Ditching your car

In the wake of yet another unsuccessful South African car-free day..
Via Brennie who I found while searching for this Ammons poem to share with the Ant.

don't establish the
boundaries
first,
the squares, triangles,
boxes
of preconceived
possibility,
and then
pour
life into them, trimming
off left-over edges,
ending potential:

But I digress (again).

Back to cars (or lack of them). This link to an article by Martin O'Malley on the virtues of being carless.

O'Malley writes: "I recommend not owning a car to any aspiring writer. I get at least a dozen column ideas a year from the sights, sounds, smells, insults, laughs and epiphanic discoveries of jostling along with other pedestrians. And I walk more, which makes my doctor happy. I save between $600 and $700 a month not owning a car, which comes to $7,200 to $8,400 a year. This means over seven years I have saved between $50,000 and $58,000. Add to this the fact that five years ago I quit my pack-a-day cigarette addiction and I’m up another $18,000. If I give up drinking I may start turning a profit."

I'm not going to go into the great SA debate of there being inadequate public transport etc. Millions of South Africans get by without cars, why can't I? Answers on a postcard.

In many ways I think we are more American than we would like to think. If I were to substitute "South Africans" for the "Americans" in this sentence I think it would lose none of its truth.

“The car industry has done a fabulous job of convincing Americans that their status and self-worth are tied to their cars.”  Chris Balish (Author of "How To Live Well Without Owning A Car").

But I'll leave it to the master to have the final word:
"I don't have no sports car and I don't even care to have one. I can walk anytime around the block."
– Bob Dylan