6:18pm Tuesday 16th March 2010
By ivor
In the past few days the weather seems to have taken a turn for the better.
At lunchtime today I really enjoyed my regular lunchtime walk around Wycombe town centre. Strolling around in the spring sunshine was really nice.
After doing several circuits of the the town centre I rested in the Parish Church yard to eat my sandwiches. While sitting there I kept a look out for infernal Google cars with cameras on the top just in case they should take a snap of me.
While watching the traffic I became aware of all the cars and lorries going by. It was amazing how many vehicles there were.
It seems the motor car is king and everyone has one indeed I once knew a neighbour who got in their car to go a few hundred feet to the corner shop to get a loaf of bread.
No doubt there are countless others in the town who also use their cars for ridiculously short journeys.
On my blog last Tuesday I made a comment that we should all be issued with metal dustbins rather than the plastic wheelie bins however J B Blackett, one of our regular readers, pointed out that due to a shortage of resources if everyone was to have a metal dustbin people in other parts of the world couldn't not have cars.
J B Blackett's comment has got me thinking. Why should everyone in the world have a right to a motor car?
The modern society in which we live has turned the motor car into a status symbol and some wealthy people change their cars every few years just to drive the latest model.
Most people have cars that are bigger than their needs. Front gardens have been turned into block paved shrines where the cherished cars can be parked so the householders can proudly show off their beloved vehicles to passers by.
Do people understand the purpose and function of the car? I feel the motor car a good example of a functional object that our society has turned into an object of extravagance.
Of course there are those, like myself, who depend on a car to get around. People like me understand more than most the vital difference a car can make.
Maybe the undeveloped countries where car use is not so prevalent would do well to learn from the mistakes our society has made.
In towns and villages in distant lands maybe those still using horses and carts are actually better off without the motor car and all the pollution and blight it brings.
Personally I think that unless you are reliant on a car to get around due to mobility issues then owning car is not a right.
If we did decide to convert all the worlds metal into dustbins maybe we would actually be doing the unmotorised countries a favour as well as giving ourselves a better refuse disposal service.
What do you think?
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