I HATE to drive. I moved to AZ from Chicago and I never drove a car. I wouldn’t even know how, but I live where we haven’t had any reliable public transit since I moved here over 30 yrs ago. We are married to our vehicles. When it is over 100 degrees outside and 11% humidity, walking is out of the question. I HATE to drive…did I say that already?

I like walking AND public transportation but don’t often have that option the way the world is set up today.

Funny question! Eleven years ago I bought a Triplex 28 blocks from downtown Portland Oregon. The purpose was to generate a regular income in lieu of a retirement and be close to all necessities so I could age in place. I live one half block from a bus, twelve blocks to our mass transit that goes both downtown and the Airport. It also will soon connect all four quadrants of the city. At the time I had a bike, a low mileage ten year old car in pretty good shape. I thought I could bike or take the bus wherever I needed to go. I was thinking about selling the car and reducing my footprint on the earth. I can walk a block across a park and parking lot to one of the biggest grocery and dept. stores in the northwest. It has everything but lumber. It even had that until a few years ago. In the first six months while my car was parked on the street, someone knocked the bumper cover loose. I think the cost was $500 and I thought the car wasn’t worth fixing it. I wired it back on. The someone knocked the side mirror loose and a neighbor screwed it back on with a metal screw. Then in the first snow storm somebody slid into it and crunched the left front fender and kept going. To make things worse it started shedding it’s paint. I no longer had anything to sell so I decided to drive it until it died. One of my sources of income was renting out two garages on a busy street to a roofer who used the spaces to store roofing material convenient to their customers in this closein neighborhood. When they no longer were tenants, I made sure I rented the space to people who didn’t need the space in the driveway. Then I parked the car off the street in the driveway but under a huge cedar tree. Well you know what it looks like. Someone has even managed to bang the rear light using the driveway to turn around. It would be funny if the car wasn’t around 100,000 miles and still passing deq and driving just fine. Each time it’s needed a battery or tires or a brake job I’ve told my self this is the last time. It would pass deq again. I put in $5 gas because people were stealing it. Then it started stopping occasionally and I took it to an old car repair shop because the dealer started to charge me $40 to just look at it. The old guys there, said I just needed to keep a half tank of gas, because the fuel pump was getting dry. When I asked if it was time to take it to the car cemetary they told me it sounded better than a new car. All I needed to do was change the oil regularly. Now it’s reached that time again. Time for new tags, time to renew the insurance and it needs two tires. It’s trunk has started to leak and my sister in law says it is turning green because of all the moss growing on it. Theoretically it is time to do what I intended to do eleven years ago but I’m dragging my feet. I’m actually laughing at myself. I can get anywhere in this city on public transportation. A monthly senior citizen pass is just $24 a month. I still have a cart in the basement I bought eleven years ago to carrry heavy items home from the store. So here I am having to face my so called values and dragging my feet. I could even rent a car when I really needed it. I can walk and bike any where I need too. Our public transportation will even let me take a bike so I can ride a bike to the Max train and at the end if need be. So here I sit, with the ugliest car in town, acting like a baby when I think of getting rid of it.

I’ve always loved to walk long distances, for the past four months was in a cast that’s just been removed, so feel great and walking again. My other most used mode of transportation is a cable car. Here is my long time neighborhood in San Francisco and can see how close to the Bay…just head straight down the hill, turn left and walk another couple of miles along Chrissy Field to the Golden Gate Bridge. I don’t agree with the narrator’s assessment. Nob Hill is a small area, and the park, Huntington Park, is a wonderful meeting place for the neighborhood at 5PM— everyone takes their dogs. It’s beautiful at night and at Christmas. And the cable car runs straight through past the hotels and park. Today on the Cable Car I met a young couple from Barcelona. She owns a linen shop and her husband is an antiques dealer. Then a Frenchman who has a software business and lives between SF and Paris. SF and Paris are technology sister Cities….and SF is the capital of Web 2.0. Google just moved a big chunk of operations into the City and Wikipedia moved here too. http://youtube.com/watch?v=DB_EsQv_bYY and then here’s Chrissy Field…it’s a great area: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noeydJQTBWE And then can walk over the GG Bridge to Sausalito—it will be another month before I can do that again…shows on the vid looking back to SF: http://video.aol.com/video-detail/sausalito-sausalito-california/3818882… And then can take the Ferry back to SF, esp nice to do at sunset. This is great…not a vid but terrific pictures, scroll down, and nice because really shows how the weather changes on the Bay, and the huge ships that come through constantly. The Ferry Building is really nice….and on the weekend a huge Farmer’s Market out front. And the cable car….so hop on it and go back up to Nob Hill…on foot, ferry, and cable car: http://cinemazement.com/blog/?p=5411

oops…wrong vid of Nob Hill… http://youtube.com/watch?v=J6xEfy3lr8A&feature=related

My broom and when that breaks down which it does periodically I walk. I love to walk. I drive my car only when I have to which is today–––off to take care of grandchildren one hour away.

lol, phyllis. my car, but i usually keep it parked and stay home. the expense of car insurance is a consideration. fortunately i have (not “my books and poetry to protect me” but) my phone and computer to reach the rest of the world.