It's on days like these.....

[SquareDaff]

Was hard work getting into work this morning. 30 mile commute into a constand headwind all the way! If I hadn't been doing it as part of a training plan I'd have given up and caught the train part of the way! Just no fun when it's like this.

 

[kerndog]

well I'm with you op. I know some people who tried to live like that, refusing to buy a car out of principle, even when they had kids they would drive them around in a trailer even in sub zero temps, pissing rain and in dangerous situations. Fools nearly killed their kids on a narrow road just to prove a point.

Anyway they now have a car which they use as little as possible, but do still have to use at times.

We recently went from 2 to 1 car, I mostly ride if I can but not if it's pissing it down or too far to ride or inconvenient to ride.

I reckon anyone who says you dont need a car probably lives in a city and doesn't have children. It's a fact of life that we need a car, its how our world is constructed and foolish to think otherwise.

 

[tyred]

well I'm with you op. I know some people who tried to live like that, refusing to buy a car out of principle, even when they had kids they would drive them around in a trailer even in sub zero temps, ****ing rain and in dangerous situations. Fools nearly killed their kids on a narrow road just to prove a point.

Anyway they now have a car which they use as little as possible, but do still have to use at times.

We recently went from 2 to 1 car, I mostly ride if I can but not if it's ****ing it down or too far to ride or inconvenient to ride.

I reckon anyone who says you dont need a car probably lives in a city and doesn't have children. It's a fact of life that we need a car, its how our world is constructed and foolish to think otherwise.

Oh, I hope you've dug a trench and put on your tin hat

 

[Crackle]

People don't "need" to have a 25 mile each-way commute. Most of us have to either live somewhere close to where we work, or find work close to where we live. Your reasoning is produced by a culture that has shaped itself around the demands of the private car.

Nowt wrong with that though. Once it was shaped around farming, then industrialisation, then trains, now cars. Cars probably have a few more years, then it'll be hoverboards or something.

 

[Brandane]

Seen it, thanks. It's the one in which you said " you can keep your concrete wonderland", isn't it? If you start a thread provocatively, don't get shirty when someone responds with "bring it on".

Errrm; are you referring to the concrete wonderland comment (which I stand by - it's one of the main reasons why I won't be moving from the seaside), or this thread? The one in which in my first post I wrote:

I can appreciate that others in more temperate areas of the country might be able to manage it, given that they probably only work 8 hour days, have shorter commutes, have showers and changing facilities at work, don't have to share the narrow trunk roads with constant heavy traffic, etc.. It would be good if those same members could appreciate that not all members circumstances are the same.

Hardly "provocative", is it? All I was pointing out is that peoples circumstances are wide and varied. I find it quite irritating that some folk can't get their heads round the fact that others have different needs. I respect (even envy in a lot of ways) people who don't need a car, so why can others not respect my needs, and those of the vast majority of the population?

 

[Brandane]

I can get my head around the fact that people have different needs thanks. I, for instance, am comfortable with the fact that you need to debate your perceived need for a car every so often.

If it makes you feel even better, I don't need a car just now, but since I'm looking for work and unlikely to get anything within (my) cycle commuting distance, I will be keeping it for now. I will, of course, keep you updated .

 

[theclaud]

Errrm; are you referring to the concrete wonderland comment (which I stand by - it's one of the main reasons why I won't be moving from the seaside), or this thread? The one in which in my first post I wrote:

Hardly "provocative", is it? All I was pointing out is that peoples circumstances are wide and varied. I find it quite irritating that some folk can't get their heads round the fact that others have different needs. I respect (even envy in a lot of ways) people who don't need a car, so why can others not respect my needs, and those of the vast majority of the population?

"There are several members who needed to be told..?" No one needs to be told anything about why you choose to drive - you seem to have a need constantly to rationalize the decision. I don't condemn you for the driving - I just don't want to hear the excuses. I find it "quite irritating" that those who are addicted to their cars whinge constantly about the price of fuel and traffic wardens and congestion, and then have the nerve to criticize those of us who either seek alternatives or have never troubled their fellow citizens with the demands of their own private motoring. The really irritating thing is that insofar as it is a "need" at all, it is a self-perpetuating one - if you feel that you don't have enough choices and that the car has you in its grip against your will, you ought to be on the side of those taking action against its dominance.

The point about cities was that you shun them. You choose to shun them. I like the seaside and the city, and have made a choice to be by the seaside. But I can only continue to live by the seaside as long as my job here exists. That's how it works.

 

[Brandane]

and then have the nerve to criticize those of us who either seek alternatives or have never troubled their fellow citizens with the demands of their own private motoring.

Who is criticising them? I believe I said I ENVY them. As for "troubled their fellow citizens with the demands of their own private motoring"; you are beginning to sound like the cycling version of the motorists who want cyclists off the road "coz they don't have insurance or road tax, and they hold us up, innit".

 

[theclaud]

Who is criticising them? I believe I said I ENVY them. As for "troubled their fellow citizens with the demands of their own private motoring"; you are beginning to sound like the cycling version of the motorists who want cyclists off the road "coz they don't have insurance or road tax, and they hold us up, innit".

Don't envy us - just join us, or stop whinging.

There is no "cycling version of the motorists who want cyclists off the road". Cars and the infrastructure they require make demands on our social space which are not remotely equivalent to anything cyclists have the power to impose on others. It's a false equivalence.

 

[Brandane]

"There are several members who needed to be told..?"

Just noticed this piece of mis-quoting. What I actually said in post #1 was "There were several members who would not be told that I "needed" a car". There is a subtle difference. If you are going to quote me, at least get the wording correct.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Everyone cheer up

(Hope that works!)

 

[cyberknight]

My commute is only 10miles each way but i just hung the washingout and the wind was gusting enough to be knocking me all over the road and i have been off the bike for a week with a bad cold so i am glad i have the option to take the car tonight , coughing my guts up with a streaming nose and getting blown about in the dark does not sound fun.

 

[theclaud]

Just noticed this piece of mis-quoting. What I actually said in post #1 was "There were several members who would not be told that I "needed" a car". There is a subtle difference. If you are going to quote me, at least get the wording correct.

Apologies for the misquote. I'm not convinced it makes a whole lot of difference, though, as we still don't wish to be told. We are grown-ups.

 

[Brandane]

Everyone cheer up

(Hope that works!)

I prefer the old version!

 

[Peteaud]

I work 12 hour (minimum and more like 12.5 hour) shifts and i can tell you, at the end of the day i am fit to drop, let alone cycle home.

I do cycle some days (better weather etc) but i dont want my cycling to become a chore, so drive most days.