8 days without a car

I love to drive but only the type of driving you see in the movies (or in North Wales where the population is very small). Smooth roads, light traffic, listening to your  favourite music.  I do hate commuting. I loathe being stuck traffic jams. I can't stand it that it takes 45 minutes to travel 8 miles and then having to walk 20 minutes on top of this for a free parking space. (I refuse to pay crazy parking prices when I only work 4.5 hours per day).

And by heck, these motor vehicles are money drains. My car is 8 years old,  and its had hundreds of pounds spent on it this year.  At the moment it is sitting forlornly outside my house needing a £500 flywheel bla bla replacement. But how long will it last before something else goes wrong?

So bah humbug me is sitting doing nothing about the garage situation. I've survived 8 days without a car and guess what? It ain't so bad after all.  In fact I'm going to try being car-free for the rest of the month.

This is what I've been doing :-

• I bike to work - a 20 mile round trip a day. I'm getting a great workout  and will soon have enviably  tanned legs which means I can cancel my gym membership. (Thus saving another £22 every month, or £250 in a year - enough for a weekend break to Paris!). 
• At the bottom of my road there is a bus stop which takes me into the city (8 miles) in one direction, and a small town (with railway station) 3 miles away in the other.
• I have a 10-15 minutes walk to a large supermarket for emergencies.
• I ordered a huge grocery delivery from Tescos for only £2.50. It meant that someone else did all the hard work of lugging the shopping around the shop and delivering it to my door while I was baking cookies with my boys.  I love that one- that's a keeper even when I have 4 wheels again!!
• For the kids out-of-school activities we have 2 lots of swimming lessons and a Tuesday afternoon play centre visit.  We're doing a mixture of walking, bus and biking. 
• I'm also lucky that I'm very close to the countryside.

Why I do need a car - for FUN

• Vacations
• Travelling to my parents for weekend visits
• Weekend sightseeing

Now I have to weigh up the pros and cons and decide what to do :)