Tuesday, 21 May 2013

Not Having A Car

Last Friday, I took the teenager to the station to get the train to London, to see his dad.  I did a naughty thing and pulled into a disabled parking space................I know bad.

Anyway, as the teenager was getting his suitcase out of the boot, a man tapped on my window.  'Oh no,' I thought, or words to that effect...............'He is going to have a go at me!'.

In fact he asked me if I knew that I had no brake lights working.  I had absolutely no idea ................no warning lights; nothing.

Superscout and I drove home, very gingerly.  When we parked on the drive, Superscout sat in the driver's seat and pressed the brake peddles.  Sometimes they came on; sometimes they did not; an intermittent fault.

On Saturday morning, I rang the mobile mechanic, who looks after my car.  He is a great guy; comes round at the drop of a hat and is very reasonably priced.  I think he said it would be the brake switch.  However, he was not able to get hold of one until Monday.

On Monday, he came round and fixed it; total cost £45.  How good was that?  It seems like a very fair price to me.

Back to the weekend - I was left without a car:


  • I ordered my food shopping online;
  • I discovered MyHermes, instead of the PO.  They came and collected a parcel from school on Monday morning, so I didn't have to go to the PO;
  • I went for a walk to the local CO-OP;
  • Superscout went into town on the bus;
  • The teenager walked back from the station;
  • A lovely colleague took me to school and back on the Monday.
If I didn't need my car for work, in theory I would not need it at all.  I only live 5 miles away, but there is no direct public transport.  I would need to catch 2 buses, which would just take too long.  

If we did have no car, when I needed one for a long journey, I would simply hire one.






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