Omnibus edition

I'm considering a dramatic lifestyle change. For the first time in more than a decade, I might be ditching my car.

I'd love to say that this is the result of a conscious desire to go green, to do my bit for the world and halt global warming. But it's really because my car has died.

It is a dead more.

It is deceased. It is no more.

At least at the moment. After a sunny weekend spent trying to get it start - most of which I spent sat in the driver's seat pressing and lifting the clutch while my brother and dad pushed me down various roads - it finally coughed to life with a fart of noxious gas, threw off some rubber belt and revealed a packed up alternator. I don't really know what any of that means, but the man at the garage looked very panicked and told me to turn the engine off as soon as possible lest some unstated tragedy should occur.

Of course this is fixable. But my car is now eight years old and getting to a state whereby there is a fine line between repairs being a sensible patch up and a bank bailout. The black hole might just keep getting bigger.

Add to that the fact that in the last year I've only driven a few thousand miles - mostly trips to the supermarket and out to the coast - and you begin to wonder whether it's all worth the hassle. I don't need it for work, and I generally prefer taking the train for long trips in any case.

Could it be time to permanently join the common man on public transport?