A borrowed car and 5 frayed tempers.

Because our car died without warning and we where left with a limited amount of time before school starts to buy supplies for our three kids, we borrowed a car from some friends yesterday.
I thought this would be an interesting experiment.
Have we been car-less long enough to make a difference? Would we be tempted back to the "delights" of a car like an alcoholic thinking they can handle just one drink?
I asked Husband if he would let me know how he felt (he is the driver)but he said he doubted it would make much difference after only ten days.
Ordinarily I would agree, but I know from experience that sometimes when a light has gone on in your head its nearly impossible to view the work the same way again. Time scale has little to do with it.

I remember after being Vegan for a while I babysat for some friends.
Now we have no TV at home (yeah, another of those things that make us the weird family!) and this was the first time I had watched some TV for ages.
I watched the adverts with a mounting distaste, image after image of frolicking cows for milk and smiling pigs for sausages. Pictures of kids tucking into fast food while tranquil rolling fields dotted with cows served as the backdrop.
I even got riled when an advert for weedkiller came on with an "evil" cartoon dandelion being zapped by some urbanite with something gross (Dandy lion leaves are wild food in my house, young leaves taste like rocket).
I turned the TV off.
I felt angry that people, really MOST people, bought into this.
It made me feel isolated and yes, surrounded by idiots.
Unfair?
Maybe, but it was my reaction.

Anyway....back top the car.

The drive into town was fine, but in town the volume of traffic seemed magnified. I noticed husband getting tense as he had to wait for yet another driver in a hurry, in such a hurry that the way to drive was based on a style of driving that involved putting your foot down, wearing blinkers and presuming that everyone would get out of your way.

Our fist stop in town was the lovely little Grocers (The "Green" Grocer, Inverurie, and I found out they will deliver!!)which supplies us with our oat milk, smoked tofu and other vegan and highly decadent food items and toiletries.
The woman who works there was highly interested in our car-less-ness.
"Ach, we didn't have a car when I was a child." She said to be wide eyed children.
"Did you have to cycle?" Asked my eldest.
She laughed and shook her head. "No! We couldn't afford a bike! We had to walk everywhere! Aren't you lucky you boys all have bikes!"
Of course she was right, but I couldn't help feeling that it was so very different then.
50 years ago even our tiny village was possessed of a butcher, baker and mill and general stores. In the 1980's there were still old folk who had never even visited the town 3 miles down the road.
There was no need, everything was HERE.
Our village post office and small store closed 4 years ago, and the heart of the village left with it.
It was more than somewhere to buy a paper and a loaf. The owners would make a fuss of the children, they would introduce new people to villagers as they came in, they where the glue that held our community together.
Now the old folk stay in their houses and there are new faces in the village who walk past you without a smile or hello.

The dreaded TESCO was a trial.
I have never liked big supermarkets, but I think this one has a serious case of sick building syndrome. The AC upstairs makes me feel ill, the kids always get hyper. My tolerance for maneuvering through the crowds was almost 0, almost panic inducing. The headache that was to stay with me for the rest of the day started in there.

There where a few more stops on our borrowed car day out, and although we got everything done, everyone was pleased to be heading home.

As we headed through the outskirts before hitting countryside, Husband turned to me and said "You wanted to know how I feel? Bloody awful." He pointed to cars pulling up at junctions. "I wonder if their journeys are really necessary? I bet most of them are only going 3 or 4 miles."
A mild evening, 3 or 4 miles in a residential area would be a pleasure to walk.

The car has gone home this morning.
Husband is even more determined to make sure tha majority of our journeys are now either under our own steam or by public transport.

I was just glad to be home.