail links to the west of here, have decided to hire a car for the week. The price, excluding petrol, is pretty much the same as train tickets would have cost, and I'm not sure how my temperamental back would have coped with the several changes required.

So, in conclusion: could I live without a car? Quite clearly, yes. There may be times when it's a nuisance, but I can't see any occasion when I couldn't get round this if I was happy to use a hire car or taxi if there was no other option. I may have to rely on family and friends at times, but I'm sure they'd be happy with a contribution towards petrol costs. So will I be cancelling the car order? No, I won't. When it comes down to it, it does give us much more freedom, independence and choice, particularly when we go on holiday or to stay with friends. This is a luxury rather than a necessity, and one that many people may not agree with. If nothing else, however, I will be thinking about each and every journey and weighing up the benefits as balanced against the damage to the planet.

Judy

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