6p off diesel and petrol for next 3 months.....

[Smurfy]

Making choices like these usually cost a substantial amount of money. If people don't have access to that, they they don't really have a choice at all do they.....

Couldn't agree more, this is what it comes down to. Only someone who hasn't encountered these types of dilemmas first hand would think otherwise.

 

[theclaud]

Henry Ford did, and look what that did for the American economy. the car is arguably the most successful invention in the world. Its adoption far outstrips any other mode of travel where there is disposable income whetehr we like it or not. I do about 4k on the motorbike each summer and about 7k in total ferrying around my family or bits and bobs all year around in the car. It is far more practical than the motorcycle or bicycle even if it is hindered by the other vehicles on the road in even slightly moderate traffic.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

That would be minority as in minority of motorists where there really is a demonstrable good reason why they have to commute a long way by car, rather than prefer to do so.

Have you never had that masked bloke get in the car after the job interview and hold a gun to your head and insist you drive to work in the new job then?

Cos I tell you, he's right busy around here, forcing everyone to drive.

 

[User482]

Henry Ford did, and look what that did for the American economy. the car is arguably the most successful invention in the world. Its adoption far outstrips any other mode of travel where there is disposable income whetehr we like it or not. I do about 4k on the motorbike each summer and about 7k in total ferrying around my family or bits and bobs all year around in the car. It is far more practical than the motorcycle or bicycle even if it is hindered by the other vehicles on the road in even slightly moderate traffic.

Citizens of Amsterdam! Citizens of Copenhagen! You're poor and backward.

 

[green1]

True enough. Serves you right for living on the moon though.

I don't I live in Aberdeen.

 

[theclaud]

Couldn't agree more, this is what it comes down to. Only someone who hasn't encountered these types of dilemmas first hand would think otherwise.

I'm afraid that's pretty much the opposite of the truth. Choice is most constrained amongst the large numbers of people that don't have access to a car at all and who bear the actual cost of the choices of the affluent driving classes. Most of us have to either get a job where we live, or live where we can get a job.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Maybe in the south east of England (or the entire UK as people down there like to call it) but try coming any where north of the central belt of Scotland. Courier surcharges for delivery 'to the Highlands' are now the norm despite the fact I live nowhere near the highlands. Public Transport? Would cost £30 quid to get a return trip on the buses to my folks (plus a 2-3 hour walk each way from the bus stop). Despite the fact I can drive there in 50 minutes

Are you being held hostage in the remote fastness of the (oh so heavily subsided) (southern) Highlands or Trossachs or wherever or do you choose to live there?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Are you being held hostage in the remote fastness of the (oh so heavily subsided) (southern) Highlands or Trossachs or wherever or do you choose to live there?

I don't I live in Aberdeen.

I stand corrected. I can understand why one might choose to live in Aberdeen.

 

[Linford]

I'm afraid that's pretty much the opposite of the truth. Choice is most constrained amongst the large numbers of people that don't have access to a car at all and who bear the actual cost of the choices of the affluent driving classes. Most of us have to either get a job where we live, or live where we can get a job.

You mean to tell me that your top notch MA in English Lit hasn't facilitated a decent salary from the public purse ?

 

[User482]

You mean to tell me that your top notch MA in English Lit hasn't facilitated a decent salary from the public purse ?

You should try paying attention.

 

[theclaud]

TC - Can I borrow the divan?

It depends - it's gettin' kinda crowded. Luckily User482 and DZ are both on the lean side, so if you've not got too chubby with all this driving you've been doing, we can probably squeeze you on. People who have been described as Canovaesque are allowed to take up a little more room...

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Most of us have to either get a job where we live, or live where we can get a job.

I keep reading that but it doesn't make any sense. You really don't get it.

You could choose to live a lot further away from work than you do surely? You could get yourself a nice little car. Drive to work everyday. They don't cost that much to run after all. And the government will subside the impact your car ownership has on society as a whole. And there will be one less of those pesky bicycle things on the road slowing all the cars down and getting in the way when they want to turn left. And you'll be a nicely rounded member of society rather than a yoghurt knitting member of an out group. What's not to like?

It's a win-win.

 

[theclaud]

You mean to tell me that your top notch MA in English Lit hasn't facilitated a decent salary from the public purse ?

Another SMIDSY! I don't believe that's what I said, is it?

 

[Smurfy]

I'm afraid that's pretty much the opposite of the truth. Choice is most constrained amongst the large numbers of people that don't have access to a car at all and who bear the actual cost of the choices of the affluent driving classes. Most of us have to either get a job where we live, or live where we can get a job.

You make it sound like some kind of class war.

 

[theclaud]

You could get yourself a nice little car.

Nice little car? Why can't I have a wankpanzer with rhino bars and tinted windows and a massive bank of auxiliary headlamps. After all, I might want to become a serial killer or trash a bit of mountainside, or just drive around looking like a twat. Stop cramping my style.