Johnnytheboy wrote:
dcbwhaley wrote:
In Gear. I didn't mean to pour cold water and what we spend our money on is our own choice. (I am currently drooling over a catalogues of telescopes).
My serious argument is against the idea that we need motor cars. We don't. Most of us choose lifestyles that can only be conducted if we own a motor car but that is a concious choice, not a necessity. A fair number of people lead a fulfilled life without a motor car and a lot more could do the same if society wasn't organised around the premise that every one owns a car.
DCB: do you have a car? I presume not...
MM: I'd have the new Jag XF!
Mmmm.. Johnny .
I quite like her father's beast of a Merc though.. Can be tempted .. mmmm.
dcb . it's a CAR. This is a forum where folk like to drool and dribble down their chins over CARS.
Cars are
serious stuff to us.
Both me and Wildy turn to the motoring pages and Autocar etc before reading the serious news
OK .. apologies if I am more than 20 pages
Am probably replying to the whole thread here
To answer the quoted section:Heck dcb .. I need my car here. I live a good few miles away from where I work. I am some distance from the train/bus stations so I'd still need a car to reach them.. and I then would have changes and waits on the way .... I'd get no home life as I'd be travelling harder and longer as a result.
You can certainly suggest I move closer to where I work.. but that might not be closer to where my wife works. It would not be pratical as I would pay more for a home perhaps which would not be a patch on my current home. (Grade 2 listed farmhouse which we bought as a derelict at auction when we married.. and we have spent years of time, hard earned cash .. and our own DIY efforts turning to a nice home for us to enjoy. This was near to where we were both working at the time.. but as we climbed up our respective career ladders/carved out the careers .. we found we ended up commuting.. the distances ..
) By this I am saying that professional lives will be dynamic . .but moving house each time you change a job which is less local to you just ain't practical
As it stands . we face equal journey distances .. more or less. I find that fairer somehow. Unfortunately .. we do not work in the same place nor do we do the same hours .. so sharing the commute is not possible either.
OK .. to answer other points you raise ..later.. you think the car is "almost new" because it's only three years old.
That car has done quite a few miles. In real terms .. it's engine and overall wear and tear make it "older than its birthday date".
In real wear/tear and the mileage she can do to her work around here or the occasional commutes to her HO in Herts . or HO /HO in Switzerland even less occasionally . .. (she hates flying.. she has metal pins from the original accident. She sets off all the alarms
so she chooses to drive there.
Getting strip searched as once happened did not do her temper any good )
Thus .. the car's actually quite "old" in terms of miles driven. It's well maintained though.. but has been superseded by a better model
It was hit by a TWOC in a supermarket car park when it was 6 months old. Folk on PH advised Wildy to get rid at that point
as I recall. Jag was repaired to "good as new" - but the thing with the air bag exploding the way it did at the time has the new "feline" Mama now in "serious over protect mode". She wants the car with the latest safety toys. Understandable.
Personally I'd advise Wildy to buy a Merc like her father's.
As it's bigger, a lot "meaner", got even more toys on board .. and outperforms the Jags completely.
It can hold the twins.. the older villains and clutter
A bus? I'd like one.. but would then have to spend time learning to drive the damn thing and with a current household of 12 kids including fosters ... I am hard pressed for time here.
(We have 7 of our own breeding.. 2 adopted and three fosters.. Yeah.. I know someone should have chucked a bucket of water over us when we got frisky
)
Back to answering the quoted post..OK dcb .. so you can argue fairly correctly (and I take no offence as it is actually correct to a point) that me and Wildy chose our lifestyle by living up here in the middle of a National Park with all the fresh air and benefits this brings to us and our kids... but we pay a price as regards the reality of "going to work for a living"
But our jobs are not actually "static". I do not work solely in one hospital. I commute between the ones around the Trust according to patient needs.
I have one cardiologist colleague and close pal (fellow of St Andrews/Manchester . but three years ahead of me - he was my "academic father" when I was a "first year freshman" ) .. Martyn lives in Manchester - but can be working Preston.. Manchester or Liverpool in any one week. Thus we do need our cars to get from here to there once we finally get to work
Folk then do need their cars out of necessity and not choice. We medicos are not always tied to one hospital at this level - but may spend more time in one than the others
Me and Wildy would also be hard pushed to cope with baby twins on public transport or in bicycle trailers too.
Not to mention the rest and all their "stuff"
I think it''s thus fair to say that we need our cars.. and that our very well maintained day cars get a fair amount of high mileage. We get rid whilst they have a reasonable trade-in value to offset the new purchase in part. We save and budget to cover depreciation by the way .. as best we can
Basically each time we lay out on capital expense .. we immediately budget for potential replacements in 3 to 5 years time .. or a set mileage . whichever comes first. Wildy's car has reached that mileage whereby you can start paying high on maintenance as parts need replacing from natural wear/tear. Jags are notoriously bad on this score.. and why I am coming round to my father in-law's lyrics about his Merc
I have answered most of the points raised in whole thread in one long post ..
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
Members
at time 
My wife has just disintegrated in tears of laughter and I thank you for that . She needs a good laugh given what she;s been through recently 
As Draco says - it look good. 
