We bought a car yesterday! As if in honor of the occasion, it rained all day today and threw into sharp relief the difference between driving to church and walking/biking/busing in the pouring rain. How fancy, how decadent, how civilized it was to go by car! Imagine - to step into a car, drive in comfort to the church building, and have to endure less than a minute of exposure to the elements as we walked to the front door! To arrive sheveled and calm instead of windblown and sopping wet. To linger after church if we wanted instead of running to catch the 17.07 bus, or get started on the walk/bike ride because everyone is starving. I hope we never take that fancy, decadent, civilized feeling for granted.
(We actually hope to still bike to church most weeks...but not in the pouring rain.)
On the mental side of owning a car, I feel as if a Big Bang has taken place in my mental map of Turku. I hadn't realized how all my neural pathways related to navigating this city were drawn along pedestrian, bike, and bus routes only. When I stepped into the car and drove it along any path I chose, I could almost feel the myriad new routes unfurling as I clipped along unexplored highways at 120kph. In many ways, I know this city like the back of my hand, but I think there will be a bit of a learning curve when it comes to driving here.
No learning curve will be required, however, when it comes to grocery shopping by car. I took the kids for a quick trip on Saturday evening after we got the car and I almost didn't know what to do with the brain and stress space freed up by not having to worry about fitting everything in a stroller or backpack. I bought liquid laundry detergent AND a pack of diapers AND several liters of milk - I did not have to make hard, weight/space-based choices. It was amazing.
We plan to walk and bike and bus as much as possible still, which should keep the novelty of (and gratitude for) the car alive. And the car, by the way, is a used Toyota Verso, which I don't think exists in the US. It's a 5-seater with a 2-person pop-up row in the back that uses up all the trunk space when deployed. Kind of like a Corolla but bigger (indeed, the first version of this car years ago was called "Corolla Verso,"), or like a Rav4 but lower, or like a Sienna but smaller. Take a look!
