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.

Conspiracy theory?

With that teaser, I'm going to add a p.s. to my last post because, of course, after I published it, I remembered the details I'd forgotten to put. Like, making stock out of the clean, brown skins of onions, plus stems of other veg, or peelings from carrots, or outer leaves of cabbages or all of those plus others. And then, there's lipstick. The other day I was reading some 'money saving' tips and one appeared that I haven't read for decades... 'use a brush to get the last smidgeons out of the tube'. Been there, done that long ago. Will I bother now, I wonder?

And now to my heading... First a question. How many times have you got lost/been led astray while following a Google map? While in Los Angeles last November, the d.h. and I set off to the Getty museum, wound around small streets and landed up in a dead end. Yep, we'd followed the map correctly, but we couldn't access the museum. So we asked an elderly couple we saw out walking. They set us right. It was obvious they'd done the same thing for other confused souls a few times already.

The other day I heard on the radio about research that shows men and women listen to music differently. Part of this discussion mentioned that we orientate in space differently, men more to the bigger picture, women to the details. This made sense to me because although I'm good at reading maps, I haven't a natural sense for orientation East, West, North or South, whereas my d.h. does, and can find his way because of this -- at least, when Google doesn't interfere!

And how does this relate to a conspiracy theory you ask?? Well, yesterday I was in Henry's, the camera shop, getting a passport photo taken, and something caught my attention. The man behind the counter must have been asked what he was selling most of. The answer? GPS systems. Ah yes, convenient and easy. Yet another device to make us more comfortable. What do you say, folks? Shall I continue striving towards awareness of orientation, or simply rely on the latest gadget?