Need a car? What? Need a car? Why

[eskrimador]

Just looking at the great photos of Dublin and I didn't notice one overweight person. Another poster noted how green it was, with people walking and cycling.

A recent conversation I had with another parent in the wee girl's class. The guy is a recent immigrant form the Philippines and he and his children would walk everywhere when the lived there. He's doing a pretty low paid job here and all his wages are going on keeping his car on the road. I suggested he got rid of the car and he replied that he needed it because of the kids.

I hear this all the time. Why do people need cars if they have children. My parents and most of my uncles/aunts didn't have cars. There were 5 kids in my family, living in Glengormley but going to school well down the Antrim Rd (about 3 miles away or so), we all had our hobbies which required us to get to clubs and venues and never once did I wish we had a car.

Certainly in Belfast, the difference in traffic when children are off school is astonishing.

Why is the car deemed so necessary?

[Dandahan4]

Just looking at the great photos of Dublin and I didn't notice one overweight person. Another poster noted how green it was, with people walking and cycling.

A recent conversation I had with another parent in the wee girl's class. The guy is a recent immigrant form the Philippines and he and his children would walk everywhere when the lived there. He's doing a pretty low paid job here and all his wages are going on keeping his car on the road. I suggested he got rid of the car and he replied that he needed it because of the kids.

I hear this all the time. Why do people need cars if they have children. My parents and most of my uncles/aunts didn't have cars. There were 5 kids in my family, living in Glengormley but going to school well down the Antrim Rd (about 3 miles away or so), we all had our hobbies which required us to get to clubs and venues and never once did I wish we had a car.

Certainly in Belfast, the difference in traffic when children are off school is astonishing.

Why is the car deemed so necessary?

Why two cars? Need is a misused word.

We need a holiday or three, a car or two, a house or three the need in us is great.

Definitions of reality and of real need seem like illusions.

[eskrimador]

Why two cars? Need is a misused word.

We need a holiday or three, a car or two, a house or three the need in us is great.

Definitions of reality and of real need seem like illusions.

Agreed.

It further adds to an illusion of an unsatisfied, underachieving life. Another "need" is Sky or cable. I've yet to see anything on TV that matches a good bit of chat but no, so many think they need to pay a fair amount of dosh to pay the Dirty Digger a monthly subscription.

Anyway, I digress. In reference to the photos and how fitter people looked, how astonishing is it that someone drives to work, drives home and then drives to a gym? How odd that people are so concerned about the obesity problem and yet many of the same people drive their children to school?

[Hitch 22]

Parents have been brainwashed into believing that there are paedophiles everywhere.
This has continued into adulthood and men have now grown up believing they come across as a serial killer if they try to chat up an attractive woman. Women are told that men are all basically rapists and that they will be raped instantly if they are alone anywhere.
The end result is people stay home and get fat from not walking anywhere and they feel lonely and they eat more and they get fatter.

[eskrimador]

Parents have been brainwashed into believing that there are paedophiles everywhere.
This has continued into adulthood and men have now grown up believing they come across as a serial killer if they try to chat up an attractive woman. Women are told that men are all basically rapists and that they will be raped instantly if they are alone anywhere.
The end result is people stay home and get fat from not walking anywhere and they feel lonely and they eat more and they get fatter.

There was an oul guy that used to take an unwarrented interest in our wee kickabouts but we had the sense to treat him with caution and cross the road if we saw him. To my knowledge, he was totally innocent but we had enough sense and our parents knew it.

Whether it is BS or not, heard something on the radio a while back that there were more incidents of children being molested in the street back in the 50's and 60's than there are today. Sadly, we've learnt that it is within the home that the threat is more prominent.

[bluefirelog]

As someone who has lived in my time for 15 years without a car, I think cars are great and serve a very useful purpose. Freedom. Independence. Comfort. Convenience. Just some words, I think of! When you don't have one, it is just sometimes so exhausting and so much effort and logistically difficult to do some things that are just so much easier with a car. When you don't have a car, you just don't bother doing some of the things you do when you have a car, because it is so much easier. Doing the grocery shopping: great when you have a car; buying and transporting bulky items - if you don't have a car, you have to get someone with a car to assist, otherwise you are trying to get on a crowded bus, for example, with an ironing board or something. Shopping in places that are not easily accessible on bus routes e.g. B&Q. Visiting friends who live in the same city but not within walking distance (especially great in Dublin because everything leads to the city centre, so visiting someone usually involves at least 2 journeys with waiting times between each unless they are on your route); travelling within Ireland and not being tied to someone else's timetable - being able to get up and go when it suits you; being able to bring what you want with you when you travel; being able to easily visit parts of the country that are not on public transport or only accessible via poor timetables etc. Being able to travel in comfort when it's pouring rain, dark and miserable, rather than standing at the bus stop for ages and then not arriving at your front door. Being able to listen to the radio and music in your car in peace - brilliant! As I said, I spent many years without a car. It is, of course, possible to live without one, just more difficult. Having one improves your quality of life. I cycle and make a conscious effort to walk rather than take the car whenever I am doing something locally, so I don't get too lazy!

[autiemom]

Parents have been brainwashed into believing that there are paedophiles everywhere.
This has continued into adulthood and men have now grown up believing they come across as a serial killer if they try to chat up an attractive woman. Women are told that men are all basically rapists and that they will be raped instantly if they are alone anywhere.
The end result is people stay home and get fat from not walking anywhere and they feel lonely and they eat more and they get fatter.

WOA THERE, Mr sweeping statement. Relax the kax.

[eskrimador]

I hated driving and only started doing it at the behest of my ex wife. It's a bloody awful thing and the driving of others poisoned my mind to the nature of the human race. I rode motorbikes for years and found it less stressful (probably owing to the ability to work around traffic) but the behaviour of "cagers" frustrated me towards the latter days of my biking.

My wee girl goes to a good school but she does not seem to have had the street awareness education that we had and there's certainly nothing on telly to tell them what to do.

Hell, we were told what to do when a friend drowns rather than being afraid of water..



That would be an after watershed horror movie nowdays FFS

[Protestant/Catholic=Irish]

Great thread!

I think it's ultimately got to do with the pressures of society i.e if you don't have a car you are deemed poor/old-fashioned and you can feel isolated.

It's just like the obsession in this country of having to own a house rather than renting one. Why? Society is why...

[EoinMag]

I've never owned a car, but am now considering one as my son hits school age. I've always lived in city centres here and there so the one time I had cause to drive daily in Germany, I was lent a car by the boss whenever I needed it.

The thing is that it just makes it easier to be active with the kid and live a little more remotely than when I was single. I'm considering moving out a bit more rurally as he grows up.