Cars in cambridge

[jack]

Based sort of on real events.

Me: You know, I really should get a car. It'd be so useful. It'd be quicker to get to places, I can give people lifts, go out and not drink, join rush hour properly,...
Naath: [interrupts] Where are the others? We've been waiting outside twenty minutes.
Me: Uh?
Naath: Oh sorry, what were you saying?
Me: Twenty minutes? Um, nevermind.

(OK, there would be many good things. Shopping. Lifts. Keeping dry. Long journeys. But is a lot of faff for something I'd use at most once a week and probably less.)

However, today, I definitely did meet my match in Douglas's low, two seater, open top, sportything[1]. We left games evening together and I kept up all the way onto arbury road[2], when he overtook and roared away on the long straight. (Apologies if I got in your way on the narrow bit.)

[1] It is very comfortable.

[2] Without even any dodgy road-cyclepath-road switching. Note for other cyclists: do not *literally* swap your road hat for a cycle path hat or vice versa to avoid traffic lights, even if you consider it a wise thing to do notionally. This tends to impair your ability to have children because, viz, respectively, (a) you look really stupid and (b) you will knee yourself in Mr and Mr gangly-googly falling off your bike.

Comments

[sunflowerinrain.livejournal.com]

For most city-dwellers, owning a car is daft, because it's much cheaper to hire a car for a day or weekend when you need one. Other benefits: if it goes wrong it's only your problem for a few minutes/couple of hours at most; you always have a new car which is clean and smart and shouldn't break down; best of all, you don't need to park it, so visiting sunflowers can park their truck in your parking-space.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

It would make sense when I want to visit people far enough out that we both have parking. And don't want to drink. But yes. Renting always feels profligate, but not compared to having one always.

Also, I really hate variance. I don't like planning journeys that take N(T,t) minutes/hours, because I need piles of contingencies; on a bike everything takes the same time regardless of traffic unless you actually break down.

Also, awwww. I have a lovely vision of my pspace full of sunflowers.

[dragonwoodshed.livejournal.com]

Cars in Cambridge are utterly pointless now supermarkets deliver, the city is tiny. Nice to get out to the seaside though, but they're expensive to run so the best thing is to have friends with cars. Talking of which, the Trumpington Park n Ride is becoming a drive-in cinema and showing Pirates of the Caribbean - if you have a friend with a sports car this is definitely something to do.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Drive-ins always sound like a strange idea somehow, though it makes sense. They should make cars *designed* to be comfortbale for sitting in, or canoodling in, etc.

[mair_in_grenderich]

Note for other cyclists:

^^male

[cornute.livejournal.com]

Note for males who may be a little unclear on this:

The female of the species also has sensitive bits in the area of a bicycle seat, and if said bits are damaged or sore due to shoddy riding, the female will be unwilling to participate in any sorts of baby-engendering activities.

Or, to be more clear about it, I've racked myself on my bike, too.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Indeed. *cuddles cornute's wangly bits* But to be fair, you probably don't refer to them as "Mr and Mr" :)

[cornute.livejournal.com]

You'd be surprised what I refer to the various bits as, sometimes!

But no, not those specific terms, no.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

To be fair, neither do I. I just thought it was funnier.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Sorry. But bah! That was entirely clear, merely some hyperbole for comic effect. I wouldn't have objected if someone had said "don't foo or you might get your hair caught" or "might damage your brompton" or "might put your eye out with a novelty madona figurine" just because I don't have any of those.

[satanicsocks.livejournal.com]

I tend to mostly use my car because I have it, rather than own it because I use it. Visiting people over by Tesco (and, in fact, going shopping) are probably the two main uses, but helping people move house / moving house / visiting houses to move into / transporting improv props from one end of town to the other / flyering Homerton / visiting parents / commuting to Ipswich have all featured in its "Thank god I have a car" moments.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

I was going to say to someone else but forgot, having friends with cars is enough. But it's about time I took my turn as that friend :)

The trouble is, if I'm moving house, then renting a van is a fairly good answer. What I'm really missing is the incidental benefits -- being able to say "Hey, I'm free today, I'll help" on a whim; and the incidental benefits, while nice, don't really justify £n00/month if the real benefits don't.

[satanicsocks.livejournal.com]

no, exactly. I've been the "friend with a car" to a lot of people over the last few years, it does get a bit tiresome, but useful.

Renting a van is great for shifting lots of stuff at once, but (e.g.) being able to go back easily over the next week and collect random bits and tidy up makes the process a lot less stressful; generally a car saves one time, but given Cambridge's traffic, this isn't always the case ;)

as for the £n00/month, I pay.. hmm.. £100 every 6 months for tax, £180 a year for insurance, and probably about £20 a month on petrol (but that's obviously proportional to use). Given that I already own the car, I'm spending about £50 a month on it, which is just about ok.

[satanicsocks.livejournal.com]

oh and £60 a year MOT - it's a good runner :)

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Hmmm. Thank you. Actually, I've never really worked out what it would cost, because this year it's too much hassle to be worth getting it whatever it comes to. And I wasn't sure if they'd say "24 year old male, never had is own car (though held license for 6 years), insurance? You'll be lucky!"

Also, I'm not sure what I want. If I'm getting a car *anyway* I want something sleek, which is obviously more expensive. But insurance companies websites are more geared to you saying "I have this car. How much?" not "I want to pay £n0, what car could I get?" so I have to go and speak to someone, which is harder work :)

[satanicsocks.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it shouldn't be *that* hard to refactor a standard insurance quote website to order by price and show cars, rather than order by cars, but you often have to put in a registration number. If you buy a brand new car then you may be able to get a year's free insurance, which will tip you on to the cheaper 25+ tariff *and* give you a year's NCB -- I've not had an accident in the 7 years since I started driving (touch wood) so that's why my insurance is among the cheapest I know of. I mean, you'll definitely *get* insurance -- my 22 year old brother with three accidents (at least!) to his name got insurance! -- but it did cost about £800-£1000 a year I think.

[(Anonymous)]

The solution to lack of transportness that I am currently considering is getting a motor cycle. It's soooo much cheaper to run.. :)

Not that it'd help with moving or giving more than one person a lift.

[numberland.livejournal.com]

Twas me

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

No, I've definitely thought about that too. (Or even a scooter :)) I probably do mostly want to give one person a lift. There are many advantages:

Cheaper and smaller than a car
Cool and badass
Distinctive, not following a bandwagon
Enough to carry shopping (though not bookcases)
Able to overtake between lanes if you feel suicidal :)
More efficient, not lugging around lots of spare chassis

On the other hand:

I don't really like leather
I hear it may be easier to mash yourself than on car or bike

[numberland.livejournal.com]

The statistics show that it is significantly more dangerous the cars however this is much reduced by (a) getting a non-powerful one (I'm looking at a 125cc atm) (b) wearing full leathers and helmets. Each of these about halve the risk of serious injury. The first probably because there isn't the temptation to go too fast, this may be because people who buy at low powered one are more likely to be sensible driving it anyway.

I'm highly amused by the idea of you expecting to get a cool and badass image on a SCOOTER!

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

The scooter might be a good alternative for cambridge, because it would do everything I can do now, but when there *isn't* traffic I can go at 25mph without exhuasting myself. It wasn't supposed to be included in cool, though amongst my friends there's probably more cache to be had by being insightful and environmental than by going "bvroom" :)

I need to actually look up the stats and haven't. If I wear leathers and everyone else doesn't, or vice versa, obviously they need to be adjusted a lot.

For that matter, I don't know if the danger is inherant, or is because cars tend to run you over. That can also make a difference.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

However, have you read Snow Crash? I'm thinking something like Raven, but a big man balanced on a small bike with a big sword. It has a *sort of* coolness.