festubert

It isn't how you drive the car, it's how you look behind the wheel

-Snowed In/Cruisin', Joel Plaskett Emergency

First week down in Duncan. It's been pretty good so far.

I may have mentioned in my last post that Courtney and I bought a car. We've been thinking about it for a quite awhile and finally caved. Living 20km down the highway from Duncan and commuting on our bicycles just wasn't going to work for a month. I tried it the other day and had to sing my "please don't kill me" song to all the tractor trailers barreling past at 110 km/h in the rain. Furthermore, Courtney is going to Mayne Island for 2 weeks after this, where apparently having the car is "mandatory". Anyhow, we broke down and bought one. Actually, we broke down and made Courtney's dad buy one (we paid him back).

It's still my opinion that cars are evil machines- polluting the air, killing people and costing us lots of money. But boy are they comfortable. When you are bike commuting in the city, enjoying the fresh air, getting exercise and moving faster than the traffic, it's hard to understand why many people are trapping themselves in expensive, dirty metal boxes and then jamming up the roads with them. After spending some time driving in my own car now, I can understand the seductive power of the automobile. It's just so damn easy. You sit there, warm and comfortable and have the ability to move at incredible speeds.

We will keep biking when in the city, but I'm looking forward to being able to use to car to get out of town on adventures once we are back to Vancouver.

We bought a white 2006 Toyota Matrix.

duncan hines

woman driving, man sleeping
passing all the other cars
searching in the black, but never turning to look back
a little metal box under the stars
-Eels, Woman Driving Man Sleeping

Courtney and I decided last week to head to Christina Lake for May long weekend. I hadn't really realized, but I guess she hadn't been out of the city since we went to the Joffre Lakes on labour day and was starting to get a little bit of the old City Fever. We had to overcome a few obstacles to make it happen, but it was well worth it. We ended up renting a car and driving overnight on friday night and came back monday afternoon. I had rented a car once before to drive to Sudbury for a medical school interview, but I didn't really have any idea of the way car rental companies do business. We got screwed over in multiple ways both on pick up and delivery, but we made it there and back safe and sound, so all's well I guess.

My mom and dad and Tory were there as well, so we had a nice family time relaxing (which, for my dad, includes tearing out and building a new set of stairs). We went swimming, chopped wood, had fires, read books. I slept like the dead. It was awesome.

The transportation issues have pushed me more towards buying a car though. I've resisted buying a car for some time now. My problems with car ownership are multiple (environmental, financial, hassleness) and generally, even in a rainy city, we get by very well with a combo of bicycles, transit, car co-op and mooching rides. The real problem arises when you want to do anything outside of the city, and renting just doesn't seem to work that well. Also next year we will be doing electives all over the shop and may need wheels in some of the locations we would like to go. vSociety at large is pretty understanding of you not having a car while you are a student. I think people start getting a little less likely to offer you rides when you are a working person. We could probably hang on for one more year, but I'm starting to think maybe it's time. What do you think- a black Escalade? Suburban? Hummer? You've got to think about towing capacity.