Carless in Portland

I have been without a car since November of last year. At the end of the summer I put the hard top back on my car and when I pulled the car back into the garage I hit a ladder. How do you hit a ladder in the garage? Well you lay it down on its side to store it, then for some reason it falls over just enough that the leg drives into the front headlight as you drive in, crushing the front end of the car and destroying the ladder.


Obviously I was very sad to see my lovely car scared. I always get a little depressed when I hurt it (when you have had a car for almost 30 years you tend to think of it as more than just a car). But there was more pain to come. I started to take it to body shops around town and no one wanted to work on it. Despite the fact that I have a great insurance company, all I heard was, "this is going to be too much work" or "I don't want to deal with that."


Finally I found a place that will tenderly nurse it back to health. The only drawback is that it's taking a long time.

So, I am carless in Portland. There are a lot of younger people I work with that don't have a car or only have one between them and a spouse, so I thought no problem. Plus, I am a big fan of public transportation, but it has its limitations. When the bus is the only way you can get somewhere it's not so great and cabs are damn expensive. It might only be once a week or a few times a month, but there are times you really need a car.

Hopefully we'll be reunited soon.