Car-free day
Saturday 29 July 2006 was the day I freed myself of my car. Finally. My thanks to the DVLA for sending me a reminder about my road tax and prompting me to put it on eBay. A seven-day auction (and no little struggling with eBay’s buggy interface) followed, and it was taken away by a chap in Kempston. He seemed delighted that I threw in the steering lock and Haynes manual. It’s good to keep the customers happy.
Advantages of not having a car
- No more conversatons like this:
Me: How’s the service on my car?
Mechanic: It’s in good shape. But it’ll need a new overhead cam belt.
Me: Er, what’s that?
Mechanic: It makes sure the attenuator syncs with the tuning heads. You don’t want that to go wrong, do you?
Me: Er, no. So how much is that, then?
Mechanic: £450.
Me: That sounds like a lot. Anything else?
Mechanic: Only labour. That’s £300.
Me: So it’ll cost me £750?
Mechanic: Yep. It’s £750.
Me: So VAT’s included in that.
Mechanic: No. VAT’s extra. So can I go ahead with the cam belt?
Me: Can it wait?
Mechanic: I wouldn’t.
Me: Alright then.
- No more having to choose between drinking and driving. From now on, it’s drinking all the way.
- No more having to pay for road tax, insurance, MOT, service, and residential parking, none of which are proportionate to how much I use the car.
- No more feeling bewildered as to why I’m supposed to get really irate when a gallon of petrol rises — heavens! — two whole pence.
- Utter smugness.
Disadvantages of not having a car
- It was the only place I listened to tapes. Now I’ll have to make a conscious effort to listen to The Colorblind James Experience.
- It was the only place I changed radio station. (All the radios in my flat are hardwired to Radio 4.) I don’t know when I’ll listen to Resonance FM again, let alone accidentally tune into its iconoclastic Calling All Pensioners.
- Er, that’s it. But check here again when winter comes.
I’d had the car for eleven years. Anna asked me if there was any sense of regret in seeing it go. No, I said, not a jot.
