to find a man who coudlnt drive UTTERLy unattractive

[NotCod]

and rather pathetic

yadaydayd meddical expcetiosn etc

"Well, when we have friends/family visit us they often say they envy us our freedom, being so used to jumping on public transport on the spur of the moment,"

you Are kidding?!!!

I think some friends have an over-developed sense of irony.

or an under-developed understanding of how utterly shite public transport is

NOT COD and SWEDES, Don't knock the benefits of public transport! We have friends 250 miles away, and take turns several times a year visiting each other for the weekend.

When they come to us, they often arrive tired + a bit stressed after battling with heavy traffic down the M25 of a Friday evening. When we go to them however, we take the train, arrive relaxed after a pleasant 3 hours spent travelling in seats we've pre-booked, with a table so the dc's can spread their toys out, we all make use of the nice buffet service + arrive having had a stress free journey!

Recently they decided to take a leaf out of our book, + the last couple of times have travelled to us + back by train. They were surprised how stress free their journey was (also with 2 young dc's!), and do this every time now.

Our in-laws recently offered to pick us up to spend a weekend with them, (an hour away + we normally take the train). Our dc's were disappointed at the thought of missing out on a train journey so we made our own way in the end, to be honest, a lot easier!!

And if on the spur of the moment you pre-book it by a month or so, you can do it for under £100!

In all seriousness, though, it is great to have the option of the train, and we do do this: we took the train to Edinb. a few months ago for a daytrip, and I often visit family by train.

But I'd hate to be tied to public transpost because it is oftern expensive and crap.

'oftern.' My west country accent again.

I refuseto read teh rest of this thread but I agree. I find it very odd that any adult (bar medical etc) cant drive.

"travelling in seats we've pre-booked,"

thought oyuwere "on t he spur" public transport users!!

"if on the spur of the moment you pre-book it by a month or so in advance"

lol

My exh couldn't wire a plug;

He could drive but only v e r y s l o w l y;

Arrogant frenchman can wire plugs and drive at speed. Mine has no pilots license, speedboat skills and no shareholders.

lol at you all esp v e r y s l o w l y

hercules, read the thread, it's been revelatory.

NOTCOD - Ok, we pre-book our train seats for a 200 mile + trip to see friends. But surely if you were making that trip by car, you'd know in advance what day you were travelling and have a rough idea of the time you'd be on the road!

Surely you wouldn't just decided to drop in on friends that distance away on the "spur of the moment", be a bit of a shame if they were out or had other plans that weekend!!

So what's the difference between deciding which day you're driving up in advance, + pre-booking decent seats on a train for that day?!!

Hercules finds it odd that any adult can't drive.

I find it odd that almost the whole world drives, to near permanent gridlock in my neck of the woods.

And finding somewhere to park is never as easy as dear Morse used to make it look, as you will know if you've ever tried to park in Oxford.

Too many cars in UK already. Hats off to non drivers.

Surely you mean non-car owners Elasticwoman?

Message withdrawn

Thraffic in Oxford is pretty awful, I agree. I nearly gave birth an a taxi thanks to the combo of DH's non-drivingness and Oxford's congestion. Taxidriver was white-faced.

God, is this still going?

I do find it ironic that all the car-fellaters are bigging it up as a "life skill" and that it makes you "independent". Hmm, that'll be the definition of "independent" meaning "reliant on a tin box with wheels burning fossil fuels to get you anywhere", will it?

Think also that you are fuelling (ho, ho) the whole macho car-loving thing, and by (penis) extension the attitude of arrogant 20-year-old boy-racers. Next time one comes screaming round your manor burning rubber and almost kills your DC, I'm sure it'll be hugely amusing. You won't say "twat", you'll say "oooh [simper] SEXY, there goes a MAN who can DRIVE. I can barely keep my knickers on."

Those of you who have sons, especially, think about what you are saying. Do you want them to grow up into Jeremy Clarkson? Would you like to think of women in 20 years time sniggering over YOUR DS because he happens not to be able to, or to have chosen not to, operate a particular piece of machinery? How would you feel about a potential DIL who slagged him off for this?

UQD - Welcome back. How was the intensive driving course?

Message withdrawn

Car-Fellaters - I'd like to nominate UQD for motoring metaphor of the week.

I think your stretching things a bit there UQD

And the child-killing bit is rather tragic.

I can carjack drive.
I have recently bought a bmw.