adjusting to having no car

It has been strange seeing my old car, Harold, parked outside knowing that I can't drive it. Since it broke down I have been looking for a new affordable car and arranging to get poor old Harold scrapped. This has not been as simple a process as I had hoped as the scrap man did not turn up yesterday as arranged so now I will need to wait until Monday to contact them and see what happened. I cant buy another car until this is done as I will need to switch the insurance over from one to the other.
As I wait I reflect on how my life has changed since I learnt to drive.
Only a few years ago I told myself I didn't need to drive and didn't want to drive but that wasn't strictly true.
When I was 18 I took and failed two driving tests and gave up. My heart wasn't in it as I was very environmentally aware and believed cars to be the main pollutants of the planet.
I still believe a large number of people use their cars too often and seldom walk if they can drive but in this part of the World in 2014 it can be very tough and somewhat limiting if you do not have access to a car.
When I was bringing up my kids I walked everywhere and used public transport and lived close to where I worked.
That all changed when I became a teacher as I was required to travel to lots of venues that weren't very accessible by public transport.
For me to be able to work at the last setting and my existing setting having a car has been crucial. I also need it for boot-fairs, to get to appointments and to get to training venues with my two businesses.
Shopping for food is no fun without a car either.
So a few years ago my desire to be able to drive increased but I still didn't believe I could do it until someone I was close to at the time paid for 10 driving lessons for me and told me I could do it.
At the time I didn't believe I could afford to learn to drive and was virtually certain I could never develop the skills but their faith in my ability somehow changed everything.
I finally decided I would try and found myself a patient driving instructor.
It was hard. I struggled to remember the basics and when it came to taking my test failed a further 6 times. ( Yes 6 times!) I paid for all my lessons and for the exams myself after those initial 10 lessons. I somehow managed to scrape the money together. Initially I re-took the tests as I didn't want to let anyone down as by this time my kids and my friends were rooting for me and kept asking how I was getting on. After a couple of test failures stubbornness kicked in and I was determined to pass. By this time I was completely invested in learning how to drive and actually believed I could do it.
It was an incredible day the day I actually passed and that is when I truly learnt if I want something enough I will get there in the end as long as I never quit.
It turns out that after all that practise I am a confident driver ( albeit a pretty hopeless parker!)
I feel unsettled not being able to drive when I want to and seeing poor Harold waiting patiently to be towed away does make me feel sad.
I guess many people would find it weird to feel emotional about a car but Harold represents a lot of things to me and has played a starring role in many of my adventures over the past 4 years!

Now I know this photo has nothing whatsoever to do with what I have written about but I was looking for a car related photo and found this hilarious photo of my lovely little cat I used to have called Fisher and I had to share!