One thing we learned pretty quickly on this carless journey of ours is that it’s, well, impossible. We can’t manage without a car. Not all the time, that’s for sure.
One of the first things I thought of after David’s car broke down was a naming ceremony we were due to go to. It was for the baby of two of our closest friends and we really didn’t want to miss it, but it was in a small Yorkshire village, pretty much impossible to get to by public transport.
So David suggested we try a car club. I googled. In case you’re unfamiliar, car clubs allow you to book a car from their fleet for as long or as little as you need it. “All the convenience of a car, without the hassles and expenses of owning one.” Except the closest cars to us are 25 miles away and it would cost us £50 per year to join the club with car rental rates from £39.50 for 24 hours. Call me crazy, but that didn’t actually sound much cheaper than, you know, hiring a car. The old-fashioned way.
There’s actually a reliable car hire company nearby (*cough* Intack Self Drive ) so we got on the phone: £24.90 for 24 hours. And that was for a Chevrolet (formerly Daewoo) Matiz, i.e. the same car I used to have that Harry was missing terribly. We knew he’d be delighted. We booked it.
The weird thing about having a car again was how easily we got used to it, but, at the same time, how indulgent it felt. Years ago I was put on an exclusion diet (they thought I had arthritis – I didn’t) and, after about four weeks of only eating vegetables, I was allowed a little cheese. I was so excited! Cheese! It was suddenly the most delicious thing in the world! I couldn’t believe I was allowed to eat it. Well, having a car again (however temporarily) was like that. I was like that character from The Fast Show: aren’t cars brilliant?! They wait outside your house and then when you want to go somewhere you can just get in and drive off! Brilliant!
But then we had to give it back. A sad day indeed. But we’ve since hired a car again (*cough* Intack) to take me to a book event in Chester (*note from Laura – Get you and your ‘book event’*) and booked it for two days so we could make our favourite family trip to Lancaster. It’s good to know that we have easy and inexpensive access to a reliable car whenever we need one and it certainly works out a lot cheaper than having a car of our own. The only problem is that David won’t let us eat in a hire car. Not even cheese.
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Keris Stainton
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