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.

[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.

[mair_in_grenderich]

Note for other cyclists:

^^male

[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.

[(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.