Change

I’m back with a posting after another long absence. The last few months have seen an enforced change to my daily pattern following the writing off of my car, after a close encounter with a lamppost. Nobody else was involved, and nothing hurt other than the cars driver’s side and my pride. Due to the cars age and high mileage the insurers decided it was more economical to scrap my car than repair the damage.

I haven’t used the insurance settlement to purchase a replacement car, instead I have used the last few months to improve my tardy level of fitness. I have had the loan of a cycle which I has been my mode of transport to travel to and from work. Instead of driving to the local supermarkets and shops, I have walked and I have even been going for a run as soon as I get home from work. Okay I’m not running more than a couple of miles at a time, but I’m pounding the pavements again. Thanks to the cycling and running I’m now half a stone lighter, feeling healthier, and more alert.

Can I live without a car, emphatically NO! I was born with poor eye sight and told as a child my sight was not sufficient to enable me to drive a car. I accepted this I had no choice. For the 1st three decades of my life I travelled either on foot, cycle or public transport. My expectations rose after my sight dramatically improved once I started wearing contact lenses and my ophthalmic technician informed me I was capable of passing the sight test for driving, so I did and the rest is history.

Not having a car for several months has been like going back in time. I miss the independence a car gives me, the ability to just get in the car and drive somewhere, it could be a journey of just a few miles or several hundred, but I was in control. If I want to travel any distance now I must use public transport, which is not cheap, or frequent and I have to work around their timetable.

Having no car has also had an impact on my photography, to the extent that I have done little so far in 2009. I have made the decision to stop using my digital camera and go back to film. I will cover this more in a future posting.