For the want of a car a wheel was lost...

For the want of a car a wheel was lost. For the want of a wheel the computer table was lost. For the want of the computer table some money for the charity shop was lost.

A week or so ago I had brought home a small table someone had left on the pavement to be taken away. So I was able to get rid of the computer table, used as a side table.

I checked with the charity shop yesterday that, in these days of lap-tops and tablets, they could sell a computer table, and they could. So today I wheeled it there, but it lost two of its wheels and the screws that held in the keyboard flap. So not in sellable condition!

I wheeled it home again, leaving it outside in the hope that the East European totters would take the metal and I could then fit the "wooden" bits in the wheelie bin. If I had passed a skip on the way home I would have heaved it in there, but the only skips were right opposite my house and outside the house two doors up.

This evening when I went to feed my neighbour's cats, the whole computer table had gone.

Most of the time I don't need a car, but every now and then like today it would be really useful!

Feeling the lack of a car

In John Bird's column in the Big Issue this week he writes about the art of Richard Dadd. There is a new exhibition of this artist's work (paintings of fairies including "The Fairy Fellers Master-stroke") at Watts Gallery in Compton near Guildford. It seems that Compton doesn't have a railway station and the Watts Gallery website is not helpful to someone who would like to get there without a car.

There is a lot to see in London available by reasonable public transport, but there is an awful lot of interesting places that can only be seen if you have a car - or if you have a friend interested in visiting the same place as you who has a car.

I am very careful not to impose on my few car-owning friends - for friendship's sake as much as for using as little oil as possible. So will have to try to find a website with a few pictures of Dadd's to send a  link to my friend Hilda, who lives in Streatham, to see if she likes that type of art and would be interested in a visit.

If you live in a city, you don't need a car

On the Guardian website today was an article from Joanna Moorhead who had given up the family car and doubted she would replace it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/mar/06/live-city-dont-need-car

Most of the comments were about the London-centric nature of this article, most other cities don't have the public transport infrastructure that London does (and several South Londoners pointed out that South London doesn't either).

However, following the comments it showed that many (but not all) who claimed to need the car, or that the car was cheaper, were probably misleading themselves.

I once talked to someone from Gloucestershire who thought there was a lot of snobbery about cars in the countryside. He used the buses.  In Gloucestershire these were full of the elderly and children, whereas in London they were full of a wide range of people of all ages. He was once at a meeting and the person he was meeting found he was travelling by bus and was amazed, "But you are a manager!".

One of the options for those not owning a car but needing to use one was to hire one. However that only works for ex-car owners. If you have passed your test, don't get a car, then need to hire one a year later, are you going to be safe on the roads? That's why I've never driven since I passed my test 30 years ago!

Gold fabric necklace gets made and worn

I have been wanting to make a fabric necklace using suffolk puffs for years. This last month I have made one using gold fabric and gilt buttons from my stash.

It looks more "gold" in reality.

It did not turn out how I imagined it, mainly because the fabric I had was not flimsy enough, but I am still pleased with it and I wore it to a birthday party yesterday.

I want to have another go using finer fabric. I have some in my stash. However I need to think what outfit it will go with. Then I will need to get more party invitations so I can wear it. Very few events I got to involve dressing up (before yesterday, the last party I went to was Christmas eve!).

I have been getting a little frustrated recently not having a car. But travelling by tube yesterday (nearly 2 hours each way) did mean I could enjoy the cocktails. I had 3 "London flower" cocktails which included vodka, elderflower and grapefruit juice.