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Cars may not be essential anymore
The News-Times [Danbury, CT] ^ | December 11, 2006 | Mark Langlois

Posted on 12/11/2006 6:50:33 AM PST by LurkedLongEnough

For all the nonsense about the love affair between Americans and their cars, people seem to spend a whole lot of time and effort to avoid climbing into a car.

Super Stop & Shop's Peapod provides home delivery of groceries. That eliminates one's weekly trip to the grocery store. Get the grocery list online, pick the items, and the food appears in the insulated box outside your house.

People can go to Match, Jdate, EHarmony and Match.com to start dating without even heading to a bar. What happened to joining the ski club? What happened to taking night classes? Tennis, anyone? Too much car involved with all that.

How about Greensingles. com? That's for Naturenuts who want to get together with other natural types.

Actually, Naturenuts may be a strong way to describe them. The Web site says it is for vegetarians, animal rights activists, and environmentalists to meet each other. Talk about a good time.

Back in the day, a person would head to the bar and meet a few people. Buy someone a drink. Talk and decide if the person was OK or not. Get her number, and agree to meet later or another day.

I'm willing to bet even money it still works that way on Manhattan's Upper East Side.

In some cities, grocery stores are famous people pickup places. On the waterfront in San Francisco's Marina district was a famous grocery store where singles went to meet people they might like to date. To find a match, they would look in each other's grocery cart.

A Naturenut, for example, might check out the items in a person's cart to see if they're compatible. No ground beef. No steaks. No fur coat. O.K. It's veggies, pita and a match. Go back to the apartment and make dinner together.

A similar spot in San Francisco is the Buena Vista, a restaurant near Fisherman's Wharf. One famous story I know about the Buena Vista involves two people who went there by cable car, separately, and met and later married. They never owned a car.

John came from Sydney, Australia, and he'd heard stories about the Buena Vista in Australia to the point where he took a taxi (yes, that's a car) from the airport to the cable car to get there.

He got off at Fisherman's Wharf, found the bar and started drinking Irish coffees. He stayed for two days and met the woman who became his wife. Neither one of them owned a car. John literally traveled 4,000 miles -- without a car -- to meet a woman and settle down -- without a car.

People do so many things to avoid driving. How about the Domino pizza chain? The whole entire concept is you don't have to go out for Domino's. It's all about home delivery.

Animal groomers are willing to drive their grooming van to your house, and some vets will make house calls.

Maybe the love affair with the automobile is a thing of the past.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; US: Connecticut
KEYWORDS: automobile; bmw; car; cars; chrysler; driving; fomoco; ford; gm; honda; hyundai; internet; jeep; mercedesbenz; mitsubishi; suv; towme; toyota; truck; volkswagen
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Is this lighthearted or serious? Since the readership is Connecticut, I tend to think the writer is actually serious.
1 posted on 12/11/2006 6:50:34 AM PST by LurkedLongEnough
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To: LurkedLongEnough

tripe.

is the author saying that people no longer need to get from one place to another?

when the transporter is perfected, the car might be endangered, certainy not by the internet.


2 posted on 12/11/2006 6:54:07 AM PST by camle (keep your mind open and somebody will fill it full of something for you)
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To: LurkedLongEnough

This guy sure doesn't live in Texas. My office is 44 miles from home. I have lived in places where you have to drive an hour for groceries.


3 posted on 12/11/2006 6:54:53 AM PST by Rockhound
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To: LurkedLongEnough

Reminds me of the "paperless office" concept in the '80's.


4 posted on 12/11/2006 6:55:42 AM PST by facedown (Armed in the Heartland)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
I haven't used a car for a long time.

Ever since I got my truck.

5 posted on 12/11/2006 6:55:44 AM PST by Izzy Dunne (Hello, I'm a TAGLINE virus. Please help me spread by copying me into YOUR tag line.)
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To: LurkedLongEnough

I'll have to talk to the wife. I suspect she won't go for the 25 mile walk to work or the 15 mile walk to the train station.


6 posted on 12/11/2006 6:56:27 AM PST by cripplecreek (Peace without victory is a temporary illusion.)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
Is this lighthearted or serious? Since the readership is Connecticut, I tend to think the writer is actually serious.

Ever driven on the interstates through CT during rush hour? It's wishful thinking.

7 posted on 12/11/2006 6:56:28 AM PST by Alex Murphy
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To: LurkedLongEnough

Ahem, Somehow all those things are getting to your house... probably by CAR (or worse yet LIGHT TRUCK).


8 posted on 12/11/2006 6:56:31 AM PST by Pikachu_Dad
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To: LurkedLongEnough

The author overlooks all the vehicles required by the delivery people bringing things to them.


9 posted on 12/11/2006 6:56:32 AM PST by atomicpossum (Replies must follow approved guidelines or you will be kill-filed without appeal.)
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To: LurkedLongEnough

I do not know a single person as described by the author in this article. I didn't think Connecticut was such a foreign country.


10 posted on 12/11/2006 6:56:32 AM PST by caver (Yes, I did crawl out of a hole in the ground.)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
Maybe with all the conveniences listed in the article, people are just less likely to run their car into the ground, make it last longer, and take it places they'd rather go.
11 posted on 12/11/2006 6:56:51 AM PST by edpc (Violence is ALWAYS a solution. Maybe not the right one....but a solution nonetheless)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
Like other collectivists, liberals hate private transportation. People forced into collective transportation are far more easily controlled.

For the same reason, liberals hate "sprawl".

-Eric

12 posted on 12/11/2006 6:57:09 AM PST by E Rocc (Myspace "Freepers" group moderator)
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To: Izzy Dunne
Beat me to it...

I drive a truck also.


13 posted on 12/11/2006 6:57:17 AM PST by darkwing104 (Let's get dangerous)
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To: LurkedLongEnough

It's not cars for men, it is SHOPPING we avoid.


14 posted on 12/11/2006 6:57:27 AM PST by bmwcyle (The snake is loose in the garden and Eve just bit the apple.)
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To: Rockhound

He obviously doesn't live in Montana either.


15 posted on 12/11/2006 6:57:44 AM PST by the lastbestlady (I now believe that we have two lives; the life we learn with and the life we live with after that.)
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To: LurkedLongEnough

I like my car.

Unless you plan to never go outside of an urban area, it's damn near impossible to live conveniently without a car. I personally like to spend time in places that buses, planes, and trains don't go. I also hate being packed in like cattle on public transport.


16 posted on 12/11/2006 6:57:45 AM PST by RockinRight (Barack Hussein Obama, Jr. He's a Socialist. And unqualified.)
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To: caver
He got off at Fisherman's Wharf, found the bar and started drinking Irish coffees. He stayed for two days and met the woman who became his wife.

How much rum is in those Irish coffees?

I wonder if he has any buyers remorse?

17 posted on 12/11/2006 6:58:03 AM PST by Pikachu_Dad
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To: LurkedLongEnough

He forgot one thing. With places like FR, the MSM isn't needed anymore. Funny how he skipped that.


18 posted on 12/11/2006 6:58:05 AM PST by edpc (Violence is ALWAYS a solution. Maybe not the right one....but a solution nonetheless)
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To: LurkedLongEnough
Get a horse!

;^)

19 posted on 12/11/2006 6:59:19 AM PST by Just another Joe (Warning: FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
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To: camle

I lived in Connecticut for years...this guy is full of it. You need a car in Connecticut.


20 posted on 12/11/2006 7:00:22 AM PST by nyconse
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