In the post yesterday where I mentioned the hemmed-in feeling I get if I don't have access to personal wheels, I made the mistake of using a hypothetical carless Manhattanite as the referent. This was a mistake because any mention of Gotham that can be perceived as negative triggers that weird provincialism that causes residents of the Big Apple who travel to Indiana to bring apples and crackers with them just in case those commodities are unavailable out here on the frontier because... I don't know, savage Shawnee had ambushed the supply wagons in Ohio or something.
"Tam," came the rebuttals, "You don't get it! New York has neighborhoods that people can take the subway to!" which are apparently completely different than heading out West Washington to drive for a mile through Little Mexico without seeing a sign that isn't en Espanol, or an Atlantan taking Buford Highway out to Chambodia for some pho.
The reason I shouldn't have taken the detour across the Brooklyn Bridge is that my point wasn't about NYFC, but about what the personally-owned automobile does to one's sense of time, space, and distance.
Back in high school, our driver's ed teacher referred to the car as "the freedom machine" and it is absolutely true; with their own car, today's teenager has a degree of personal mobility unknown to the crowned heads of Europe barely more than a century ago. Queen Victoria could have hocked the Crown Jewels of England and still not have been able to get to Brighton in an hour, any old time she felt like it.
Most of the human race has lived just fine without their own cars, and having one's car in the shop (or snowbound in the garage) is the very definition of a #FirstWorldProblem, but like any drug, only an addict knows the pain of withdrawal.
As I referenced in my other post, living in a city and working from home, I don't technically need a car in my day-to-day existence; there's a grocery store not but a few blocks from my front door, and the city buses go anywhere I need to go. Nine months out of the year a bicycle with wire baskets is all the vehicle I really need. If I'd never had a car, I probably wouldn't miss it...
But having that Subie out front means that, say, a visit to my friends in Knoxville is only a few hours away from... now. Or now. Or tomorrow. Or whenever I want. As the saying goes, "An American thinks a hundred years is a long time; an Englishman thinks a hundred miles is a long way." Being suddenly stripped of that power to traverse hundreds of miles at a whim, a power you've had so long that you don't even think about how miraculous it really is anymore, is like having Seven League Boots and then having them taken away, or being Superman with a pocket full of kryptonite.
Two is one, and one is none.
ReplyDeleteI generally keep two serviceable vehicles for just this reason. If one goes down, I don't feel STUCK.
I don't think I would do well in prison... or NYFC...
s
Not having a vehicle sucks in some respects.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it was the factor which "drove"* the mother of my child to take off and leave him with me, so its not entirely terrible. (Had I known that would seal the deal I would have sabotaged the 4 Runner myself rather than just watch it happen the one day. I was "ride-less" for about 3 weeks. That wasn't fun, but it worked out in the end)
I live a mile from work, but have to drive past it to drop my "miniature human" off at Grandma-Care and there again to pick him up.
*its been almost 5 years, and using the phrase "being carless drove her away" still gets a smile. I don't care that its wrong.
And therein lies the reason the Left loves mass transit and HATES personal vehicles. Your own personal vehicle empowers us to tell those in authority "You ain't the boss of me" and leave. If you can only rely on mass transit not so much.
ReplyDeleteMy mom was raised in NYC and didn't drive until she was carried off by a barbarian from western PA. My sister lives across the street from Central Park.
ReplyDeleteTrue, you don't need a car there, in fact it is a pain in the ass to own one in Manhattan.
The cold hard fact is you are at the mercy of public transport. If it doesn't run, you go no where and that single fact would keep me a wake at night.
Gerry
Here's yer song.
ReplyDeleteManhattan shares the American Experience(tm) with us about the same as a Jersey driver shares the road...with anyone.
ReplyDeleteMy ex moved back to NYFC (Manhattan) and took a new-ish Lexus with her. She had to park it across the river and take a ferry to use it. Which she never did. Then she called one day and asked if I'd take it off her hands, because she was sick of paying for the parking, registration and the like.
The scary thing is they buy the politicians who like to impact our lives out here in savage-land. Ugh.
No car, use feet, or bike if you have one.
ReplyDeleteI run about 120 miles picking up and delivering people in the metro on any given Saturday nite.
Course if we had to walk, those would become all day tasks instead of a few hours.
1. The provincialism of Manhattanites is caused by their lack of wheels. I recall reading once about how people just don't travel that much when it has to be by scheduled public transportation.
ReplyDelete2. The movie, "The Grapes of Wrath" was exhibited in the Soviet Union by people who thought the Joads would impress the audience by how destitute and pathetic they looked. To the Soviets, the Joads had power. They loaded what they could on that truck and headed out somewhere else. That truck might as well have been an intersteller starship to people who walked or went where the state said you could go, when you could go.
And that is precisely why lefties are so enamored of railroads, buses and subways.
ReplyDeletePardon me while I whip this out: The Clue Meter: "Eez Social-eezm"
ReplyDeleteI will never forget the first time I drove a truck (which was also the first time I drove a car ;)). I will likewise never forget the day I got my license, and dad handed me the keys to the Horizon.
ReplyDeleteIt was a crappy little car, but it ran forever on a tank of gas, and has a handbrake which made it far too much fun in the winter.
I went many, many places in that little car. Since I was 16 I have been without a vehicle no more then three months - and most of those months were in a stretch after the state took away my driving privledges because I had a momentary case of the stupids (seriously, even if you don't think you need to go to court for something, if there's a court date, go anyway.)
I cannot imagine I would have been all the places I've been if I couldn't *drive*.
Give me a stretch of highway, a good radio, and a sunshiney day and there is nothing better.
Tam,I learned to drive when I was 14.I've been driving (whenever and wherever I pleased) for over 40 years since then.I had a stroke 3 years ago and the state suspended my license.I was very depressed and very furious that they could/would do that.I learned to drive all over again,even with my disabilities,and have to take a road test every 6 months to prove I can do it,but I well remember the feeling of being lost when they took away my privelege to drive.
ReplyDeleteRE:Wendy item #2-Excellent point.
You don't need to own your own books or have an internet connection either. they have all you need at the library.
ReplyDeleteMade the huge mistake of driving into NYC once and almost got the Karmann-Ghia swallowed by a sinkhole in the roadway bigger than the Egg. Hand to gas it hard and fearless in traffic, between a bus and a cab and only dropped the right rear into it - Connecticut here I come, never going back to NYC ever again. Ever. Never.
ReplyDeleteEven though my sixth great grandmother, Susan Wyley Day, was killed by Shawnee Indians in 1775, I will not be offended by your glib reference to Shawnee ambushes.
ReplyDeleteShe and I were never close.
The opposite situation exists in Baltimore, MD, where retirees from the WWII Martin aircraft plant pridefully told me that they'd never been further from their neighborhood than a few trips to Ocean City, and rarely had to, nor wanted to, leave their own few blocks of heaven to explore the rest of that town.
ReplyDeleteFreedom is a choice.
This is timely and terrifying...Next week I am interviewing for a position in Chicago. Potentially from Texas, the land of open spaces and the long drive, to Chicago, were you don't "need" a car. I've already told my wife that if I get the position (and I hope I do, knock on wood). We will be taking at least one car with us, if not two. I don't need the car, the buses, trains, and cabs go everywhere, there. But Chicago ain't everywhere there is to go and I'll be damned if I let "them" take away my freedom granter!
ReplyDeleteI learned to drive more than half my life ago and refuse to be without wheels, regardless of the premium cost. Sure it's #FirstWorldProblems, it's okay, I live in the first world.
My biggest issue these days is making the vehicle faster, more fun to drive, and more obnoxious so other people who don't view it as the infinite source of freedom it is...stay on the bus and out of the way. I think this is why the idea of "autonomous" vehicles terrifies me. The whole point of the automobile is not to go from Point A to Point B...it's to go from Point A to anywhere you friggin' want to.
-Rob
Considering that by just paying the standard fare she could get there in 70 minutes:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lbscr.org.uk/timetables/Nov1805/NEW-3A.jpg
and that they probably would have put on a bit of extra coal for her, you might pick another example...
;)
Also, having driven that run a few times, I wouldn't bet a lot of money that she could do it on the first try now in a car either.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I actually pondered that for a bit while I was writing and felt my bets were adequately hedged by the fact that Victoria's reign spanned a long time period, even leaving off the "any old time she felt like it" caveat. ;)
ReplyDeleteConsidering that by just paying the standard fare she could get there in 70 minutes
ReplyDeleteWell, to get technical...
That wouldn't be counting the time to get from Buckingham to the station and from Brighton station to wherever she was going. :)
And she was queen for a very few years before the Brighton Line opened.
ReplyDeleteIf you're making the Palace and the Pavilion your start and end points, she couldn't do it legally today, either, car or train.
Of course these days she could ride in an RAF jet fighter, and they are slightly faster than a car...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NZ9X9A2efA
That 70 minutes also doesn't include the standing around waiting for the time to board the train, and then the waiting on the train until everyone's loaded and the train pulls out of the station.
ReplyDelete@RevolverRob, if you take that Chicago job, it might be worth your time (life?) to live across the border here in the Hoosier Free State. There's a train that runs across into Mordor on the Lake (http://www.nictd.com/stations.html). And you'd have more need of a car in the Chicago area than you think. The really urban part isn't that big.
"And she was queen for a very few years before the Brighton Line opened."
ReplyDeleteAh, but the 70 minute express time was from the 1905 timetables; I daresay the little 2-2-2 Jenny Lind wasn't quite as speedy as its successors!
(Also, all the Queening in the world couldn't make it detour to a pub along the way. ;) )
Car has always meant freedom for me. It was my escape from my rather strained relationship with my dad.
ReplyDeleteI have that same phobia as you if I don't have one that will go where I want when I want.
I feel it even more than you because I live rural.
I'm at a point now where I may have to make some changes in the fleet. The Ram 1500 is needing some major repair (head gasket being the most expensive) and I'm starting to wonder if it's worth pouring the money into. I wish the CJ-7 or Alfa Spider were in better shape because I can't really handle an extended downtime for the Dodge.
I lived in Hawaii for a couple years in a past life. Being from Texas, I'd sometimes get this panic attack when I realized I was on this tiny little island surrounded by nothing but water for as far as I could imagine. The feeling was intensified when I stood at the top of a mountain on Oahu and could see beaches on both sides of the island.
ReplyDeletejf
Cars may break but they don't go on strike.
ReplyDeleteWhat pretty much everyone said.
ReplyDeleteYou want a picture of "they hate us because we're free" really looks like, go read hawk ptooey James Howard Kunstler for as long as you can stand it.
The New Yorker says "I can get any place I could ever imagine wanting to go, using only public transit". While a non-New Yorker says "you are unable to imagine wanting to go anywhere but the places you can already get to using only public transit".
ReplyDeleteBoth, if they parse carefully and approach the question with honesty, will admit that the two statements are logically equivalent. Neither will ever truly understand the other's mind-set.
ReplyDeletelelnet,
Gosh! Thanks for 'splainin' that for me! Can you help me out with this other stumper?
"2+2=__"
I can go some places by public transportation -- if I am ok with carrying only a bag or two. Doing the same with my usual load of photo equipment and guns becomes impossible...but trivially easy with a car
ReplyDeleteMass transit isn't a sure sign of socialism. The sure sign of socialism is when someone opposes both cars and the high population densities that enables mass transit to make sense.
ReplyDeleteThe real question isn't "Why do Manhattanites prefer mass transit?" but "Why are there Malthusian environmentalists in Manhattan?"
Joseph,
ReplyDeleteObviously that has gnawed at some people, because in the last decade or so, I've seen a lot of rationalization that not only is it hipper to live someplace with nightlife and a good theater scene, but it's greener, too!
Yep. The (ahem) worthy I mentioned above is aaaalll about the New Urbanism. Think Bauhaus with gingerbread and latte stands. For a while.
ReplyDeleteI get bent if there is not at least two automobiles ready to go at all times here. True, I would not want to press one or two in service unless I had to, but very comforting to know they are there.
ReplyDeleteWonder how carrying a field dressed buck home on the public transportation in NYC would go over?
ReplyDeleteEven if it just means a moped I will always maintain some source of personal transport.
ReplyDeleteThis is why.
https://encrypted.google.com/search?q=new+orleans+superdome+katrina&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=B8L9UvvHOoL4yQHcsYCwDw&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAQ&biw=1280&bih=591#hl=en&q=superdome+katrina&tbm=isch
I split time fairly evenly between 2 homes and businesses which are 400 miles away from each other.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the drive quite a bit, because it gives me time to decompress from a reasonably hectic lifestyle (for an old buzzard my age).
I couldn't and wouldn't live in NYC (or any other big northern city).
It's not my style.
When we go to NYC to see some theater and amble through museums, I am extremely ready to come home and be free again.
I am uncomfortable not having immediate access to a gun or a car.