I'll just walk, hop on the bus and catch the train - but I shan't drive the car

That's not a good situation Pumpkin. However, I suspect that as petrol increases in price more and more people will be driven (oops a pun) onto the buses. They will then have two options. Improve the service or increase the fares to such an extent that nobody will travel on them.

I've just heard on the radio that they think gas in the UK will increase to £2.30 a litre by the end of the year. That's $18.40 a gallon roughly!! Your taxi driver might be the only man with a car in town before long! Suddenly the bike seems even more attractive. The only solution will have to be public transport. Frightening isn't it? The Boss collapsed at the weekend twice and spent quite some time in hospital. She's much better now. But I thought that I'd need an undertaker at one point!

I actually took the test in Facebook, where they have developed a little app to do that. On going to the website given above, I can't see the equivalent test available. There is another calculator here: http://www.carbonfootprint.com/calculator.aspx This gave me a much higher footprint of 9.935 tonnes (about average, it says, for the UK). It does ask more questions, for example, about public transport and the type of shopping you do. I think the other calculator relied only on household heating and lighting, car use and a rough figure for air miles. I wonder how much one can rely on these figures, especially as our energy use depends on secondary things like what kind of food we buy, where from and with how much packaging. Also, if we use public transport, it presumably makes quite a big difference if we are often the only person on our bus, which can happen on a rural bus route. Anyway, the site supports a number of charities and claims that by donating as follows I can offset my footprint: Clean Energy Fund Your funding supports VCS verified carbon reduction projects around the world which reduce carbon emissions through the displacement of fossil fuels through clean / renewable energy generation. from £ 74.51 to offset 9.935 tonnes Reforestation in Kenya Your pledge funds the planting of native broad leaved trees in the Great Rift Valley. The project is coordinated by ESCONET, and is also supported by the Red Cross. from £ 98.00 to pledge 14 trees (about 10.220 tonnes) UK Tree Planting Your pledge funds the planting of trees in the UK county of your choice. The project is managed by Tree Appeal and endorsed by Bill Oddie, the TV wildlife celebrity and conservationist. from £ 164.50 to pledge 14 trees (about 10.220 tonnes)

My best wishes for the scan! I have had MRI (as a guinea pig for Medical Research) and it doesn't hurt but it's quite boring and a bit noisy. They gave me a marvellous 3D image of the walnut that is my brain by way of compensation - in fact, I have 3 over a period of 10 years and I don't notice any atrophy. I haven't been to Oxford in a while but we have a reasonable P&R here in Cambridge. Free parking and (I think) £1.50 or thereabouts for a return into town. Since I live 3 miles from the centre, I have never used it. The bus is expensive (if you have to pay for it) ... £2.50 for a day ticket. That does take you anywhere in the city all day (though most people just want to go to the centre and back). You can cut the cost by buying a 4 week (£38) or 52 week (£437) Megarider ticket, which is fine if you work in town and use the bus every day. Even so, with normal running costs (and assuming that one's company provides free parking) 6 miles of car travel still costs less than £1 (and you can halve that if two people use the car). If you add the price you are prepared to pay for time/convenience, not to mention being able to put shopping in the car, I think public transport still has a way to go to be economic for many people.

lol, Beauty and the Bike! Ha! But thank you, darling, it was the sweetest thing to say. And of course I remember that you saw it on that street camera that day, how could I possibly forget? I was so tickled that you got to see it, knowing how much I love that thing, my Sapphire, my beautiful Giant Simple Single. My trusty steed. You said something above about getting a bike. Not a bad idea, p1key. And exercise improves our moods, gets those endorphins rolling. So think about it. No, longer than that. Really think about it. How hilly is your city? Do you think it would be feasible to do? There are some really cool bikes out there - I can see you now, zooming down the roads.

It's downhill all the way into the City and uphill all the way back therefore. But I don't think that the slopes are that bad. My neighbour across the road is in her late sixties and she manages, so can I.

I was just saying to RJ that I should look at buying a bike. We "need" a car as much as anyone else. But I reckon that we could probably be much more efficient by using a bike somtimes. I can see you now on your silver machine. Remember that I saw it at the Coffee Cartel? Beauty and the Bike!

With the cost of motoring as it is and is likely to become, I do wonder if there is much point in owning a car anymore. But being able to drive is very useful. So if yu are able, why not go for it.

I'll have to start saving, apply for my license and then find a good instructor!!! Im not bothered about having a car but being able to fdrive is always a good thing!!!

Gosh Lynnie, a two week wait for a bus is outrageous. That said, there are areas round here that have no service at all! Thank you for your best wishes to my wife. She is much better now, although we still don't know exactly what is wrong with her.

I knew you'd be taking care of her but there's nothing you cn do if she's being stubborn.

Our buses are like yours. But the drivers are surly with it. All part of the customer "experience". I am trying to care for her. I am doing my best. But she's actually gone into work for a few hours today. Not my idea. At least she is ringing me ever half hour or so.

Sounds like you have a good public transport system there. No car does equal a great deal of money saved.

It's that independence that we all enjoy. Being reliant on public transport, even if it is available is a pain. But we need to rethink how we drive. It is fast reaching the point where it is not affordable except for the most essential of journeys.

But like us all, in the end you got a car again. They just make our lives so much easier. Being without may make us healthier, but if it doesn't suit our lifestyle.....

LOL With this gas you have a point there. Sigh....Maybe I could get one of those oil cars, after all, I do work in a restaurant. Gotta go, on a hunt for an oil car!!

But you may have to be without it one day Skinny. That's the scary thing. In the meantime though. Keep kicking those purple booted legs!

That would be an awful situation for you. Let's hope that the situation never arises. Take care.

I'm glad that isnt the case for you and your wife!

Now, why would you get lost, LOL? Surely your bus company produces handy route guides and maps and, in a last resort, you can just wait on the other side of the street that you got off on and a bus will appear sooner or later that will take you back to your destination! Your SUV certainly has a huge tank (around 30 gallons, if I'm not mistaken) but if you only use about 10 gals a month, that's very good going! Incidentally, with the cost of fuel the way it is, in the UK that amount of gas would cost you the equivalent of around $350 (and you would pay an extra yearly tax if it's a 4WD).

As Owlwings says, your mileage is pretty good if you only fill up every three months. I have a hybrid car and spend that on it every month with ease. We all need to make more of public transport though. Gas prices are going through the roof here and soon it''ll be cheaper to buy a house than fill the care!!

It's a 4WD and the national average here in the US is currently $4.00 but in my area we are always above the national average. Right now the station down the street from me is selling at $4.15 a gallon. I am sure that the bus system here does have maps and all of that stuff but I am still leery of the bus. I don't want it to take me half a day to get to my destination. LOL So, why do you have to pay a tax if you own a 4WD? We have such heavy snowfalls in my area there are days we wouldn't be able to leave the house if we didn't have 4WD.

Thank you for your good wishes. She's fine but we still have some way to go. You don't miss what you never had. But if you have it, boy does it feel like you are surrendering something. Almost a part of you. We could live without a car. But it wouldn't be half as pleasant as living with one. Even though it makes little economic sense.

I know! When my boyfriend and i bought a motorbike, we used it to go everywhere ever since. Money counts say it's cheaper for us to go by bike than by bus. It is also more convenient. When there's problem with it and we have to sell it, it feels very odd to take on the bus and taxi again. But well, we adjust well. Maybe because the bike's with us for only a few months. Remind your wife to stay positive about everything! It's been proven (if i didnt read it wrong) that positive mind bring your body to a better way of healing the pain. At least that's what happen with my aunt :)

I made a big mistake by being obedient and not learning how to drive when I was 18. My dad wanted me to learn but I was living with my mother and grandmother then...and they both were worried and refused to let me learn. And I didn't. My sister went through the same situation when she was 18...and she just went ahead and learnt behind their back. She's driving now...and here I am (who really needs to drive) walking all over the place.

I think that it is a good idea for women to learn to drive. That said, the price of fuel is such that I think that many people are starting to reconsider their car usage.

The bus service in Calgary is terible compared to Winnipeg. In Winnipeg there is a bus on every busy route, In Calgary there are few busses. People are complaining all the time, on the news, about the transit system here.

I know that there is a Transit system in Calgary but I have no idea how good it is. I can imagine what a pain it is to have to rely on someone else all the time.

thank you. I just hope to get mine renewed sometime soon.

I think that is very sensible. Well done you.

That's pretty much how I feel Ellie. The car is just so convenient and allows me to go places and do things that I otherwise couldn't.

it is nice to lean how to drive

Enjoy your driving Henry. Thank you. Welcome to myLot too.

I have thought about a pony and trap and turning a great chunk of the garden over to pasture! Someone on here told me that wasn't environmentally practical as the pony would release Methane. Well all animals do. At least there would be no particles (other than in the droppings) in the air. However, I'd have to learn to drive it, and as you say, not too practical as a family runabout. But a nice fantasy though.

I've never quite understood the methane arguement myself. I've got the space for a donkey, and could probably cut enough hay without having to buy in, it's just the time that would be in short supply. I'm working on OH!

I'm reading this at twenty past midnight when I should be in bed! OH? Occupational Health? I am being thick aren't I.