Page 7 | to think being able to drive is KEY skill for a woman ( particularly)

Awassailinglookingforanswers · 17/12/2009 11:00

and look - you wouldn't even need to worry about taking your family bikes on the coach - you could hire them when you got there

TheGoatofChristmasPast · 17/12/2009 11:04

oh purrlease, train to glasgow, coach to lochgilhead, hire bikes and cycle. apart from taking about 48 hours to achieve it would cost a fortune.

MitchyInge · 17/12/2009 11:05

feel a need to confess that although I learned to drive at 11 and have driven ever since was a bit lax about getting actual licence

have one now I think

BaronessBarbaraKingstanding · 17/12/2009 11:05

i think not being able to drive can really limit you, at some points in some circumstances.

and agree that for women generally it's important to be able to be as independent and self sufficient as possible, and being able to drive is part of this.

If you liv in big city and dont need to drive, great, but you should still know how, circunstances change.

ooojimaflip · 17/12/2009 11:06

NOONE should be able to drive. We should all be on flying public transport driven by robots. Powered by air.

MitchyInge · 17/12/2009 11:07

but we should all learn to ride and carriage-drive too for when the oil runs out and we go back to horses and chariots and stuff

exciting prospect

Original poster

FolornHope · 17/12/2009 11:08

very interestign thread
agree with Dinosaur( god its YOu sint it!! hellooooooooooo!) abotu tricky situations i hear about a lot of them.

you dont need to pay to have lessons too - my brother taught me in a month - ba booom.

Abeta - good try but oyu arent getting me to bite!

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NicknameTaken · 17/12/2009 11:09

I agree in principle, but I still can't drive (at the age of 35!). Convinced my mind will wander and I will kill someone.

Awassailinglookingforanswers · 17/12/2009 11:10

no coach take 2 1/2hrs.

Week hire for bike £45, £30 for child and/or trailer bike each. Train to glasgow is pretty quick from most places.

I could get there in a day from here (1 hour north of London) - which actually is what it would take if DH were to drive it .

You see to me as a non-driver it's not an issue (actually just found a really nice looking holiday home to rent up there and thinking it would be a rather nice holiday - though DH isn't into "remote" holidays after growing up in a remote place LOL). There's transport.

Could aways have an overnight stay in Lochgilphead and then have a really relaxed ride the rest of the way the following day, taking in the scenery on the way - and even better - no having to try and find somewhere to park the car if you want to stop and look.

sound like heaven to me

TheGoatofChristmasPast · 17/12/2009 11:14

or alternatively, drive there, camp and feck off home when the rain and midgies descend.

minervaitalica · 17/12/2009 11:14

Driving is a key skill - it does not mean that you have to have a car or drive if the public transport option is actually better (which sometimes it is, particularly over long distances between 2 cities etc).

I had no need to drive when I lived in London - now not driving would mean that it would take me 2 hrs to get to work each way rather than 30 mins. I rather drive and spend more time with DD than on a bus. No matter how much money is pumped into it, public transport outside cities will never cover the routes people will need efficiently.

Driving may not be necessary for everybody all the time - but life is unpredictable, and I will pay for DD to learn when it's time. In the same way I will be paying for swimming lessons, or teach her to tie her shoelaces up, or mental mathematics (hoping that school will help on this one ) or ensure she grows up bilingual.

Fennel · 17/12/2009 11:15

yabu, I admire people who live without cars.
As long as people are self sufficient on foot, bike or public transport and not expecting drivers to chauffeur them around.

We do have one but we try to minimise its use, and I don't have my own insurance, it's in Dp's name, so that would be no use in a tricky situation such as Dinoraur describes.

Awassailinglookingforanswers · 17/12/2009 11:17

yes from here to Lochgilphead approx 8 1/2hrs in the car (assuming you don't stop to eat/use the toilet/rest).

On public transport (and we're on the Midlands line - so cant get direct to Glasgow) would be 9 1/2hrs. So yes - probably would do an overnighter before hiring the bikes in the morning and taking leisurely cycle the last 10 miles.

Awassailinglookingforanswers · 17/12/2009 11:19

haha - you don't need the rain for the midges to descend - I speak from bitter experience - they blardy LOVE me no matter the weather.

You don't feck off home jsut because it's raining! God how dull

TheGoatofChristmasPast · 17/12/2009 11:22

have you been to argyllshire when the rain settles in for the week?

Skegness · 17/12/2009 11:22

lol Michyinge.
I really need to learn to drive... Have only got away with it not being a serious inconvenience because I've always been a big citydweller and we don't particularly need a car or want one except for a few very specific situations. It's rubbish for my partner when we're on holiday etc being the only driver though, especially as he likes to use alcohol as a destressor! Makes me feel like an infantalised passenger as well. I did try to learn as a youngling- spent a fortune on lessons but failed test twice. It was definitely a mistake to stop trying though as I wasn't too far off passing the 2nd time and now it's been such a long time that I'll be starting from scratch when I get behind a steering wheel again.

tiredfeet · 17/12/2009 11:22

Quite often, people look shocked etc when I say I don't drive, and think my journey to work must be so much worse than theirs. But the reality is that I get my exercise done walking to the train so no need to pay gym membership or find the time to go to the gym, I get some fresh air every day, it is far cheaper than purchasing, maintaining and insuring a car. and they are often stuck in traffic crawling along the motorway or waste ages searching for a parking space at the end of their journey

and that is before you take into account the pollution caused by driving, which contributes to the high rate of asthma etc in this country, the noise pollution which affects the quality of people's lives and sleep, the amount of countryside lost to hideous motorways, the amount of cityspace take up by hideous car parks etc. the risk of an accident that could kill or maim myself or someone else.

I think it is a shame that so many are trapped in the mindset of thinking that driving is necessary. It is a selfish way to travel and the 'freedom' is quite often illusory. I know so many people who think it is quicker/ cheaper to travel by car but fail to take into account the hassle of trying to find a parking space, the cost of paying for parking, the cost of fuel etc etc.

I have never felt any 'less' independent than someone who drives. I can get anywhere I want by car/ bike / bus/ train/ foot.

Original poster

FolornHope · 17/12/2009 11:23

i hhtink i only knwo ONE person who doesnt drive in real life - no make that two
and there are LOADS on here!

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Awassailinglookingforanswers · 17/12/2009 11:27

Goat - I have indeed - first time camping, 2nd time (in my insanity ) I was sailing - well I wasn't sailing but I was on the boat LOL.

Oh yes and I remember the long weekends off the Ayrshire coast on Cumbrae.

nickytwotimes · 17/12/2009 11:27

It is a key skill.

I am 36 and learning.

Wish I'd done it years ago as there are so many things I cannot do because I don't drive. I live in a rural area, so even worse. Although we have a very good bus service it is a massive pita with kids and you are limited to a small choice of destination.

I have a few other als who don't drive, but not many.

Skegness · 17/12/2009 11:27

Combination of being in London and from a family that, I suspect, tends to the dyspraxic means I know quite a few non-drivers in rl.

shootRudolphinthehip · 17/12/2009 11:27

Awas, I live an hour and a half's drive from Tayvallich and if I was to go by public transport it would take me fecking 9 1/2 hrs to get there. With 2 kids and all their gear and the midgees (and as someone who lives with those itchy wee sods all the time you should feck off home when they are out- they are the work of the devil

nickelbabyjesus · 17/12/2009 11:29

my friends are a family of 6 (2 parents and 4 children)
they live up north, i live in kent. when they want to visit me, they will hire a car because it's cheaper for them to hire a 7-seater and drive down here than it is to pay for 4 children and 2 adults on the train.

Awassailinglookingforanswers · 17/12/2009 11:35

I've also hiked in the Grampians in early Spring and late Autumn (actually Grampian midges love me more than Argyll ones).

I was brought up to think that rain, is just, well it's just another sort of weather and not something that should stop us doing anything.

It never stopped my parents taking us anywhere, doing anything with us.

(they were slightly mad though - we used to be sent off to play on the beach in the rain in January off the NE coast of England )

Mind is one thing I miss living where I do - it's not a very big town - but there are no "wilds" to go to and explore - Norfolk Broads ia bout the closest to hear and it's not quite the same as the West Coast of Scotland, or the Grampians, or the Pentlands, or even the North York Moors

inveteratenamechanger · 17/12/2009 11:37

I don't think it is necessary to be able to drive. If you live in a largish town and you are close to amenities then it is not a problem.

But I do think it is utter madness to move to somewhere rural/remote if you can't drive. Then you do put yourself at the mercy of others, as ForlornHope points out.