This showed up in Facebook, artist unknown (to me):

Caption along the lines of “Metaphor of using SUV for commuting with one person in the vehicle”.

Now that two of my kids are in school I ride into work regularly again. I’m still using a single-speed bike that I bought off a friend almost ten years ago, and have tinkered with in only minor ways.

I like the sprint-coast rhythm of riding a single speed bike, but being overtaken by even a moderately competent rider with a set of gears does make me wonder how much quicker I’d get around if I had a more “normal” bike. I would like to get a bike where I can sit upright while riding. Certainly not efficient, but a nice feeling ergonomically.

I’ve never owned a car, but now getting to the point in my adult life where having two cars in the family might start making our lives a fair bit easier. On the other hand, I do vastly prefer not using cars where possible (hence the opening image), and I suspect if I bought a car it was sit idle for most days of the week. That doesn’t seem efficient or fiscally sensible.

It’s interesting to compare how many taxis you could catch simply for the cost of car registration and insurance. But would getting the kids to sports games on the weekend really make sense in a taxi?

Check back with me in five years. If I can make it that long without a car I’ll probably last forever without one.