I Couldn’t Car Less

I choose not to have a car. I live in West London and there are generally good Transport options; regular bus, train and Underground services. If I need to go out into the countryside I can rent a car for a few days.

Even before the current overpricing of fuel, I’ve been glad I’m able to do without the cost of running one. I can spend that few hundred pounds month on other things.

The thing is though, to get people out of cars more, the alternatives have to be attractive enough.

I’ll admit that depending where I am going, a car could be quicker, but at times it could take longer, when you factor finding a parking space into the total journey time.

Also, for the average car user to use the car less, they have to break the habit of literally driving everywhere. I know people where I live that will drive to the local small shops which are no more then five minutes walk away.

For some the car is a way of life, when it doesn’t always need to be.

We’ve Sprung Forward

Since my last post, we’ve sprung forward in a couple of ways. Firstly, we’ve seen the back of winter, and we’re now officially in spring. Secondly, the clocks have gone forwards an hour, and it’s now getting towards 8 pm before it gets dark.

The days seem mostly brighter overall, and we’ve had a few days where it’s been quite warm, with the temperatures into the low 60s.

The trees are full of blossom, and daffodils spring up along many roadside verges.Journey to Liverpool

Last week, I took a trip north to a Unite national transport combine meeting held in Liverpool. Banga drove up there, and it was a good journey each way, although I felt that the meeting was less than fruitful. It was a long day, leaving home at 5.30 am and not returning until 8.30 pm.

We did a quick pit stop in both directions. In the morning, it was coffee and bacon rolls.

Coming back in the evening, I had a surprisingly good Triple Bacon Cheeseburger at the motorway services in Warwickshire.

 

Shrimp SaladKathy’s birthday was on Saturday, but we couldn’t do much as we worked all day. I volunteered to do a day’s driving as We’re on leave next week, and the extra money always comes in handy on returning to work the week after. Mothers Day MenuWe had a lovely homemade shrimp salad and white wine dinner, which we both enjoyed.

After breakfast, we got ready and headed over to Cole Court for Mother’s Day Lunch on Sunday. It was tasty, with carrot soup to start, followed by Pork Belly and Crême Bruleé to finish.

After leaving there, we swung by Wetherspoons for a couple of pints and some snacks. We got home around 7.30 pm, full!

 

This Past Week

I’ve done a few things since last weekend. On Monday, I started with another call to EE to get our new watches sorted out. The data plan on them wasn’t working. They’re supposed to operate independently of the paired iPhone as they’re cellular.

After we corrected the plans, I thought the watches had been set up yesterday, but their technical department said it could take up to four hours to get the pairing done. Well, after eighteen hours, things still were not working. I called EE Tech support again and got a lady on the phone that doesn’t seem too sure of herself. She got confused with the phone numbers, and I wasn’t hopeful that we’d get the issue resolved.

I was wrong! After 45 minutes on the phone with her (most of which was taken up by the system updating), we got our plans sorted out on both of our phones, and we can now make calls from them as we did with our series five ones.

Bro. IAN MAYIn the afternoon, I met up with Michael Strongman and Roy Woods, and we took the Underground across to Southgate in North London for a Lodge Meeting. We took the Underground because both Roy and Michael felt it would be easier than driving across via the M25 or the North Circular. It was a third, which aren’t seen so often, and it was also the first one that I’ve seen. I got to meet some new brothers, which is always welcome. It was certainly worth the journey across town. We had a great festive board afterwards, too. The next meeting should be in April when we might have a double second. As I’m now an officer, I have to ensure that I’m up to speed with everything beforehand.

On the way home, I got a connection at Hounslow East right away, and I got home around 11.20 pm and went straight off to bed!

Tuesday, after work, was more masonic stuff as we held our regular Tuesday Lodge of Instruction at Cole Court. Another late evening for me! An online meeting took up Wednesday evening with Cranford Action Group. As I’m the chair and I also have Zoom software, that was my job for the evening. McMuffinThursday was another long meeting day at Union District Office for our quarterly Company Bus Conference. I grabbed a quick breakfast at McDonald’s first. Although I wouldn’t say I like their burgers, I don’t mind the sausage and egg muffins. Fullers ESBAfter the meeting finished, I headed to the Queen’s Head for a ber or two. Kathy met me after she finished work and we had something to eat. On Friday, after a day at work, I went straight home. We watched a movie called Castles In The Sky, which starred Eddie Izard cast as Robert Watson-Watt. He was one of the leading inventors of RADAR, which made such a positive contribution to the Battle of Britain in World War Two and continues to do so to the present day. Saturday was a day off, and I spent most of it at the computer, although I did call Sky about the current contract and work out if any decent deals were going forward. I took the plunge and ironed a bunch of my shirts, and put them away.

Sunday BreakfastSunday morning, I woke pretty late (for me), around 7.40 am, and I felt pretty drained. I got up, made some coffee, and went back to bed before getting up and making some breakfast.

After breakfast, I caught up on personal emails and planned the week. Going for a walk in the park was part of the planning for Sunday afternoon, but it depended on getting all the home tasks done first!

So that was a fairly average week, with a couple of non-regular extras thrown in. Some travel is on the horizon this coming week, so we’ll see how that goes!