Going car free

I have lived most of my life dependent on cars. Growing up in rural Ontario or small town Ontario you get use to having a car for everything. You become so dependent on cars it becomes absolutely ridiculous. I even remember this one guy who was in my small town who would drive his car from the parking lot of Zellers--that's where all the 'cool' folks hung out--to the store which was just across the street. He didn't feel the need to walk the few hundred steps to get there.

Recently though I've made a decision to go car free. I gave up my car in August 2006 and I've not looked back. I've seen some great benefits to living this lifestyle. It does help that I live in Toronto now which makes it much easier to go car free. I've lost about 20lbs since having to rely on my two feet and a heart beat. I've also increased my cardio tolerance. Where it use to be a challenge to walk for long periods of time I can now do it without running out of breath. I've also noticed a cost benefit. This has been the best motivator for going car free. I pay $100 a month for transportation plus any cab rides and they're cheap in Toronto. Before I went car free I was paying $300 a month for the car, $150 a month for insurance and then gas which was anywhere from $40-$60 dollars a week depending on gas prices and where I travelled too. I save a crap load of money by being car free. Which I need because I went from paying $300 a month in rent to $1400 in rent.

So why am I writing this post one might ask. Well today I came back to my parents place for the weekend. It's my nephew's first birthday. My daughter and I hopped on a GO train and my father picked us up in Burlington--they don't allow dogs on VIA. I had not bought Nolan his birthday present so I needed to do this while visiting the folks. If I had been in Toronto I would have just hopped on the TTC, taken the Dufferin bus down to the Dufferin Mall and went into H&M or some other store that has taken to selling kids clothes. Instead I was stuck here in Woodstock relying on my parents good faith to DRIVE me to the Wal-Mart--a post will soon be relegated to this organization--to pick up his present. They live close to it but you can't even walk to it in a reasonable amount of time. The urban/regional planner for this city has got to learn how to make the city much more functional. Where is the GREEN to Woodstock??