For the last few months, we have been car-less. It was a conscious decision based on a lack of usage and a nagging feeling that we were contributing to the local gridlock. It was the right decision, although we are now viewed slightly oddly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A car says a great deal about you, not having a car really throws people. In almost any situation, the question ‘So, what do you drive’ comes up. When we say ‘we do not own a car’, we get sympathy. Then we explain that this is not because we are poor, but because we do not need one. This gets a fairly incredulous response. How can we not need a car ? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well it is simple, we order shopping on line, we walk into town, I ride a motorbike to the office 2-3 days a week and if we suddenly need a car, we simply rent one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
What we are still missing though is a chance for people to judge us based on their perceptions of the various cars on the market. Obviously if we said ‘An 18 plate 7-series BMW’, they would assume that we are super rich, live in a mansion and are probably super posh. If we said ‘an old Ford Fiesta’, then we probably live in a little terrace house on minimal income. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
See how this works ? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I started to think about this, and I’ve come up with my assumption, based on what you drive, based on several years of commuting in and out of London and overtaking millions of single-occupant cars <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Audi A3 <\/strong>– I really like the idea of a VW Golf, but they are simply not expensive enough. You are probably also not sure how to drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Audi A4 <\/strong>– I like the idea of a large car with ah huge boot, but the Skoda Superb is not good enough to show off to your neighbours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BMW 3-series<\/strong> – You are a low-level salesman. You expect the peasants get out of the way as you feel you are probably royalty<\/p>\n\n\n\n BMW 5-series <\/strong>– I am a a mid-level salesman that always has a meeting to get to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BMW X5<\/strong> – I am an idiot and I drive like a moron all the time. I probably do not have a licence, insurance, and MOT or more than six functioning braincells\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vauxhall Insignia<\/strong> – I wish you worked somewhere that gave out BMW 3-series<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ford Mundano<\/strong> – At least I do not drive a Vauxhall Insignia<\/p>\n\n\n\n Any Skoda<\/strong> – I am too poor to afford the (arguably better) VW or Audi version<\/p>\n\n\n\n VW Jetta <\/strong>– I would prefer a Golf, but its not possible get enough dead bodies in the hatchback version.<\/p>\n\n\n\n VW Golf R<\/strong> – I really wanted an Audi S3, but mummy would only buy you a VW. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Literally any SUV<\/strong> – I would like people to think that I spend my weekends kayaking, back packing or mountain biking. But really I just like to be able to look down on everyone and you love paying out for all the fuel it burns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Range Rover – <\/strong>I drive off road a lot. I also define “Off Road” as Waitrose car park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A lowered shopping trolley with a huge exhaust pipe<\/strong> – I want to be adored. I also like annoying people and I drive like a dick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Toyota Prius<\/strong> – I dislike petrol stations and excitement in equal measure<\/p>\n\n\n\n A newer Bentley<\/strong> – I play Football\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Aston Martin<\/strong> – I play football a lot.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ford Focus<\/strong> – I am a family man\/woman\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ford Focus ST<\/strong> – I am a Yobbo\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ford Focus RS<\/strong> – My favourite phrase is ‘hold my beer while I demonstrate drift mode’.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ford Fiesta ST<\/strong> – I could not afford the Focus RS\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mercedes A-class <\/strong>– I have no idea how to drive, your daddy got you the car.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mercedes CLA<\/strong> – I drive with my knees while sexting\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mercedes B-class<\/strong> – The twitches are not a medical emergency, I am just refreshing facebook.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I could go on and on, but you get the idea……<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the last few months, we have been car-less. It was a conscious decision based on a lack of usage and a nagging feeling that we were contributing to the local gridlock. It was the right decision, although we are now viewed slightly oddly. A car says a great deal about you, not having a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[142,143],"class_list":["post-607","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life","tag-cars","tag-trains"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nealon.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nealon.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nealon.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nealon.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nealon.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=607"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/nealon.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":665,"href":"https:\/\/nealon.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/607\/revisions\/665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nealon.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nealon.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nealon.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}