Carless

For the first time in something like fifty years (!) my husband and I are carless. Or maybe, more like it, my husband is carless for the first time since he started driving at the age of eighteen -- which is when you get your license in the more sensible countries of the western world.

Okay.

I stopped having my own wheels about seven years ago, and that was actually quite a difficult adjustment. Somehow, not being able to take off on a whim (although I didn't do it often) took away some sort of sense of freedom, and also, sharing a car felt like I was second in line, that the car was more his than mine. But I adjusted. So now it's not as difficult for me, being without, as it is for my better half.

This set me thinking... why do we feel so personally attached to our vehicles? Do they provide us with an extra sheath perhaps? A comfortable carapace? You know how people have an energy field around them, and an aura (think of those who make you want to take a step back!), so maybe our cars become an extra layer of ourselves. Just think how some people clean and polish, even give their vehicle a name. It's well known that we feel enclosed and even cut off from the outside world and its realities while driving, and may behave in ways we'd never do otherwise. Can't you hear me muttering about that silly ### who just cut me off?

Which brings me to the positive sides of the situation. Not taking into account the environmental benefits of ride-sharing and so on, we are both walking more and soon I'll be riding my bike too. We'll be out in the open, more connected with nature and our fellow human beings.

Quick update

My apologies for being off screen for so long. I've been on my travels again, this time to South Africa via the U.K., where I spent two glorious spring days earlier this week. I'd forgotten how profuse the blossom is there, the branches thick with pink and white. And the trees burgeoning with new green leaves, or pale orange in the case of the copper beeches. Then there are my beloved magnolias... ah well, we live in a beautiful world.

There was more beauty in Cape Town, just beginning to feel autumnal. The interesting thing is that the local, indigenous trees get new leaves at this time of year. Strange hey? So I visited with old and dear friends, attended an exquisite wedding, the ceremony held at the end of a wharf where the locals were casting big fishing lines into the ocean. As my friend, the mother-of-the-bride said, the wedding was set for 4.30 and the spring tide was for 4.20! All was well, however, and none of us got soaked, although I did enjoy a slight ocean spray.

A road trip east through the winelands towards the garden route brought up happy memories of days gone by, and renewed delight at the old Cape Dutch buildings in Swellendam, surely one of the loveliest towns in the country. A night at an ostrich farm, and then I was deposited in Knysna to stay with family for my mother's death day. It felt good and blessed to be there, where she died a year ago.

Part of the reason for my travels was business. I did some of that, although it was complicated. I had thought this would be my very last visit to the country of my birth, but it seems there'll have to be another one because of said business and a lot of interest in my parenting book :-).

Spurred orignally by the wedding invitation, my initial thought was to get all travelling done before I take up grandson day-care duties in a few weeks time. Now I'm wondering if all the flying miles would add up to a round-the-world trip. No, I'm not going to do the math.

I got home on Thursday, a red-letter day for our family because our eldest son got married. That's all four of them now. This so-welcome and happy event took place on the beach in California. It was my dearest, oldest friend in Cape Town who offered an interesting point of view on the trend towards outdoor weddings. She said she thinks its because the young people want to be close to the elements for this life-changing and affirming event.