Smart Cars Are Starting to Look Better and Better

My car wouldn't start when I left work on Thursday. Drat it all. But maybe there was a bright side to our broken head-gasket as it got me thinking about how much we use our car.

We weren't able to use our car for about three days (Jeff's brother the mechanic kindly worked on it for us), but it turns out it wasn't really that much of an inconvenience. Jeff doesn't have much of a commute to work and frequently rides his bike in good weather anyway. And for me, work is only about a half hour's walk away.

(It might even be a shorter walk if I didn't walk and read a book at the same time. People who see me doing this later ask how I am able to navigate without tripping or wandering into traffic.)

Maybe it's time to leave the car in the garage more often, and get some fresh air and exercise while we're at it. Gas is up to $1.16 per litre at the station at the bottom of the hill, and the price is rumoured to go much higher.

Then again..there's the Canadian winter weather coming soon, so I don't know if I'd be able to view it as sensibly and cheerily when the November rains roll around.

Our car really hasn't let us down too often, but it's beginning to show its age. It's always been brown like dirt, but there's a little silver starting to show through in places, both literally and mechanically it seems.

When it's finally time to trade the old Dodge in, Jeff and I have talked about getting one of those fuel-efficient yet cute-as-poo Smart Cars that we've been seeing more and more in town. I mentioned it to Pol this morning.

My friend pointed out that Smart Cars only have two seats in them. "Yes", I said, "but there's only two people living at my house".

"But what about when Tai and I have been drinking after an UnChristmas celebration, who will drive us home then?", she countered.

Hmm...that is true...

But then she suddenly realized that with all the money we would have been saving on fuel, we can afford to call a cab for those occasions.