(Sorry, I'm at the point of stopping commenting on this site because it CONSTANTLY eats my comments.)
Basically, I'm a REALLY incompetent and dangerous cyclist. Even if I could handle a bike safely - and at the moment I wouldn't cycle half a mile on quiet roads, never mind 5 miles in our area - the first mile of our cycle route is so crazy CRI won't do it. He actually walks to his mum's and picks his bike up there, then cycles the last 4 miles along routes that are (mostly) cycle lanes. The first mile is a major A-road arterial but only 1 (narrow) lane in each direction, and full of lorries and idiot drivers who would probably try to overtake anyone foolhardly enough to cycle along there in a positively frightening way. It also takes at least as long to cycle to/from work as it takes to get the bus :-/ So it's not really feasible for me and would make shopping more inconvenient.
Mostly, I am just reaching the end of my tether with feeling so dependent all the time. Anywhere that's not walking distance from a trainline or bus route is basically inaccessible, especially if I want to travel to/from it with anything large, heavy or bulky. Garden centres, country parks in the middle of rural Kent, farm shops and plant nurseries.
So yes, I agree it would be better to not run a car, but I can comfortably afford it, and I'm getting the least polluting decent car I can afford and which is actually appropriate to the area (I looked at electric but the affordable ones all have a top speed of 40mph, which isn't really appropriate when a lot of our main roads have 50mph limits). I'll try and be responsible, and CRI and I can go into work together so hopefully there won't be too much single-person-occupancy of the vehicle!
Actually, what I'd really like is Zipcar, but that is basically crap outside London.
no subject
(Sorry, I'm at the point of stopping commenting on this site because it CONSTANTLY eats my comments.)
Basically, I'm a REALLY incompetent and dangerous cyclist. Even if I could handle a bike safely - and at the moment I wouldn't cycle half a mile on quiet roads, never mind 5 miles in our area - the first mile of our cycle route is so crazy CRI won't do it. He actually walks to his mum's and picks his bike up there, then cycles the last 4 miles along routes that are (mostly) cycle lanes. The first mile is a major A-road arterial but only 1 (narrow) lane in each direction, and full of lorries and idiot drivers who would probably try to overtake anyone foolhardly enough to cycle along there in a positively frightening way. It also takes at least as long to cycle to/from work as it takes to get the bus :-/ So it's not really feasible for me and would make shopping more inconvenient.
Mostly, I am just reaching the end of my tether with feeling so dependent all the time. Anywhere that's not walking distance from a trainline or bus route is basically inaccessible, especially if I want to travel to/from it with anything large, heavy or bulky. Garden centres, country parks in the middle of rural Kent, farm shops and plant nurseries.
So yes, I agree it would be better to not run a car, but I can comfortably afford it, and I'm getting the least polluting decent car I can afford and which is actually appropriate to the area (I looked at electric but the affordable ones all have a top speed of 40mph, which isn't really appropriate when a lot of our main roads have 50mph limits). I'll try and be responsible, and CRI and I can go into work together so hopefully there won't be too much single-person-occupancy of the vehicle!
Actually, what I'd really like is Zipcar, but that is basically crap outside London.