...being car-less

How many of you have tried it? Anyone lived without their cars for any period of time? Perhaps a weekend. Maybe three days. A week, perhaps? A month?

Try two months. That's approximately how long I've not been driving for, and it's the longest break I've had without driving since getting my licence in January 2003. You'll be pleased to hear that it's not through any legality technicalities. My licence is still very much with me, and nary a point to it's name. What has happened is that one of the twenty-ish year old components finally gave up the ghost after the particularly harsh Winter we just had, and rather than taking it to a garage to fix I tried a bit of home maintenance.

Long story short, I failed. Not through want of trying, so much as I lost interest in trying to shift bolts that had never left the car and didn't show much sign of wanting to part company.

The end result though is that I've not driven in the last two months and although it's been tough, I think I've been coping pretty well. As a petrolhead, I imagine this is a little like how it must feel to stand up in front of people at an Alchohlics Anonymous meeting and declare that you've not touched a drop in two months. It's okay - you can hold the applause.

I must admit, I suspect it's been easier than it might have been because I live in a city centre. The public transport is unusually excellent and punctual, and it's quite possible to walk across the majority of town in about half an hour, so even then there's not much reliance on powered transport. I also work literally three minutes from my doorstep, so I've not needed a car for commuting either. I live essentially on my own too, so I have enough arms for a weekly shop. It all conspires to make living without a car remarkably easy.

What I miss though is actually driving. The car was always going to be a bit of a plaything for me, and like a child returning from holiday to their own bedroom and toybox full of their favourite toys, I've missed playing with it. I've pined as I've watched videos on Youtube of other people enjoying their cars, and mournfully smiled as others have passed me in the street.

It's getting fixed next Tuesday. Hopefully it'll be sunny. The roof will come down, and I'll finally be able to enjoy driving again. It'll be like an ex-alchoholic being given a bottle of Bollinger.

I've not needed to drive, but I've sure as hell missed it.