The Long Nightmare is Over: I Have a Car Again

Five Door Hatchback in Black

I know I can't believe it either.

It was a slog. Partly because my plans didn't unfold as planned: no work travel for May, when I was originally supposed to be gone for some significant part of two work weeks. Also it turns out that my favorite part of most days is driving to the gym and listening to pump-up jams. I am dumb so I did not think of doing this in an uber. My friend pointed out that the youths wear earphones all the time, so it may have been an age thing. It would have improved my experience immeasurably.

On top of that the uber costs themselves started piling up. $20 minimum every time you want to get somewhere and back does not give you a lot of options. Yeah you can ride your bike, but that started to wear me out too, because I am old and busted. You can take the bus, but the bus service in my area is next to useless, with a long walk followed by a long wait followed by a long walk. And you must hope you don't have any connecting buses. A bike is your best option if you can swing it. And you can take a route that will not kill you, which is only possible in certain circumstances. The area in which I live is not bike commute friendly, and the public transportation is rubbish. I learned a lot about what was important to me, and also how much harder it is for people that don't have any access to a car at all. I did not like what I learned, but it was a necessary lesson.

Some stuff was easy, like getting groceries. If you live in a densely populated urban area you can have your groceries delivered, either from Vons or instacart or Amazon. If you live in California and in a city you can also get your produce (and a lot of other grocery items) from Farm Fresh to You. I am a big fan of the delivery, and I am going to keep doing it. Works out well.

So that's the latest news. I like the car, but mostly I like being able to drive and listen to music in a car with a good stereo and tinted windows. Which is more or less exactly what my old car was doing, but much more slowly. Borrrrrrring.