Thursday 10 May 2012

I bailed out!

A combination of some running around to do this afternoon and the fact that my legs (and the rest of me) are feeling pretty knackered mean that I commuted by car again today.  I keep telling myself all sorts of reasons why I should be driving today and not cycling.  I have plenty of excuses. 

The simple truth is though, that when I woke up tired this morning, the little voice in my head that said “Take it easy today, use the car!” won over the determination to cycle.  There’s no more to it than that as I could have managed all of the jobs I have to do today on my bike.  Sure I’d have to lug my laptop around as well, which makes my rucksack heavier, but it’s not like I have to cycle mega-distances. 

It is very easy to jump in the car though – too easy.  As SaddleAmericana commented yesterday, it does make you realise how dependant on cars we have become and how our lifestyles are set up around the ownership of one.  If our family didn’t have the luxury of two cars, I’d have had to do something different.  I could have rescheduled a meeting (which I ended up doing anyway) and working from home or I could’ve manned-up and cycled.  I could even use a bus as well as the train to reduce the total distance on the bike if I’d needed to. 

But I did none of those things, I jumped in the car.  The easiest but most expensive, least healthy for me and worst for the environment option.  Maybe I should sell it and try out life as a one car family.  It would need a bit of planning and creative thinking but would, I think, be an interesting experiment. 

Food for thought…

1 comment:

  1. We are a one car family but hopefully not forever, I see my car as a blessing and I use it sometimes, sometimes walk and sometimes cycle, it's getting the balance right and besides laptops in bags are fine until we get downpours like we have had recently. It was great tonight thanks or meeting up :-)

    ReplyDelete