To car or not to car?

I will tell about my weekend in a comparison story of two days, which will hopefully show the joy and the pain of living in a big city without a car.

Saturday:

I get up around 10:30am, go for a nice run around the neighborhood. Back home to fix my smoothie for the morning, shower, and then head back out to go look at rental pianos and buy some things at the market. I figure out I can take the number 6 bus straight there, and so I'm all excited, I thought, hey this should be quick and easy. Apparently, so did half the population of London's west end. So I'm crowded in more and more, and then traffic grinds to a halt, and my iPod runs out of battery so I'm forced to listen to the mindless dribble of everyone around me while crawling along about 2 feet per minute. Finally, I lose it and get off the bus to walk the rest of the way, and realize that the weather has gone from sunny to raining in 20 minutes, and I'm stuck with no umbrella, hat, or raincoat!! So I have to walk the rest of the way in the rain, finally reaching the store not nearly as excited as when I left. The pianos, at least, were worth the trip, and I went back home on a slightly less crowded bus. Problem B arises when I want to go to the grocery store, and then have to go to the little store on the way which has not nearly enough to count as a grocery store and walk back with a bottle of champers and all my stuff.

Then that night, it's time to go out to a champagne party (hence the earlier purchase) which is on the other side of town. So I get all dolled up and headed out to the bus. Except I got on, the driver pulls out, and only after I'd started fumbling through my purse did I realize that I had taken out my Oyster card (travel card) from its holder and thus could not pay for my journey!! So the driver makes me get off at the next stop, and I am stuck further away from the house, in the cold and wind, with no place to buy a new card in sight. Plus, I have now discovered I didn't write down exactly how to get to the party from the closest tube stop, and my phone started beeping that it would die any minute. So I have to turn around and walk all the way home! Seriously wishing I had a car the whole, freezing, freaking way. Chill out at home for a bit, then my flatmate is heading out to that side of town too, and so we leave together, this time with Oyster card. Party is really fun, actually, stay until after 4am...and then the travel adventure begins again as the tube is closed so the only way home is a combination of buses. First I have to wait 20 minutes out in the cold for one bus, ride that 20 minutes and then change and wait 15 minutes in the cold for the second and ride another 20 minutes. Finally home at almost 6am...again, car would have been really nice...

Sunday:
I wake up nice and late, pretty well rested considering. Rearrange my room, have breakfast, get dressed. Wind is blowing something terrible, but eventually calms down and my flatmate and I decide to go to the market. Bus takes us straight there, we wander around, walk to Notting Hill Gate stopping at all sorts of fun places along the way, get coffee, find this hilarious Star Wars novelty that will be in my brother's stocking (teehee if you read this Matt...you'll see soon enough). Then my other flatmate calls and he's out at a nice pub near our house with a friend, so we head back to meet them for Sunday roasts (okay sunday salmon for me, but I'm the oddball pseudo-vegetarian of the group). Nice place, drinks, coffee, and a short walk home with help for a few stops from the bus. So cool not to need or have a car for any of that - and so much of that wouldn't have happened as easily or as well with a car. This is life, though...can't have the best of both worlds unless you're filthy rich. :)

Sad that I took twice as many words to describe the pain of no car than the joy of no car. Much easier to elaborate when complaining than reveling, unfortunately.