Attached to my...... car????

[Winged one]

I never had my OWN car until after the toddler was born. I had lived at home with access to mum and da's cars (although it got increasingly difficult as the rest of em grew up and got licences!!), then lived in Dublin but on a bus route and also close enough to cycle to work when I was stony broke (so couldn't afford a car anyway), married OH and had access to (ostensibly "our" but really "his") car - when having my own wouldn't have made sense anyway due to logistics.

We actually used to get the bus to work quite a lot, and as I had an unlimited use annual ticket for bus and DART (Dublin equivalent of the underground - but not half as good!), it made no sense to have my own car. Now that I have my own though, and need to drive to work everyday because of creche collection (need to collect later than is feasible to use bus home, and buses are always full anyway by creche stop so would be waiting ages most days to get on and not fair on toddler to do that - ok when I was alone). Which means I have gotten used to using the car all the time and I can't really see myself giving it up anytime soon, even though there is a new bus route meaning that we could consider it (but I'd have to leave work early to do that, and do a LOT of walking - so combination of laziness and desire to keep on the career track, mean it's unlikely!!).

[Two_Sheds]

We've recently had a taste of how it must be in the country. We live in a small town which is useless for shops: the Somerfield has shut down till autumn, and we are left with a small Iceland, which is fine if you like party bags of cheap sausage rolls but not for much else. You can't even buy a banana, you have to buy a pack of six!

There is a huge Tesco & an Asda a couple of miles away (but not on any bus routes). This whole country is based around car-use. Supermarkets used to be in town centres where the buses ran, but now they are in "industrial areas" and "out of town shopping experiences" which don't have any public transport. The only people who use buses now seem to be the elderly (who have free passes) and the unemployed. How can you run a profitable bus company like that?

We can get a pint of milk and a paper locally, but not much else...and some weekends I can't get my paper at all because the 3 newsagents only stock one or two copies between them. I usually pop into Tesco on my way back from mum's 8 miles away, and fill my bike panniers up with shopping. It's not ideal, and I don't know how the old people are managing for shopping.

Sure, it's convenient having a car, and we use Mr Sheds Saab for going out and about (but always combine a leisure trip with a grocery trip to save a journey), but it's a hassle having to park, sit in jams etc. If it's not raining we cycle, but it's too far for the 5 year old (and really unsafe ... the bike lanes are on busy main roads and drivers ignore them). I am a committed, lifelong cyclist, but I would not say it is safe - too many dangerous idiots out there now, and no traffic police. I have near-misses every single day).

I can't see how things will improve unless petrol gets REALLY expensive, and forces people to use their cars less. apparently the fastest growing area of car use is in trips SHORTER THAN ONE MILE! * For goodness sake - a mile can by cycled in 5 minutes, and walked in about 15.
Fewer cars will mean it is safer to cycle, so more people will cycle and there will be even fewer car journeys. Air will be cleaner, people will be fitter, the traffic on the roads will flow more smoothly.

* http://www2.cege.ucl.ac.uk/cts/publi...ca/shtfact.pdf

[Winged one]

Oops, I forgot to mention that I have a not-that-new car (it's 5 years old and I have it 2 years, but won't be replacing it anytime soon as it is still perfect). And I use it for going to town everyday (6 miles away), going to the plot and doing the grocery shopping. If I am going somewhere nearby, I do still walk.

The OH has a newer car, but he has to do a lot of driving around the country for work so wanted a very efficient diesel one. The OH has recently gone back to cycling and is now cycling to work some days (with the toddler on the back some of those days). And we do share a single car quite a few days when practical. For example, of the 10 return runs into town last week (me and OH 5 times each), we managed to only use the car on 7 of those (we used one car one day, and OH cycled 2 days). And we shared the car again this morning.

[Herbgardener]

Waste veg oil needs treating because of the contaminats from food, plus there will be water in the oil which will not be removed when just skimmed or filtered.

Even running it 50/50 with straight veg oil leaves deposits in the engine due to the heavier molecular structure of the veg oil. This can damage the engine to the point of it being irrepairable.

I know a chap at a garage who deals with this problem, he says even a bosch (the recommended injection system) system won't prevent it. He runs his recovery truck on converted waste veg oil. He wouldn't put unconverted WVO in any engine.
When using WVO or SVO goes wrong, it gets expensive.

Isn't this still illegal though as you are avoiding paying fuel duty? and we all know how much the Govt likes it's fuel duty !!!

[SlugLobber]

Waste veg oil needs treating because of the contaminats from food, plus there will be water in the oil which will not be removed when just skimmed or filtered.

Even running it 50/50 with straight veg oil leaves deposits in the engine due to the heavier molecular structure of the veg oil. This can damage the engine to the point of it being irrepairable.

Waste oil needs to be treated due to the high content of fatty acids produced due to the high temperatures that it is treated to. The process is trans-esterification (re-linking of fatty acids to make longer hydrocarbon chains). This requires a catalyst (methanol or NaOH) and you also need a system to tap off the water, which is a by-product of trans-esterification. The process itself is very simple, chemically speaking, but the size of the equipment needed to make it worthwhile is large! You'd need to devote your whole garage to it, basically. You do not need to pay duty on waste oil (or even veggie oil), but you do if you make bio-diesel/ethanol, as these are recognised fuels.

As a biochemist, I researched it and decided in the end that it wasn't worth it as yet. Chipshops and the like are now charging for their waste, as they cotton on to its new value. Gits.

[Starchild]

Isn't this still illegal though as you are avoiding paying fuel duty? and we all know how much the Govt likes it's fuel duty !!!

nope, as long as you use/convert less than 2500 litres then it is duty free. Check with the HMRC.

[Starchild]

. You do not need to pay duty on waste oil (or even veggie oil), but you do if you make bio-diesel/ethanol, as these are recognised fuels.

Reclaimed and converted waste veg oil is not classed as a bio fuel. Not according to the NFU anyhoo.

[areia]

nope sorry my car is my only real vice dont smoke dont drink, recycle everything, to the point of boiling down bones, drying and crushing them for the plants, walk child to school, walk to supermarket for my weekly workout not mention the work out in the garden so no gym fees, pay pretty much all bills online so no paper waste, my car failed its mot and it couldnt be fixed even then i took it apart and recycled alot of the part, but it is just not the same, i live in london trains and buses soo much better than down the coast, but i want a combi van soooooo much anyone selling one by any chance, like loseing a leg to me been 4 months,

[HeyWayne]

Cut me open and I bleed 4-star.

I love cars, always have done and probably always will. I love my Leon Cupra - it practical, drives well, reasonably affordable and I fit in it quite comfortably. That said, I am considering how viable it is as a car going forward.

I've had it from new (5 years now) and it has never let me down. I nearly sold it last year, put it up for sale and everything. Had a guy come to see it but couldn't let it go.

I am considering a Smart car to commute back and forward to work - it's only me in the car so it will be at very least using 50% of it's capacity. A darn sight more than the buses I see going round the country lanes near here (far too big for the narrow twisty lanes - I've even seen a dude on a scooter have a near miss with a bus as it came round a tight bend!).

LadyWayne cried when she sold her first two cars.

[Shortie]

LadyWayne cried when she sold her first two cars.

This was kind of my point when I started the thread up origionally... though I've been very interested where it actually ended up

I've never ever been 'attached' to any of my cars, but for some bizzare reason I am this one.. it's had some mild damage done to it while I've been at work (wing mirror smashed off a few times) but when more major things have happened (window smashed and stereo taken - on Valentines day, b*stards, and more recently the front wing and bumper removed for me) I've balled my eye's out like a baby. Over a car

When it came to the crunch last week, I don't think I could have sold it. But it's only a lump of flippin metal

[OverWyreGrower]

We have 2 cars. I live 17 miles from work, and Mr OWG works 40 miles away. No chance of a bus to where we work!

We have to drive for 40mins to the nearest supermarket, although we can shop in the village, and try to as much as possible (we walk there)

I have the larger car (Seat Alhambra) so we can fit the 2 large dogs in, and it can double up as a van, for collecting large items (e.g. a fridge etc)

If we didn't have either car, and with the public transport system the way it is, we wouldn't be able to:

Visit any of our family
Get to work
Get to the dentists/hospital
Go camping
Go to dog training
Get to the vets

P.S. I cried when I sold my first car! It was an original Mini, an Italian Job special edition, and I loved her!

[HeyWayne]

When it came to the crunch last week, I don't think I could have sold it. But it's only a lump of flippin metal

YouTube - I'm In Love With My Car

[Claire72]

I thought it was just this area that had a non existant public transport system, but it would seem not!
We have one public bus per week, it goes to the nearest town (25 miles away) in the morning and it returns in the afternoon. If you miss it, you are stuffed!
The nearest pint of milk is 7 miles away, the nearest supermarket is 15 miles away, but it is quite small, so for a choice (ie aldi) we need to do the 25 mile trip.
We still have a local post office it is a mile and a half away, but is not open full time, and I always forget when it is open and when it isn't, which can make walking to it a bit of a bind.
We don't have any recycling collected from the door, the nearest recycling centre is at the post office. (bin collection is weekly though)
The nearest school is 3 miles away, but my kids remained at their old school when we moved house, so their school is 7 miles away.
one place I work is 7 miles in one direction, my afternoon job is either 14 miles or 25 miles from first job.
So is not having a car an option in the near future, NO!
(also we have a 'big' car, a peugeot partner, but need a big car as we holiday in this country and need a big car to pull the caravan)

[Shortie]

YouTube - I'm In Love With My Car

Lol HW.. how did you find that??

[areia]

i love that wayne me thinks you have far to much time at work hahaha