For the love of the car, or not?

It’s miserable here today.

Grey and wet. Typical English winter. Cold- but not frosty or snowy. And wet. Very wet. Muddy. Not nice at all.

I need to collect some wood, do some shopping and empty the loo. But it is not nice out there. The car is having a service, so I’m on foot. But I wouldn’t have used the car anyway. It is a 10-minute walk to the car and by the time I have done that, I might as well walk to wherever I’m going! It keeps me fit. Before the boat, I was a dog walker/pet carer so I am used to walking a lot!

We are finding that the car is not very practical as it is often in a different town to the boat, which makes using it a bit tricky! So we have been considering selling it. It makes sense. It is awkward to find somewhere to park it, it doesn’t often get used and costs a lot to keep.

But it is a really hard thing to do. It’s odd. If it were a coat I’d say ‘It doesn’t fit, is not practical and I never wear it- so I’ll sell it (or give it away)!’. But that is much harder with a car!

It’s quite an emotional decision, which would make sense if we had a little sporty number, a vintage car, or a car with a strong emotional attachment. But we don’t! We have a Ford Tourneo Connect. A van that has been made into a car. It was amazing for dog walking and brilliant for camping. It did a great job of helping us move house, but it is not a ‘personality car’. It doesn’t have a name and it really is just a car.

So why is it hard to not have?

It’s not THE car that is hard to not have, it’s A car that is hard not to have. We have always had a car. We knew it was there if we needed it. It’s like a safety net. But when we are thinking about it logically we don’t need it.

What about shopping? We haven’t used the car for shopping for a long time. We didn’t do that before we moved onto the boat!

What about GP appointments? If we are near the car, we are probably also near the GP! If not, we will have to use another GP, like you do if you’re ill on holiday.

What about going away or visiting people? We will save money by not having a car. We can spend a little of those savings on hiring a car if public transport isn’t going to be practical.

The biggest problem is going to be getting gas. We often buy it from a petrol station (in a car- the bottle is very heavy), but we can get it from a marina if we are organised enough, which shouldn’t be too hard. A bottle lasts about 3 months and we have two, so we have three months to get a new one before we need it!

So, you see, the car is just an expense and there is no need to keep it.

But I have just spent this time writing this post to put off going out in the cold and rain because I know the car (that I wouldn’t use) isn’t there!

Totally crackpot!