When we first moved here I was so excited not to have a car for awhile. We rented a car after a month here, so that we could do some further “explores” that were not easily accessible by buses. But Ed has been curious enough about buying a car for the year that he has followed a few leads with people. There are enough people moving in and out of Aix that there seems to be a reliable source for used cars. But this, of course, begs the question, do we want (or need) a car?
What does having a car offer us? We rented a car yesterday so that the boys could have that oh-so-north-american experience of a waterpark. And I then woke up early, before returning the car, in order to go shopping for big bulk items (toilet paper, gads of milk, etc.) that are harder to bring back on the bus. We have talked about taking longer trips once the school year has started, to Spain, to Italy, to Switzerland.
One of the things that I can’t figure out is how cost effective a car would be versus bus/train tickets. There is the gasoline to figure in, the car insurance, the parking. We have been talking all along about, if we do decide to purchase a car, sharing the vehicle with another family. This would, of course, bring down the cost immensely. But we will all share the same school vacations. And Wednesdays. And weekends.
There is also the cost of freedom. I am not quite sure why, but for me there is a great liberty in not needing to think about a car all the time. It is so easy to get all of our basic needs met without the addition of a personal vehicle. Most of what we need is in walking distance, and the bus system seems to be quite extensive, including buses to other cities. These last two weeks we have taken the bus down to Marseille at least three times. But when Ed sent me out to take pictures of two vehicles he wants to consider (note the subtle techniques he uses!) the gentleman who was selling them was speaking about how he cannot imagine that people would live in Aix and NOT have a car. That he and his wife, if they so choose, can hop in the car and have lunch in Italy with hardly a second thought. That there is so much in the area that they can choose to do in a spontaneous instant.
Yes, there is something very appealing about that ability. One can even call it freedom. But I still don’t want to have a car. It seems to me that a little forethought is an OK, even desirable, thing. Certainly Julian prefers to have some fore-warning about his days and we don’t tend to live our lives very spontaneously. Although I am still trying very hard to work on that whilst here in France. And if living just that bit more lightly on our planet means needing to plan out our trips, even if it is a trip to Italy for lunch, then maybe that is OK.
I may still be swayed. The two cars that we have rented, and I think almost all cars in Europe, are stick-shift cars. I LOVE driving manual transmission cars! We drove a teeny one, and then for some reason were upgraded to a mini-van yesterday. But both were a lot of fun to drive. The roads here are also fun to drive on. It reminds me of driving into downtown Boston to play at the Conservatory. There are rotaries, twisty roads, narrow passageways, and always drivers working their way through traffic in their own inimitable style. I am the navigator in our family, so it is a lot of fun to try and work our way through the one-way streets, keeping the sun as my guide when the street signs tell me otherwise!
There are lots of discussions to be had over the next few weeks. I am still not sure where I stand. Because it seems to me that I am still keeping my car in Toronto, so this is a chance to live without a car. But it also my one year, at least for awhile, to live in Southern France, and there are a lot of interesting small towns to explore. The jury is out! Feel free to weigh in on this one!
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