I don't drive a car anywhere near as much as I did in Australia (where it was often out of the garage multiple times a day). Here it isn't unusual to not drive it in a whole week or even two or three.
Even though we don't use it as often, we're very glad for our car. It enables us to go camping, go on holidays without hiring a car, take kids (ours and others) to inter school events, and go to Costco every other month to stock up our pantry. And provides an alternative form of efficient transport when we need to get to hospitals, conferences, retreats, or even, like today, to the shop when it's pouring rain. Put simply, it gives us more options and flexibility.
There is a very important button in our car (and probably most Japanese cars).
This button flattens the side mirrors against the car. Without this function, it would be hard for us to get out of the car into our house, or to get our bikes in and out of the carport. The width of the carport isn't great and we have four adult-sized bikes parked on either side of the car.
Public car parking often rely on you using this button too. There isn't always much room between cars and without people performing this public service of "retracting" their mirrors, it would be hard to negotiate ones way between parked cars.
Lots of newer cars seem to do this automatically now when you turn off the ignition. I still have to put my arm out the window and turn mine if I'm in a tight car parking spot!
ReplyDeleteInteresting Rachel. Yes, our car in Australia was of the "turn it yourself" variety.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you wouldn't want to be pregnant getting in and out of cars, if there is not much room between cars! I remember going shopping one day in Toowoomba and almost getting parked in, wasn't sure how to squeeze in the door.
ReplyDelete