Drive on, nothing to see here

I don't drive, never have and looking at the pace and the direction my life is taking, never will. So the guys got quite a few jokes out at my expense this evening.

I'd buy a Toyota Corolla, because of its reliability and price point, but it's not the time yet. It's winter in the cold freaking (not yet frozen) wasteland of Boston, with road salt and crazy drivers and traffic and tiny roads and the darkness, there's no point in going to driving school and driving at this time of the year. It's not like I'm a particularly outgoing person, hikes I go with friends and loved ones, PA and DC on flights when on short notice and the bus (ughh, yeah it sucks but there's been hacks around it) that aren't awful. Shopping trips are not a problem -- Aldi and Wegmans are walking distance away and big stores are all close to work in the city. There's very very rarely a place I need to go to on a car, and when I do I have my friends take me. There's no reason for me to get a car at all.

Except the guys discovered one point that they could have gotten me -- AD argued that he started seeing his lady friend A only after he got a car and that getting a car makes seeing people significantly better. It's technically right with only the causality wrong but then convenience matters too and if people think you have sufficient logistical resources to travel to them and together, they're likely to go with you. No disagreements there. It's just that...it's Boston, and there's a bazillion women who've not driven or avoid driving or think driving is such a middle class thing to do because they've always lived in cities and it's not as big of a deal as it used to be. Besides, it would only be someone in extreme depths of despair and desperation who truly believed that the reason they didn't have a partner was because they didn't have a car. Sad as I may be generally, my station in life has not descended so low. As of yet anyway.

When we're out in Maine and NH I do wish there were a car at my disposal that I could drive to the beautiful countryside whenever I wanted. Go on long evening drives after work listening to podcast stop at some random donut place or pie shop or a gas station for food, eat by myself (or with a friend) looking at the stars through the open sunroof. Nap in the car if it comes to that, have to carry a nice clean comfortable blanket in the back to share with friends and loved ones, and then drive back content at the peaceful existence of the human in nature. No vehicles blaring, no strangers yelling buses frustrating, just you, the road and nature. And the podcast. And possibly hopefully a loved one. But that's not important. The ride is the important part.

Unfortunately owning a car is not an easy task. Ignore the cost of a car, a used car can be sold for more than what it was bought for, and you still have insurance, repairs, regular oil changes. A couple of thousand dollars a year just for the privilege of owning a car. Tack on the winterization, tolls, gas costs, associated expenses, and it adds up quick. Would my life be different? Yeah, a little bit, not considerably so. Would it be worth it? Likely not. There's still so many hours in my life, and as of right now I already run a tight ship, those driving hours are going to have a high opportunity costs. Sigh.