## 26 Life without car

It's when you have a problem with your car that you realize that you can live without it... Because of a water pump, I will spend a few weeks, or months without my car. If I still lived in Paris or such a big city, no problem for that. You can do everything with a good pair of shoes, a transport card, or sometimes a bike. But when you are living in a small city, especially in the countryside, it's more difficult to imagine. I'm in the middle : A town of 10 000 inhabitants with 3 supermarkets, several doctors, laboratories, and a train station. Wow, what a luxury in France! You can't imagine... My old mother is in a 10 times bigger town but without groceries, or small shops around her home. But she is doing her shopping without a car, with her trolley in the bus to do 3 km. At least she has many busses.

Yes, in our modern life, the car is very useful for two things : To do shopping and to go to work. I can go to work by train, so it's not changing a lot. And if I don't want organic food or asian food, I don't need a car for many thinks. It was only comfort to go to work with the car to go to the supermarket at the end of the day and going back home. I have many alternatives with deliveries. Since the SARS CoV2 crisis, I know many services, shops to be delivered at home. It's a bit expensive sometimes but it's possible. I am privileged. And I don't use Uber Eats and Deliveroo... Just because there are not many interesting restaurants around me.

But when you have a sick animal at home, not having a car can be a problem. My "favorite" veterinary is in Paris, 1 hour approximately with train and subway, same time with car but with air conditioning and less jostling. That's important for a fragile animal nearing the end of its life. Next to my home, it's 3 or 4 km to walk with his transport crate, weighing 5kg with the cat. I don't imagine it with my bicycle too. And when you have an appointment at 4PM with more than 30°c, it's not the best way to preserve the life of the animal...and mine. It seems the only problem for the moment to live without a car. So I'm planning to rent a car for that...My only choice is in the supermarket because there are no alternatives in small town like that. 

For holidays, I have no problem to do it without car. All my big travels were without car. I love walking and there are always bus, taxi, subway, ... and sometimes train or plane if I have to travel a sea. Even in Canada, we did it without car, just with busses and backpacks. So easy if you are well prepared and if you are able to walk with two bags. It was not very hot...I didn't do the same thing in south east Asia but the only time I have seen the Death, I was in a small car, a Taxi...A sign?
So I don't know what to do for the moment to change or not the car. I need it if I go to the sea in Normandy because there are very very few trains to go there. If I was alone, without animal, the choice would be easy. But the problem with car is the cost. It's more and more expensive to buy, more expensive to repair and to assure. 

If it was safer to have a bicycle where I live, I could abandon car, even if it's my work, my passion. But it's very dangerous because of lack of cycle paths, and bicycle theft. I'm getting older and with the health problems I had in the last three years, I'm not looking that with the same outlook than before. And I don't think that my wife is ready to live without a car for the moment. But we are very happy to go with bags or trolley to the grocer or the small supermarket at less than 2km. Finally, the main problem could be in our mind.

I would not say that if I lived in a village in the countryside. I remember how difficult it was in the Sarthe department when I was a child during the holidays. Just a bakery, a small grocery store, but 2 or 3 km away on foot. But my grand parents did that every two or three days with a trolley, and it was the same in Normandy when there was only one or two supermarkets to buy everything we need. A "long" walk during the morning two times a week and it was OK. So I only have to remember that and  change my way of life. And when you see more and more EV cars, that's not designed for me for the moment : Too big and heavy or too small and without the range I could need 4 times a year. I need to think about it... 

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