Saturday 20 May 2017
An old friend of mine
bought himself a Jaguar F-Type.
It’s black, does
0-60mph in an astonishing 3.5 seconds and has a maximum speed of 200mph. There is just about room in the boot for a
set of golf clubs.
I, on the other hand, drive
a 13-year-old automatic Honda Civic, about the least stylish car you can
imagine. It probably does 0-60mph in 13
seconds. It’s blue. It’s literally an old man’s car, having been handed down to
us from Clara’s dad. I’ve been wanting to
replace it for years but it just keeps going and I can’t justify spending the
money on a new vehicle.
Or rather I used to
drive it. About a month ago I sent a
declaration to the UK DVLA to inform them of both my vision problems and my Parkinson’s diagnosis. They are taking a while to go through my
medical records. I’m optimistic that I’ll be cleared to drive, but there is a
chance I will never be allowed behind a steering wheel again. In the meantime, I need to stay off the South
London roads as, if I had an accident, my insurance would be invalid.
Although inconvenient
at times, this is not as bad as it sounds.
I commute to work on public transport, travel long distances by train,
and take an Uber for short journeys near home.
Nearly everything I need to buy in life can be delivered to my doorstep
with a few mouse clicks.
Driving was getting
difficult. Much of the time I didn’t feel great but the biggest problem was my
eyesight. My solution to this, which I
understand to be perfectly legal, was to wear a pair of glasses that obscures
the vision in one eye. The loss of depth
of field took a bit of getting used to, and must have looked weird to other
drivers, but it was effective.
Hopefully once I have
my eye surgery in June there will be no need for the special glasses and, DVLA
pending, I will be able to drive as before, though I suspect my eyes will take
a while to recover and adjust.
However, unlike my
friend with his sports car, I no longer take any pleasure from driving
anyway. London roads are busy and carry
plenty of aggressive drivers (including some Ubers…). I used to be one of those aggressive drivers myself,
but now I just want to get from A to B with minimal fuss. Outside of London and on the motorways it
seems to get ever more crowded as well.
I was looking into an all-electric
car as my next vehicle, now that the range on a single charge is starting to
make them more viable for journeys outside the city.
But maybe I will keep
the Honda Civic even longer and hold out for the day when driverless cars are a
reality. As with any new technology,
self-driving vehicles are going through their ups and downs as issues of safety
and legality are navigated, but it seems just a matter of time before they
become mainstream.
To me that would be
the best solution of all: relaxing and enjoying the view whilst the machine
takes care of all the stress.
For a person with
Parkinson’s, maybe that would be as gratifying as driving a Jaguar F-Type.
