Michael Kelly does without . . . his car
Last year, in a job that involved lots of travelling, I clocked up 40,000km (25,000 miles) in my car and was responsible for the emission of 10 tonnes of greenhouse gases. So I guess I shouldn't feel too smug about giving up driving for a week.
The rule is that I'm not allowed to drive or be in a car (so getting a lift to the shop would be cheating). We live about three kilometres (two miles) from Dunmore East, in Co Waterford, so each morning this week I am cycling to the village for the paper. I haven't cycled in years, so it is part nostalgic reunion and part arduous struggle. Mainly arduous struggle.
Anyone who knows Dunmore will be familiar with the fairly serious hill from Killea down to the village. The first day I cycle in, I descend it at what feels like 200km/h, feeling a mixture of adrenalin-induced euphoria and absolute terror. I am smiling so hard I must look as if I have a vitamin-C surplus, and my eyes are streaming alarmingly. At one point I have to brake hard when I catch up with a pair of nuns in a Micra.
For every freewheel thrill-ride downhill, there is the corresponding "king of the mountains" slog back up. I am in a heap afterwards. It makes you wonder why we pay through the nose for gyms when you can pan yourself out on the bike for free. Giving up driving means combining travel and exercise as one activity.
One day I take the bus into Waterford, and it leaves me wondering why I have never thought of it before. There is a bus stop about 200 metres from our house, the fare is €2 and the bus drops you in the centre of the city, so you don't have to worry about parking.
As I walk out of our gate to go for the bus I realise it is the first time I have ever walked out of our gate. I have driven, and more lately cycled, but never walked. Imagine. While I am waiting for the bus, a delightful old lady stops and offers me a lift, but as that would break the rules I have, reluctantly, to decline.
By the end of the week, having conquered sore legs (and a tender backside), I am starting to enjoy the cycling. It reminds me of when I was younger and biking it to school (barefoot in the rain). CS Lewis talked about the car "deflowering the very idea of distance". Ironically, although my car abstinence confines me to a relatively small realm, that realm seems roomier and more interesting as a result. "The modern boy travels 100 miles with less sense of liberation than his grandfather got from travelling 10," said Lewis.
Ambling along on my bike, with cars flashing by, I am taking in things I never take in while driving - and thinking about how much of a rush I am always in. I could get used to this.