Today I went out four times, using four different types of transport. I thought it was a classic day to illustrate how and why we use what we use.At the start of the day I walked to school for a prayer meeting. We all walk to school, because it is so close. It's simply not worth getting our bikes our for 300m.
Around lunch-time I rode to get groceries. It takes about the same time to ride or drive that short distance in our relatively flat city (1.1 km). Besides I like riding (unless it's raining) and it is good regular exercise to ride home with a bike loaded with groceries.
After lunch I walked 600m to the train and rode two stations to meet my language exchange friends. It's about six kilometres from my house and door to door took me a little more than 10 minutes to get there. Train is simply the fastest way to get there, it would have taken more than 20 minutes by car. Plus the place we meet has no car park, so there isn't much point in taking a car.
Towards the end of the school day I drove our middle son to the orthodontist, a 30 min or so drive (about eight kilometres). You can take the bus, but I find driving less stressful and faster, and also cheaper than the us fare. The bonus is the orthodontist has a free car park (not to be taken for granted in Tokyo).
In Australia you drive almost everywhere, that is the fastest and easiest thing to do in most situations. Tokyo life is different. I like it, there's a nice variety and it gives our family more independence too, not to mention built-in exercise. Today I didn't have to worry about picking up boys from school, they simply walked home. Neither did I need to worry about how David got to work (approximately half an hour before the boys went) because I needed the car during the day.
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