internet is sparse out here in car country... yeah, you heard me - CAR country. no, not detroit or flint... marysville... marysville, washington.
everyone has a car out here. and i mean, everyone. even people too young to get drivers licenses have cars. granted they are sitting in garages, useless. but they are there being repaired so that when little 5 year old timmy finally gets his permit 10 years from now he'll have rebuilt the engine himself and learned to weld and pull out dents with his bare hands, and his car or gas guzzling suv will be all shiney and roaring, ready to go.
the thing about people around here is not just that they use cars for getting from point A to point B, which can be anywhere from 5 to 100 miles away. but they often use their cars to go from point A to point A1, which is maybe two blocks away. people here do not walk. walking is a sign of being "uncool".
here, having a car and driving said car is the equivalent to a bostonian having a college education... it is, for newbury street girls, the equivalent of having the latest prada bag or franco sarto shoes. if you dont have a car in washington state then you are clearly
now, i dont have a car. although every time i come home to visit i contemplate buying one, just so i have one and on occassion can escape the car-owning folks around me. if i do break down and rent a car, its often because i cant stand the pressure any longer. i cant stand having to repeatedly refuse rides and then experiencing the jaw dropping of my family and friends every time i say im walking two blocks to the grocery or 5 blocks to the shopping center. i cant stand not being able to go any further than i can walk since there is virtually no such thing as public transportation. and i cant stand being gawked at by every single driver that passes, wondering which category of non-car-haver i am, as i walk from point A to point A1.
this visit, my mom happens to have two cars. both of which work perfectly halfway. she put me on her insurance and i shall drive her mini-bronco or whatever the 13mpg gas guzzler is called, whenever i need to go further than my little feet can carry me... which by the way, they often carry me several miles per day. so, perhaps i shall avoid renting a car, but its likely i will find myself driving one - after all, im old enough and financially stable enough and definitely cool enough.
previously:
weather or not - 2006-03-07
My Flight - 2006-03-02
poetree in motion - 2006-02-28
ultimate personality test - 2006-02-25
limerick e-trip - 2006-02-22