Yesterday I went to the bank and the shops on foot - well, that's no problem, except that I'm still a bit ill - the vlirus won't let me go. So when I had bought a flea-collar and some washing powder, I felt nauseous and giddy - a bit like being pregnant really - and too ill to go and buy barley flakes and belly pork. So I staggered home, and was extremely glad of the benches near the library. Realised that if I had felt this ill under normal circs. I would have called M to collect me in the car.
I mentioned carlessness on Fb and one friend offered me trips to the shops which would be fun. I hardly ever shop with anyone else (except Finn occasionally, which usually adds about £15 to the bill). I am feeling particularly cross that I can't go to the farm shop though, since it isn't on a bus route - I could take a taxi of course, but if I were to do that I might as well buy all the vegetables at Waitrose.
With fantastic timing - because I realised I wasn't quite ready for the walk back from Aldi with heavy bags in my current state of faiblesse - I had an email offering 25% off a shopping delivery at Ocado, so I gladly did this, and the shopping will arrive tomorrow - apart from the pork I need to make the traditional pork and beans for Bonfire Night. (It's only traditional to my family - not to the British at large). I rather hope that I am better next week - because I find with online shopping I always forget something crucial.
The other thing I notice is that because we are having a car for a whole weekend - Friday to Monday - I am now plotting all sorts of car-related things we can do: go to a party in Margate on Friday, go to the farm shop on Saturday. I almost thought of going to Oxford on Sunday to see S - but I expect he will be visitored out... and it might appear alarming if a seldom seen cousin suddenly turns up - if I was ill and all my extended family started visiting from afar I would assume I was on my death bed.
Is a hire car cheating? Interesting really - used judiciously it may not be - see it as a form of commercial car-sharing. Wonder if I could interest any of the 2-3-car couples we know in a bit of that? But if we hired a car every weekend that would only be £160-80 a month - not much more than we spend on the car anyway? Unfortunately, we sometimes need the car for site visits etc. so we can't really do without it long-term. But then again, we could hire a car to go on site.
The obvious benefit of the car thing is that I will get more enforced exercise - and perhaps I will even try the bike again. I used it in the summer for an interesting shopping trip. It was bloody terrifying - and it will be a while before I can enjoy it the way I used to when I was young. It's the derailleur - can't get used to it! And it's sod's law that I have to start using the bike just as the weather gets revolting (it's fine now - but cold). Also the bike has very little accommodation for shopping - wicker basket - but no room for panniers, so can't buy much more than milk and about 3 other items - and the farm shop is much too far and on too scarey a road - for the bike. It is exciting - will I rise to the challenge of this situation, or will I sink into further depressive torpor? Alternatively, I can wait until the new Asda opens at the end of the road (it will be about the same distance away as Waitrose - but less of a hill!) - or will my aversion to Walmart keep me ideologically pure?
I mentioned carlessness on Fb and one friend offered me trips to the shops which would be fun. I hardly ever shop with anyone else (except Finn occasionally, which usually adds about £15 to the bill). I am feeling particularly cross that I can't go to the farm shop though, since it isn't on a bus route - I could take a taxi of course, but if I were to do that I might as well buy all the vegetables at Waitrose.
With fantastic timing - because I realised I wasn't quite ready for the walk back from Aldi with heavy bags in my current state of faiblesse - I had an email offering 25% off a shopping delivery at Ocado, so I gladly did this, and the shopping will arrive tomorrow - apart from the pork I need to make the traditional pork and beans for Bonfire Night. (It's only traditional to my family - not to the British at large). I rather hope that I am better next week - because I find with online shopping I always forget something crucial.
The other thing I notice is that because we are having a car for a whole weekend - Friday to Monday - I am now plotting all sorts of car-related things we can do: go to a party in Margate on Friday, go to the farm shop on Saturday. I almost thought of going to Oxford on Sunday to see S - but I expect he will be visitored out... and it might appear alarming if a seldom seen cousin suddenly turns up - if I was ill and all my extended family started visiting from afar I would assume I was on my death bed.
Is a hire car cheating? Interesting really - used judiciously it may not be - see it as a form of commercial car-sharing. Wonder if I could interest any of the 2-3-car couples we know in a bit of that? But if we hired a car every weekend that would only be £160-80 a month - not much more than we spend on the car anyway? Unfortunately, we sometimes need the car for site visits etc. so we can't really do without it long-term. But then again, we could hire a car to go on site.
The obvious benefit of the car thing is that I will get more enforced exercise - and perhaps I will even try the bike again. I used it in the summer for an interesting shopping trip. It was bloody terrifying - and it will be a while before I can enjoy it the way I used to when I was young. It's the derailleur - can't get used to it! And it's sod's law that I have to start using the bike just as the weather gets revolting (it's fine now - but cold). Also the bike has very little accommodation for shopping - wicker basket - but no room for panniers, so can't buy much more than milk and about 3 other items - and the farm shop is much too far and on too scarey a road - for the bike. It is exciting - will I rise to the challenge of this situation, or will I sink into further depressive torpor? Alternatively, I can wait until the new Asda opens at the end of the road (it will be about the same distance away as Waitrose - but less of a hill!) - or will my aversion to Walmart keep me ideologically pure?
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