I talked to my son this week and the current, tentative plan is for he and his Dad to drive to Cincy right before Christmas to visit and to pick up the car. So, I will be really carless in January as my car will be gone and my parents will drive themselves to Florida for the month! I expect that will be the next big transition time for me.
At the moment, I've gotten used to having my car just sit in front of my house. I did use it once this month. Last Friday, I drove old tires to the county transportation center so that they could be recycled. I acquired them when I moved into my house in April and discovered them stashed behind some bushes. I've been waiting for some recycling event to get rid of them and didn't want to put them into my parent's trunk which has stuff stored in it and the tires smelled rank. I ended up stopping 2 other places on route- mostly just because I was going by- once to get a chocolate milkshake and once to buy beer (too heavy to carry home on the bus from the grocery store). This week I will go to the grocery store with Dad in their car later in the week. Also, the folks from our local farmer's market have found a place to have an indoor market through the winter so I will go to that on Wednesday. I had great bread from a vendor there last week! I will walk there, about a mile there and then a mile back. Later Wednesday, I will walk to a meeting a mile in the other direction from me though I'm sure I can get a ride home. It's the fact that I do so much walking to get places that I've slacked off on going out and walking just to exercise!
Monday, November 15, 2010
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Second month evaluation
I have been doing well on being carless for the last 2 weeks. My car has been sitting, motionless, in front of my house for that long now. I haven't missed it though there was one day last week when it poured rain and it turned out that was the day that TANK/NKU temporarily moved the bus stop...! I was soaked through my underwear by the time I got home.
I think about driving places occasionally though I've worked out all my normal, regularly scheduled trips so I don't need one. I think about driving for odd things; e.g.,my county has a take junk day next weekend and they'll take tires, of which I have 2 old ones left by the prior owners. As my main reason for not owning/driving a car is environmental, but, recycling things responsibly is also sound environmentally I may use my car to take tires to be recycled. I hate to put them in my parent's car as the tires are so filthy and Dad has things in his trunk.
The other reason I thought about using a car was to socialize with someone from across the river in Cincinnati and once to go to a lecture in Cincy. I'm not crazy about the idea of taking multiple buses, especially for routes I don't know, at night. I'm still considering how to deal with these kinds of situations- rent, borrow, taxi?
I have become much more local in my orientation and am developing communities of people in town (Fort Thomas) and at work. I'm also having a bit of trouble keeping weight on as I walk so much more. I have to adjust up the amount I'm eating (without eating so much I start to gain weight)!
I am working on a syllabus for a new course, Auto Economics, short for "The Economics of the American Love Affair with the Automobile". I will post it when it's done and approved. There's a lot of applied microeconomics and environmental economics in what I'm doing. It's amazing how many institutions and industries are related to auto use. As I've discussed the idea with people everyone has new ideas for me to add- very interesting and I hope I get to teach the course!
I think about driving places occasionally though I've worked out all my normal, regularly scheduled trips so I don't need one. I think about driving for odd things; e.g.,my county has a take junk day next weekend and they'll take tires, of which I have 2 old ones left by the prior owners. As my main reason for not owning/driving a car is environmental, but, recycling things responsibly is also sound environmentally I may use my car to take tires to be recycled. I hate to put them in my parent's car as the tires are so filthy and Dad has things in his trunk.
The other reason I thought about using a car was to socialize with someone from across the river in Cincinnati and once to go to a lecture in Cincy. I'm not crazy about the idea of taking multiple buses, especially for routes I don't know, at night. I'm still considering how to deal with these kinds of situations- rent, borrow, taxi?
I have become much more local in my orientation and am developing communities of people in town (Fort Thomas) and at work. I'm also having a bit of trouble keeping weight on as I walk so much more. I have to adjust up the amount I'm eating (without eating so much I start to gain weight)!
I am working on a syllabus for a new course, Auto Economics, short for "The Economics of the American Love Affair with the Automobile". I will post it when it's done and approved. There's a lot of applied microeconomics and environmental economics in what I'm doing. It's amazing how many institutions and industries are related to auto use. As I've discussed the idea with people everyone has new ideas for me to add- very interesting and I hope I get to teach the course!
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