The pleasure of not having a car

You know, this pleasure is highly dependent on locale. If you're living in a city like Portland or New York where public transit is cheap and effective, there may be pleasure in not owning a car. (I still question the pleasure in not being able to leave the city without begging someone for a ride, but whatever.)

Now on the other hand, if you live in say... Los Angeles... not having a car puts you into the crippled designation. People will mock you or worse, feel sorry for you. Lepers will look down upon you. Maybe there's a bus that goes that way at the right time and maybe there won't be an overfriendly psycho on it (only nutjobs and art students ride the bus in LA), but that's not the point. Don't even ask about the Los Angeles subway system, please. You need a car to get anywhere here. It's a simple fact.

The pleasure of not having a car in Los Angeles is like the pleasure of having a hole drilled in your head without anaesthetic.

And all you trepanation and squicking enthusiasts can just shut the hell up, okay?

The multiple pleasures of not having a car include:

• Not paying car insurance
• Not worring about my car getting stolen or broken into
• Not paying parking tickets or feeding meters
• Never having to give anybody rides to the airport (or anyplace else)
• Never buying gasoline
• Never getting stuck in traffic jams
• Being able to get stinking drunk at a bar without worrying about endangering lives on the road or losing my license