Pragmatics, Eric. (this is a reply to a very old post on a very old thread but I've been w/out internet service for a couple weeks and am going through backlogs of e-mail....can't resist responding to this....). I'm no stranger to walking -- walking a couple miles to the store and back -- for a few days (after a bad car accident in which the car was totaled and I had little choice) -- with a neck brace and 5 broken ribs in the 100 degree sweltering MO summer. I've changed my own front brakes successfully (no, don't even ....it wasn't connected to the car wreck -- different car), turned my washing machine upside down and removed the motor and transmission housing and replaced a coupler I didn't even know existed. It runs well to this day. I've done pretty hefty hauling and lifting and moving for a 5'2" 100 pound female. *However* -- it is currently near zero today; there is 17" of snow and ice some of which after a week has been plowed onto shoulders and sidewalks, and I needed groceries. To walk to the store and carry back 4 large, heavy sacks of groceries would have been nothing less than stupid. Most times I go to the grocery I have several bags. I've experimented with various types of back-packs and so forth. Frankly, in "normal" weather (which MO really doesn't have), figuring out how to carry a load from the store is the most problematic thing about not using a car. The next closest things I must go to routinely are downtown (at least 2 hours walk each way) and the far side of (what is admittedly a small city) an 8 to 10 hour walk each way. This is not realistic. I do use a bike from time to time, but again..... And how does a woman who works in a professional setting arrive at her office after walking or biking 2 hours in business clothing and heels? There are lots of areas in this country, I believe, where not having a car is entirely impractical. NY isn't one of them, as my brother learned very quickly after he moved from this city to NY City. We don't have paths and L's and everything you need on every corner. I *have* considered a horse & buggy ('specially when expensive auto repairs are needed).... Julie Krueger being practical (and boy do I get long-winded when I get practical) ========Original Message======== Subj: [lit-ideas] Re: Speaking of ... Date: 11/23/2006 5:07:53 P.M. Central Standard Time From: _eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:eyost1132@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) To: _lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) Sent on: >>Whether I shop there [Hell-Mart] or not won't make any difference to the economy at all. That may be why you're so grouchy and pessimistic ... the disconnect between what you know and what you do. Of course, I've adapted to not having a car. If someone were to give me a car, I'd be delivering my sermon from a different text. Happy Thanksgiving by the way. ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html