Carless Whispers – In which Keris says hello to her new car. *sniff*
Yes, it’s been a while, but this is the very last in our Carless Whispers series, in which Keris went from two cars to no cars inside a fortnight – and so decided to save the money and remain carless. You can go back and see the series here if you’ve missed it – but here’s the Very Last One. *sob*
I’m not sure whether it was the week with the Skoda Roomster, the relentless rain, or the prospect of another snowy winter, but I finally had to accept it was time for our carless experiment to come to an end.
We lasted out for over a year, which is much longer than I ever would have imagined we could manage without a car and I am actually glad we did it. You could read back over the columns to find out why, but I know you’re busy so I’ll just summarise:
– The boys got used to public transport. It was often a massive pain in the backside, but I think it was good for them to have the experience of waiting. And of other (sometimes unpleasant, sometimes drunk) people.
– Walking the school run made me fitter, but I didn’t actually lose any weight. Possibly because I often stopped at the newsagents. In both directions. On both journeys. Ahem.
– The conversations with the boys while walking the school run made the whole thing worthwhile. We talked about everything, we laughed, we sang, we even danced. And we saw lots of wildlife and other things (like the plumber’s van with a trompe l’oeil door featuring the bottom half of the plumber sitting on the loo) that we probably would never have seen from the car.
So we bought a car. Second-hand obviously – and sadly not a Skoda Yeti – but it’s rather lovely all the same.
There were a few teething problems: the inside lights didn’t go out, the back wiper didn’t work, the battery ran out as I was driving home and I mounted the kerb while squeaking out a swear, but it was all sorted out quickly and easily (albeit expensively) and now we’re fully mobile again.
And honestly? It’s so much better.
