To Car or Not To Car

My car has finally bit the dust. It has been on hospice for almost a year now so I guess I should consider my self lucky. This is not new to me, I have been "carless" more than once in my life, so it doesn't make me particularly UNCOMFORTABLE. But it does make certain aspects of life a little more challenging. Luckily I live in an urban area, and I can walk to work in about 20 minutes (good exercise), but right now while it is still dark in the morning when I leave I have been getting a ride. I also live within walking distance of the grocery, bank, a restaurant or two, and more importantly a wine shop!!

Since it will probably be several months before I can get another car, I have been thinking about getting a bike. I want one of those "cruiser" bikes. The ones with the wider tires, handlebars that aren't bent over and they have a old fashioned, bigger seat. I even think I would like to ride a bike to work even after I get another car. My biggest problem with not having a car is the mass transit system in this city is not always good, especially weekends when buses only run every couple of hours and some routes not at all. Of course, there are always taxicabs, and I don't have a problem taking a taxi every now and them.

I have often thought that I should be living in New York City, where most people don't have cars. People mostly walk, subways, taxis, it seems that it is pretty easy to get around that city with no car. Now that is my kind of town! I really have never been a big fan of driving, don't get my wrong, I like driving but I have been in half a dozen wrecks in my time, none of them my fault, where I have been rear ended or someone else has run a stop sign. Luckily, the worst injury has been whiplash along with a couple of cars that have been totaled. I don't drive on the expressway because that just makes me too nervous, the semis and the speed. Now I'll ride with someone else, but I won't drive it. I once saw an interview with J.K.Rowling that Oprah did and she said that she won't drive, that it scares her, that she finds alternatives and of course she can afford to hire a car. But I thought at the time, YAY, we are sisters at heart, if J.K.Rowling can admit that she doesn't drive because she doesn't like it, then I don't feel so bad. Driving doesn't scare me or make me nervous, but sometimes I wonder if all those accidents were omens, hmmm.

But eventually I will get another car and I will be driving again. Driving does give you a sense of freedom to come and go as you like, but you won't see me on the expressway!!

To set the record straight, I am a good driver, never a ticket (well, one, for a loud muffler), none of the accidents were my fault, I just don't like a lot of traffic and a lot of speed.

Although.........maybe that is one of the things that I should force myself to do because that is definitely NOT in my comfort zone. 

Kathy