Poor poor drivers.

I have a hate/indifference relationship with cars.
On the one hand they are very good at getting you somewhere clean and dry and not smelling a bit (ok, a LOT)sweaty about the old armpit area.
On the other, my lack of driving skills means I have to rely on other people to drive me about.

I cannot drive, at all.

I started lessons at 17 with a really fat guy who really wasn't interested in teaching me to drive and then announced that he couldn't be bothered anymore.
The next instructor was going through a marriage breakup and seeing a girl half his age on the side. He basically used our lessons as therapy and more than once tried to come onto me.
Looking back with adult eyes I should have kicked his arse, but I was 17, he gave me my lesson on the cheap and as it was I could only afford them once every two weeks which wasn't enough.

So after failing my 3rd driving test and running out of money I decided to just leave it.
On the whole this hasn't affected me in the least.
I cycled, used public transport, got lifts off friends and family when needed.
It was only when we moved to Scotland that we began to rely on the car.
The public transport that I had taken for granted down south just wasn't there.
Instead of a daily (every hour)bus from town to town we now only had a once a week bus that only gave you 2 hours in town.
Instead of being able to walk a few miles we were faced with long fast roads with no pavements.
You can see why its taken us a while to get back into the car-less mindset. Its like trying to be Vegan in Greenland ;)

Anyway, today I cycled into town.
I was in a bad mood. We had tried to take Alfie (who was home with a cough) in the bike trailer with us, but a way up the road it became apparent that the trailer was going to need some looking at and adjusting, so I continued on to town while Kim turned back.

The wind got up as I left the village and by the time I reached the long downhill run I was peddling the whole way just to keep moving.
So I was tried and out of breath and my legs hurt because I'm out of shape.
I dropped some videos and books off at the charity shop (and picked up some more *heehee*), then nipped into the shop for some bread, a paper, some cookies and a bottle of water.
(Yeah..should probably deduct 10 green points *sigh* I have at least kept the bottle and will fill it from the tap nest time, I promise!)
So I started the ride home and guess what?
That wind that I fought against on the way down the hill was now making my life just as hard going up hill. I don't know HOW it does it but there must be some freaky funnel thing going on up that stretch of road, the wind is ALWAYS in your face.
So I got about half way up and decided to stop for a drink (So thirsty today, I think I'm getting Alfie's cold).
I stood on the side of the hill sipping my drink and looked back the way I'd come.
I could see Dunnydeer hill fort and behind it the glens, still thickly covered with snow. I could see the cloud rolling in with the threat of rain, or maybe more snow. I could hear the tentative bird song from the trees behind me, as though the birds where optimistic of spring as the temperature had crept up to 8oC.
A Car shot past me, then another.
I finished my drink and set off again.
Nearing the top is a field that has half a dozen yearlings and two year old horses in it for the winter.
I called to them as I came up to the field and curious, they came over, one at first them in two and threes, ears pricked, tails high.
Even though my legs hurt I put the bike up a gear to go faster and chirruped to them. A big bay Irish Draft popped into a clumsy canter trying to keep up, the others following. I clicked to him. He went faster, then slipped a little, frightening himself and shot off to the side, bucking and snorting and took the rest with him.
I laughed and shouted goodbye as I hit the top of the hill.
Coasting down I opened myself up to everything. I could hear the streams as I passed them, the birds, the leaves. I could see the trees, the mountain, the sheep who flinched away for two strides as I passed before ignoring me again. I could feel the wind on my face and the bumps in the roads.
And I realised this is why I can't drive. Look at what I miss by being in the car. The bike becomes a part of you, artificial for sure but it reacts to a lean of your body, a movement of your leg.
The car on the other hand removes you from everything.
Is this why there are so many accidents?
You sit in a little bubble, protected from the elements, shielded from rain and wind and dirt. But you also loose most of your senses, you trust your cars ability to read the road because you can't.
The very thing that made me scowl at the beginning of the ride made me smile and laugh out loud by the end.
I need that connection to my environment and maybe more people do as well.