Running on empty
22/6/11 11:32![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darkemeraldsI had my car towed away yesterday to the mechanic. Utter disuse has rendered it inoperative, and I need to get it repaired because, after several months of internal struggle, I'm finally ready to sell it.
I bought my first car at 35. It was a used 1988 Honda Civic and I drove it for twelve years before giving it to my sister. She sold it just the other day with 175,000 miles on it. That was one hell of a little car.
My second, and probably last, car was a black Mercedes C230, about twice the weight and half the gas mileage of the Honda. A grown-up vehicle with leather seats and a moon roof. It felt really good to pull up in a Mercedes, wherever I was pulling up to. I liked it a lot.
After AAA towed it away last night, I went into a bit of a state: I watched three hours of television and I might have overeaten just a tad. It took me a while to acknowledge how unsettled I was at the impending change.
Car ownership is absolutely fundamental in American life. When I finally became a car-owner, I moved from an outsider's position into the mainstream. Of course, the American mainstream isn't the best fit for me, but it was not without its comforts. Why would I give it up if I don't have to?
It's not the money: a paid-for car that you don't drive doesn't cost much. It's not the environment, though I guess I get a couple of points for riding a bike.
It's really just that driving...bothers me. I don't enjoy it. It's fast and scary and dangerous and annoying, and it's only useful for taking me places I don't want to go. For almost two years now, given a daily choice between driving and not-driving, I've chosen not to drive almost every time.
But won't I feel constricted when effectively confined to a five-mile radius from my house?
I haven't so far. Inside that radius lies everything I need and almost all of what I want (including the airport). But...but! What if I want to go to the beach on the spur of the moment? What if I need stuff at Home Depot or IKEA? What if I want to visit someone in the distant 'burbs? What if I have visitors and want to take them out of town?
Well, that's what car rental, taxis and delivery trucks are for, I guess.
And besides, it's a new adventure. I can't help thinking that something wonderful will come into my life to fill the space formerly occupied by Car.
I bought my first car at 35. It was a used 1988 Honda Civic and I drove it for twelve years before giving it to my sister. She sold it just the other day with 175,000 miles on it. That was one hell of a little car.
My second, and probably last, car was a black Mercedes C230, about twice the weight and half the gas mileage of the Honda. A grown-up vehicle with leather seats and a moon roof. It felt really good to pull up in a Mercedes, wherever I was pulling up to. I liked it a lot.
After AAA towed it away last night, I went into a bit of a state: I watched three hours of television and I might have overeaten just a tad. It took me a while to acknowledge how unsettled I was at the impending change.
Car ownership is absolutely fundamental in American life. When I finally became a car-owner, I moved from an outsider's position into the mainstream. Of course, the American mainstream isn't the best fit for me, but it was not without its comforts. Why would I give it up if I don't have to?
It's not the money: a paid-for car that you don't drive doesn't cost much. It's not the environment, though I guess I get a couple of points for riding a bike.
It's really just that driving...bothers me. I don't enjoy it. It's fast and scary and dangerous and annoying, and it's only useful for taking me places I don't want to go. For almost two years now, given a daily choice between driving and not-driving, I've chosen not to drive almost every time.
But won't I feel constricted when effectively confined to a five-mile radius from my house?
I haven't so far. Inside that radius lies everything I need and almost all of what I want (including the airport). But...but! What if I want to go to the beach on the spur of the moment? What if I need stuff at Home Depot or IKEA? What if I want to visit someone in the distant 'burbs? What if I have visitors and want to take them out of town?
Well, that's what car rental, taxis and delivery trucks are for, I guess.
And besides, it's a new adventure. I can't help thinking that something wonderful will come into my life to fill the space formerly occupied by Car.
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