Wednesday 22 September was World Car Free Day. A worthy idea for sure, but I wonder whether it smacks of tokenism. After all, it's easy to assuage your guilt over car use by not using the car for one day.
On the other hands, for those of us who can't or won't or don't drive for whatever reason, every day is Car Free Day. And so it was for us. More walking, cycling and public transport was the order of the day.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Monday, July 19, 2010
Winter without a car is hard
It's been a year now since we decided to ditch the car completely. And while it's been not been too hard of an ask to forego a car I must say, I'm finding winter without a car is hard.
I find it most difficult when I need to visit the doctors and am feeling particularly under the weather. It's been like a winter of old here in Melbourne - low overnight temperatures and frosty mornings. The cold seeps right into your bones, and makes me feel just that bit more unwell. I just don't want to face the 15 minute walk to the tram to get to the doctors. My way around this has been to catch a taxi to the there and back.
While catching a taxi generally deals with the issue of not wanting to be out in the cold I do find that catching a taxi is a bit like a game of roulette these days. Will the taxi turn up? Will they drive at a safe speed? Do they know their way around Melbourne? Will they use a mobile phone, holding it up to their ear, with me, the passenger, in the car? Will they drive with an mp3 device plugged into their ears the whole journey, providing exceptionally rude customer service in my opinion? Who knows. As I said, it's all a bit like a game of roulette.
In June I found myself down at the doctors waiting for a taxi to turn up. Waiting for over 20 minutes. Until I could wait no more and decided to start walking home as a break in the storm clouds appeared. This wasn't one of my best ideas. About ten minutes into the walk it clouded over again, went very dark, the heavens opened up and it poured down with rain. With no shelter in sight I huddled under a small tree, hoping that it would stop soon so that I could make it to the cover of the shops a couple of streets away from me. I stood there for a good 15 minutes until the rain let up, ran to the shops and hailed a passing taxi and finally made it home.
But where was the taxi I originally called? Who knows. I seem to always have trouble when I call a taxi on my mobile phone. And the system used by the taxi company (in this case Silver Top) doesn't seem to be able to cope with a changing pick up address.
Has anyone else had trouble when using a mobile phone to call a taxi?
I find it most difficult when I need to visit the doctors and am feeling particularly under the weather. It's been like a winter of old here in Melbourne - low overnight temperatures and frosty mornings. The cold seeps right into your bones, and makes me feel just that bit more unwell. I just don't want to face the 15 minute walk to the tram to get to the doctors. My way around this has been to catch a taxi to the there and back.
While catching a taxi generally deals with the issue of not wanting to be out in the cold I do find that catching a taxi is a bit like a game of roulette these days. Will the taxi turn up? Will they drive at a safe speed? Do they know their way around Melbourne? Will they use a mobile phone, holding it up to their ear, with me, the passenger, in the car? Will they drive with an mp3 device plugged into their ears the whole journey, providing exceptionally rude customer service in my opinion? Who knows. As I said, it's all a bit like a game of roulette.
In June I found myself down at the doctors waiting for a taxi to turn up. Waiting for over 20 minutes. Until I could wait no more and decided to start walking home as a break in the storm clouds appeared. This wasn't one of my best ideas. About ten minutes into the walk it clouded over again, went very dark, the heavens opened up and it poured down with rain. With no shelter in sight I huddled under a small tree, hoping that it would stop soon so that I could make it to the cover of the shops a couple of streets away from me. I stood there for a good 15 minutes until the rain let up, ran to the shops and hailed a passing taxi and finally made it home.
But where was the taxi I originally called? Who knows. I seem to always have trouble when I call a taxi on my mobile phone. And the system used by the taxi company (in this case Silver Top) doesn't seem to be able to cope with a changing pick up address.
Has anyone else had trouble when using a mobile phone to call a taxi?
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Back for 2010
After 11 days on holiday over Christmas and New Year, it was with trepidation that I got back on the bike on Monday morning for the ride to the tram stop. And I was right. My legs were on fire half way through the journey and I was a wobbly-legged wreck when I tied up the bike. Tuesday was a little better as the leg muscles remember what they have to do. And today is another day...
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