I'll say this for Osborne...

[ufkacbln]

Thats great if you live in a village. It's still eight miles to the nearest village from my parents house.

Which begets the question as to how they will manage when car use is no longer an option?

 

[Peteaud]

Well when only the rich are driving, perhaps we can doff our caps as they drive past us.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Thats great if you live in a village. It's still eight miles to the nearest village from my parents house.

are they unable to exercise an element of choice over where they live?

 

[youngoldbloke]

I can remember something called ... "a shop"

Most villages had one, and you could buy things in them. If they didn't have it then they would source it.

Our village has a shop - it is very successful, the queues at the checkout grow longer, the delivery vehicles block the village street, as do the cars of the increasing number of customers that drive in from surrounding villages. It really needs relocating on the edge of the village, with it's own parking area, bigger floor area, more checkouts. The old model no longer applies - I don't know what the answer is.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

My mum is 79 now and walks for miles when she goes out. My dad is driving when he feels up to it, but has had vertigo for a few years now which on bad days stops him from lifting his head off the pillow let alone riding a cycle - he can manage a drive to the shops though when feeling OK. My MIL and FIL are 75 and struggle to walk to the end of their drive. Without access to people who have cars, the in laws are effectively housebound. We take a wheelchair when we take the MIL out and she uses it after a couple of strokes

Dig her out of the wheelchair and make her cycle eh !

Linf, with a dead mother and FIL who were incapacitated in their final illnesses, a father who is in his 90's in need of 24/7 care and an MIL with Alzheimers I need no lessons on the disadvantages of old age ta.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Our village has a shop - it is very successful, the queues at the checkout grow longer, the delivery vehicles block the village street, as do the cars of the increasing number of customers that drive in from surrounding villages. It really needs relocating on the edge of the village, with it's own parking area, bigger floor area, more checkouts. The old model no longer applies - I don't know what the answer is.

Home delivery, spot of forward planning and a reduction in impulse buying.

Here's a thing, when folk run out of milk, ciggies, or whatever, they can go without for a bit. Instant gratification isn't an actual human right.

 

[Linford]

Linf, with a dead mother and FIL who were incapacitated in their final illnesses, a father who is in his 90's in need of 24/7 care and an MIL with Alzheimers I need no lessons on the disadvantages of old age ta.

Sorry to hear that, I guess you provide a lot of support for them. I've found that life gets a lot harder all round with older parents, and they live happier lives if they get the support from family members than hired hands.

My dad worked all his life with computers (worked on the old 'Bombes' in the beginning) before retiring in the 80's. I lent him an old laptop so he can get online but has lost the plot in regard to computers now and there is no way he could get up to the level where he could order his shopping - he's really not interested TBH.

All I'm saying is that a car free lifestyle may suit you, but it isn't suitable for everyone. Between March and Nov, I'd rather be on 2 wheels at any time (and am for most of the time when only sorting my own needs), but can't take my family with me on either a PTW or cycle as they just don't buy into it, and am in the position where I seem to end up as dads taxi, grandad's taxi, and son and SIL's taxi when I do think I might get some free time to myself. running a car is

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Sorry to hear that, I guess you provide a lot of support for them. I've found that life gets a lot harder all round with older parents, and they live happier lives if they get the support from family members than hired hands.

My dad worked all his life with computers (worked on the old 'Bombes' in the beginning) before retiring in the 80's. I lent him an old laptop so he can get online but has lost the plot in regard to computers now and there is no way he could get up to the level where he could order his shopping - he's really not interested TBH.

All I'm saying is that a car free lifestyle may suit you, but it isn't suitable for everyone. Between March and Nov, I'd rather be on 2 wheels at any time (and am for most of the time when only sorting my own needs), but can't take my family with me on either a PTW or cycle as they just don't buy into it, and am in the position where I seem to end up as dads taxi, grandad's taxi, and son and SIL's taxi when I do think I might get some free time to myself. running a car is

Fair play and thanks for the thoughtful response, we are in agreement on nearly every point.

I accept all you say about how desirable access to a car can be to those in rural isolation, especially when car use is more-or-less an ingrained habit for so many, but, and it is a huge but, folks like yours and mine only represent a small fraction of the rural car using population.
And our towns and cities are full of the housebound with no access to cars at all.

The time is ripe for those who can to make the choice to wean themselves off that dependence to do so imo, and it is simply not good enough to cry "but I live in the countryside". As I said in another post; their choice to live where they do, and their choice, often as expressed as a right, to drive as a consequence, restricts the choices others make in regards to mode of travel.

 

[DRHysted]

This thread really reminds me of when a person at work told me that I didn't need an estate car, because Im the only one in the car. He didn't know what I do outside of work, he didn't know what I need.
I used to own a large 4x4 (and use it offroad) so used to come in for a lot of grief over that, but no one ever bothered to find out why I used it, they were to blinked in their opinions.

People don't know what others need, I get quite annoyed when city dwellers say what rural folk need to do, because they don't know.

At the end of the day increasing fuel costs is bad for everyone in the country, because everything at some point travels on the road using fuel (including your bikes). This means the cost of everything will go up.

 

[srw]

This thread really reminds me of when a person at work told me that I didn't need an estate car, because Im the only one in the car. He didn't know what I do outside of work, he didn't know what I need.
I used to own a large 4x4 (and use it offroad)

Coffee, anyone?

 

[Linford]

Coffee, anyone?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

People don't know what others need, I get quite annoyed when city dwellers say what rural folk need to do, because they don't know.

az oi iz vrom zuzzex, and oi lives in a littol markit town, iz oi allowed an hopinyon then?

Or does that cut across the normal situation where rural dwellers demand they be subsided by city/town dwelling tax payers and play precisely this sort of bizarre fake 'trump' card when ever the issue comes up.

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

I've just been on transportdirect.info and plotted my daily commute to work 13 miles away
Leaving the house at 7am, 3 walks and 3 buses will get me to work in 1hr 31mins, and back after a 40 minute wait for the first bus in 1hr 40mins. So I'll be home about 7:15pm.

No thanks, I'll use the car, and smile politely at the ever increasing taxation in the name of the environment. It get's me there in 30mins. In a few years I may be able to afford a more frugal car. I can get 50mpg out of this one on a run so that's not bad.
It just annoys me that the rest of the world isn't at the party. But c'est la vie!

 

[srw]

I've just been on transportdirect.info and plotted my daily commute to work 13 miles away
Leaving the house at 7am, 3 walks and 3 buses will get me to work in 1hr 31mins, and back after a 40 minute wait for the first bus in 1hr 40mins. So I'll be home about 7:15pm.

No thanks, I'll use the car, and smile politely at the ever increasing taxation in the name of the environment. It get's me there in 30mins. In a few years I may be able to afford a more frugal car. I can get 50mpg out of this one on a run so that's not bad.
It just annoys me that the rest of the world isn't at the party. But c'est la vie!

Two easy solutions:
(a) Use the bike
(b) Move

or just recognise that you've made a lifestyle choice that impacts the rest of the world.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I've just been on transportdirect.info and plotted my daily commute to work 13 miles away
Leaving the house at 7am, 3 walks and 3 buses will get me to work in 1hr 31mins, and back after a 40 minute wait for the first bus in 1hr 40mins. So I'll be home about 7:15pm.

No thanks, I'll use the car, and smile politely at the ever increasing taxation in the name of the environment. It get's me there in 30mins. In a few years I may be able to afford a more frugal car. I can get 50mpg out of this one on a run so that's not bad.
It just annoys me that the rest of the world isn't at the party. But c'est la vie!

Cycle it. 13 miles is nowt once you get over the first few weeks.