They Say What They Say

I don't believe I'm saying this, but I'm thinking about buying a car. It's been about five years since I last owned a car and I've done pretty well without one all that time. But this weekend I went to the old home town, and getting there and back I had to suffer through a series of public transport failures that culminated in it pouring with rain while I walked home (in the dark in the middle of winter) from the train station. Granted I might still be a little tetchy about the various ups and downs of the Victorian public transport system (it could also be the PMS that's making me eat insane amounts of bread and honey), but sometimes you just have to draw the line.

Of course then I think about what it would mean to own a car again and to this end I've come up with a list of pros and cons:

Pro: No more walking home from train stations on rainy nights in the middle of winter.
Con: Having to navigate Melbourne traffic that is always a little bit more insane than usual on rainy nights in the middle of winter. That scares me more than walking home in the rain does.

Pro: I can go where I want, when I want, and I can do things like grocery shopping and going to gym more easily.
Con: Since I've not had a car I've either walked or ridden everywhere, thus resulting in the fact that I'm fitter now than I ever have been. If I get a car my natural laziness is bound to take over and where once I would have walked/ridden to the shops I would probably opt to drive and loose all of the health benefits not having a car has brought me.

Pro: I know I can easily qualify for a loan.
Con: They're predicting that petrol is will hit $1.30 a litre by the end of the year. Last time I owned a car it was about 75 cents a litre and back then I thought that was ridiculously expensive. Plus there's all the on-going costs of owning a car, like registration, insurance, maintenance, etc. With my bike, if it needs a service it costs $50.00 including parts. For a car I'd be looking at about $200-300 minimum.

Pro: I could drive to work if I needed to
Con: I can't park at work because there's still a 7 year waiting list for on-campus parking for which I've never put my name down, and very few all-day spaces for of-campus parking in the area, so I'd end up having to park my car half-way to home anyway. Also, you don't get parking tickets with a bike.

Pro: Bikes are environmentally sustainable forms of transport.
Con: Cars aren't.

Okay, I'll think about it.

I don't believe I'm saying this, but I'm thinking about buying a car. It's been about five years since I last owned a car and I've done pretty well without one all that time. But this weekend I went to the old home town, and getting there and back I had to suffer through a series of public transport failures that culminated in it pouring with rain while I walked home (in the dark in the middle of winter) from the train station. Granted I might still be a little tetchy about the various ups and downs of the Victorian public transport system (it could also be the PMS that's making me eat insane amounts of bread and honey), but sometimes you just have to draw the line.

Of course then I think about what it would mean to own a car again and to this end I've come up with a list of pros and cons:

Pro: No more walking home from train stations on rainy nights in the middle of winter.
Con: Having to navigate Melbourne traffic that is always a little bit more insane than usual on rainy nights in the middle of winter. That scares me more than walking home in the rain does.

Pro: I can go where I want, when I want, and I can do things like grocery shopping and going to gym more easily.
Con: Since I've not had a car I've either walked or ridden everywhere, thus resulting in the fact that I'm fitter now than I ever have been. If I get a car my natural laziness is bound to take over and where once I would have walked/ridden to the shops I would probably opt to drive and loose all of the health benefits not having a car has brought me.

Pro: I know I can easily qualify for a loan.
Con: They're predicting that petrol is will hit $1.30 a litre by the end of the year. Last time I owned a car it was about 75 cents a litre and back then I thought that was ridiculously expensive. Plus there's all the on-going costs of owning a car, like registration, insurance, maintenance, etc. With my bike, if it needs a service it costs $50.00 including parts. For a car I'd be looking at about $200-300 minimum.

Pro: I could drive to work if I needed to
Con: I can't park at work because there's still a 7 year waiting list for on-campus parking for which I've never put my name down, and very few all-day spaces for of-campus parking in the area, so I'd end up having to park my car half-way to home anyway. Also, you don't get parking tickets with a bike.

Pro: Bikes are environmentally sustainable forms of transport.
Con: Cars aren't.

Okay, I'll think about it.