What a Difference a Car makes

Last week I broke the habit of a lifetime and, with the expertise and much appreciated assistance of my big brother, bought a car. Having not owned a motorised vehicle to date, taking the plunge was quite a big deal and the immediate aftermath was a sense of "oh. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all" but I have decided to stick with it as an experiment for a year - the MOT runs until June 2013, the tax and insurance (once I've got it sorted - I'm on a temporary thing at the moment) will be until September and by then I'll have a sense of whether the life of being a car owner is for me.

Anyway, having driven said vehicle home (from Lichfield) I was convinced I'd need at least one or two more driving lessons to be able to maneouver properly - *but* various friends suggested I simply practise. Now there's a novel idea. So now I'm making a point of reversing when I could drive in forwards and the like. And I'm also making a point of going slow enough to feel comfortable - knowing that there might be someone champing at the bit behind me, but I'm a safer driver for not getting influenced by them to drive more rashly. Even with today's driving I was beginning to feel more confident and getting a better sense of the size of my car (a Citroen Berlingo) so hopefully I won't be the world's most cautious driver for too much longer (within reason).

Point being, I decided I'd go out for a little jaunt today. I did a trip to the dump (more of those to come - STILL clearing out my basement!) and then took the "route less known" away from the tip and ended up at Sunderland Point. Now, this was my third visit to Sunderland Point and I ended up just following my nose from The Globe car park, through some fields and across various styles and footbridges over ditches (it was great fun playing "follow the path by finding path-indicating-structures) and ultimately getting to the Point itself. The morning had been spent doing "useful" things at the computer and yet by the afternoon when I'd set out the sun was shining and I had a glorious walk - enough though my feet got rather soggy courtesy of some marshy ground at one point. It is truly a gorgeous spot down there - and somewhere I simply haven't been to other than by car. I spent around 2 hours ambling around (with a pause at one point for some reading) and enjoying some Proper Outsideness for what felt like the first time in ages. I ate blackberries (and found one or two which were deliciously sweet - the others looking like they might be but not quite there yet!). I saw birds. I listened to the sound of the mud alongside the road through the marsh gurgling - and discovered a rather odd collection of small crab carcases - just in a 2-3 metre stretch. And it was great.

And yes, I know I wouldn't have gone on this wander without having a car to get me to the starting point. Which, to me at least, is an interesting reflection...

Speaking of reflections, I'm also mid-way through a book called One Square Inch of Silence by Gordon Hempton and John Grossman. It was lent to me by the wonderful Jenny Gaiawyn and is a fascinating appraisal of the aural landscapes we live in. I'm very much at the beginning of the journey at the moment (it is the story of a literal journey across parts of the US, as well as a discussion of various sound-related thoughts) but it is making me much more aware of sounds - manufactured and otherwise - around me. Interesting times.

And tomorrow is another day - a day involving another adventure (this time to a bouncy-castle replica of Stonehenge, brilliant!) and, doubtless, more intrigue.