“sigh”

Had to give the hired car back yesterday. It was a short relationship but no less meaningul for its brevity. We worked well as a team, but in the long term, it just wasn’t meant to be. We’ve parted on good terms and if we ever meet again there will be no bad feeling, we will just smile at each other sadly and think of what could have been.
And as part of the grieving process I’ll make a list.  Lists are always helpful at times like this…

Pros of car ownership:

- freedom!

- can visit friends in the country

- can offer people lifts

- can randomly drive to Loch Lomond for coffee (well, not completely randomly, you still need to follow the rules of the road, most of the time..)

- you can carry lots of stuff around with you

Cons:

- expensive to run

- parking round here is a nightmare

- huge responsibility (a lapse in concentration and someone could die, that is really scary if you think about it too much.. and as a general rule, I do think about it too much)

- not good for the environment

And the benefits of travelling under your own steam:

- more sociable (if you see someone you know when you’re walking to the underground, you can stop and say hello)

- healthier (when you have a car, somehow its easy to get into the habit of driving 3 miles to the supermarket instead of walking 500 metres to the grocer’s)

- cheaper

- flexible (if you ‘re walking in the street and decide that its just way too busy you can stop and turn around. In a car, once you’re in a jam you’re in a jam and there’s no way back)

- you spend less at the supermarket because you can’t buy more than you can carry!

- you can hire a car anytime you want and have the best of both worlds

- you can feel slightly smug about your carbon footprint

Went to Durham with J to visit F. And it was glorious autumn weather. Bright sunshine, clear skies. On Friday night we just chilled out and chatted. On Saturday (after a leisurely start) we went for a walk through a forest of beech trees. We stopped for a delicious lunch, then did some shopping. Its always fun to shop with friends, makes you consider buying things you’d normally walk straight past!

That evening we watched the rubgy (England against South Africa, world cup final). I don’t think I’ve ever watched a full game of rugby from start to finish before, and I have to admit, I haven’t been converted (ee is there a wordplay in there somewhere?!). But apparently it was a dull game, they were playing it safe, so maybe one day I will discover the true beauty of watching sport. In the meantime, I think playing sports is better than watching sports.

And on Sunday we went to F’s new church and it was lovely. Friendly people, simple and practical sermon, and lots of life about the place.

Durham itself is gorgeous – it has a river (always a good start) – which when we passed was populated with teams of rowers, it has deciduous woods, it has a castle and a cathedral on a hill. It has a manageable number of shops (i.e. not too many) and some great coffee shops. And based on a sample of 2 days, it is the land of constant sunshine.

I’ve recently decided that I much prefer shopping in small shops than in the high street.  You don’t have that bewildering array of options; the other shoppers are less stressed; the staff are friendlier; you’re less likely to buy something exactly the same as what everyone else is wearing.

There’s one shop in particular which always has really unusual things, and only gets a few in at a time.  So it feels like an exclusive boutique, but its not too expensive either. And opposite is a shop which sells things from high street shops but at cut-down prices.  I think they must be second hand, but they always look brand new.

Today all I bought was a stripey t-shirt.  The woman who sold it to me congratulated me on my choice,

“You can’t go wrong with a stripey t-shirt.”

Then she added, with great confidence “EVER”.

Nice to know I have an infallible t-shirt!