Carless - Diary of an Idealist # 4

Saturday, Sept 17 - Temper tantrum due to missing a bus cuz I didn't know it was my bus, carrying heavy bags from shopping, waiting half an hour for the next one, raining, late at night. Thoughts: this is the stupidest idea ever. I would have been home an hour ago if I'd had my car. ::: Plus, the bus makes me feel like vomiting.

Wednesday, Sept 21 - Kim takes a bus home from meeting a friend downtown, bus driver gives poor advice about which bus to catch, and then fails to stop at the stop I rang for, leaves me in a dark sketchy neighbourhood to walk all the way home with no other buses available. Kim has a massive temper tantrum due to the fact that she only TOOK the damn bus because there is a girl-murderer on the loose in Ottawa and she thought it would be more responsible to take the bus than to walk home. Plan foiled, temper explodes. Kent takes the brunt. Kim apologizes for yelling at him even while she is yelling at him, apologizes again afterwards and buys him a lavish present the next day.

Thursday, Sept 22 - Kim attends "The Economics of Greener Living" - a talk by an amazing environmental engineer who lives a very nice life - on low energy consumption. He has a 3500 sq foot home with all the usual toys of upper-middle-classhood (wide screen tv, dvd players, stereos, washerdryer, dishwasher, you know, the usual) plus a hot tub and other toys. He has engineered his home to be so energy efficient that were he drawing from the power grid (which he is not) his hydro bill for his entire house and barn with animals, would be around $20 per month. Fascinating. He showed how much more cost efficient and what an amazing return on investment it is to choose energy efficient options than regular ones - it was so interesting! Kim left feeling very inspired and self-righteous for not having a car.
(William Kemp - Smart Power: An Urban Guide to Renewable Energy and Efficiency)
http://www.fedpubs.com/subject/enviro/smart_power.htm

Monday, Sept 26 - First use of car-share VrtuCar. Fun! Cute little Toyota Echo, drives great, there when we need it! We all know that Kim is addicted to novelty and wonder when the novelty will wear off.

Wednesday, Sept 28 - Got groceries and fresh fruit. Feeling awfully good about not owning a car as George Bush issues a warning to Americans to stay home b/c cost of fuel too high. I saw it for $1.39/L at the closest gas station to me yesterday. Kim wears her "Cycling - 0 cents per litre" RodeThreads ( http://www.rodethreads.com ) jersey for the first time today, even though unfortunately her bikes are in pieces at the shop currently. Oh well, walking is 0 cents too.

Thursday, Sept 29 - Took the bus to work instead of walking due to rain. Some guy showed me the needle scars on his arm from cocaine supposedly. Told me that someone had offered him crack just a few minutes ago if he would lend him his bike... But he said no cuz he quit doing crack so long ago. Lots of learning at the bus stop today... Every day is an adventure! Just think what I was missing by driving my car.