18.10.2020 | Hibernation, Friends and Cars

I’m in a bit of funk, which is no surprise, because we’re living through a unprecedented global pandemic! I’m afraid there are moments when it still hasn’t sunk in and I’m just like “WTF?!?!?”. And on the other hand it feels like this has been going on for ages and I can’t remember life before. It’s so freaking weird *sigh*.

With numbers rising rapidly it’s time to start hibernating again. And keeping even more distance and staying in even more than over the summer. I’m not sure how I feel about this. In some ways I don’t mind all that much, because I’m fine with myself most of the time. Or so I think and say. But on ocassion I wonder, if that’s really true and if staying on my own all the time and not reaching out more to other people is doing more harm? I don’t know! And I hate that I have to think about that again in the first place.

I’m quite glad that last week I reached out to two friends I haven’t seen for over a year now and haven’t talked (phone, messaging) to for months either. I had Friday off from work (tomorrow as well) and asked if they’d like to meet for a walk or other outdoor activity. And they both said yes and we met and walked and talked and it was so so nice to see and talk to other people than just my immediate family and the people at work. I missed that and we all three vowed to do that again at some point this year. Winter walk or Zoom talk or something. I’m really glad I sent that “hey, have you got time and like to meet up?” mail to them earlier this week. I had planned to do that for ages and… never did for some reason I can’t even explain now.

What else is new? I’m in the immediate process of buying a new car which is equally exciting and daunting. I had planned to do that since before the pandemic. I had a test drive in  February (or January?) and the plan was to check with other dealerships and have the car ordered, like a brand new car for the first time in my life. That was put on the backburner of course when the shit hit the fan in March, but I now decided to follow through with maybe not the same, but a similar plan: To not order a brand new car, because this might take a few months to be delivered now, but to look if I can find a almost-new car with the same specifications. Which would be cheaper as well and I don’t really need a brand new car anyway. 

As I work in the climate action field and have a 100km commute each day (on regular office hours, less during a pandemic) I wanted my new car to be the most climate friendly I could manage. Electric is not an option for me, because I couldn’t charge it at home (rented flat, no garage, car parks on the street) and I don’t think electric mobility for everyone is the way to go anyway for a lot of reasons. Another blog post at some point maybe. So the next option I looked into and decided to go with was/is CNG (compressed natural gas), which has much less carbondioxid emissions and is much cheaper than petrol. Even with the car itself costing more I will save money over the years I will drive this car. People say: “But are there enough gas stations around to fill up the car with CNG?” Yes, there are. Fewer stations than regular petrol stations of course, but more than enough along or just a tiny detour from the regular routes I’m driving. To work and back. Around my small city. Once a month to my neurologist in the morning and to work from there. There is a CNG station right next to the motorway entrace I have to use. It’s going to be just a small change in my routine and that’s fine and will be easy to do. I usually fill up my car at the same few stations anyway. They only will be different ones in the future 🙂 And it’s a hybrid with a small petrol tank as well, so I don’t risk running empty at any time.

 Oh, it’s going to be the SEAT Ibiza (Style) by the way. At least that’s the one on offer by the dealership I went to on Friday. I’ve got another appointment at another dealership for another as-new car, but with a bit more extras and thus more expensive and I’m not sure they are extras I really need or want. I’ll check it out regardless, but I think I’ll be going with the one on Friday. My mum will lend me part of the money even though when I checked all my saving accounts I could afford to buy it all on my own. Would wipe out quite a bit of my accounts though 🙂 But it’s so weird to see these savings, which I haven’t touched this year since drawing some money for the trips to London (January, Operation Mincemeat) and Amsterdam (February, Frank Turner). The only upside of 2020: the money I did not spend! I guess…

Enough rambling now. I want to make the most of the non-rainy day and go for a photo walk, snap some indian summer pictures. I might share some later. Two posts on one day? Unheard of… 🙂

 

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