too close for comfort.

The fact I gave up car ownership in 1993 is a point of pride for me. I set up my life so that one wasn't necessary thanks to the great European public transportation system.

Besides savings about a quarter of million dollars in the last twenty years between cost of car, insurance, gas, etc. I've not put tons of pollution into the environment.

When I did own a car in Boston it was always an undesirable model to reduce chances of theft and one that got maximum mileage.

When I say "save" that might not be quite the right word. Some of the money was spent on holidays, gifts etc. But it also let me buy a flat in cash. The interest on not having to have a mortgage is not figured into the savings.

Sometimes months would go by and I'd never set foot in a car. I did drive from time to time either a rental or a friend's car.

It took me ten years to change my license from Neuchatel to Geneva. I only did it to rent a car where they wanted address and license to match. The man behind the counter looked at it and my moving date and said, "You are a little bit late." Nine years over the limit, but he didn't make me take a test. In fact I never had to take a test. The people in Neuchatel when I switched my Massachusetts license for a Swiss one wanted to know where my parents were born but not if I knew Swiss driving rules. Go figure.

There was one day when I was driving my housemate's car through Geneva traffic with my Long Island Friend next to me. I was going nuts, knowing I could have walked it or been on the bus for a fraction of the time. "How do those people stand doing this?" I asked.

"I do it almost daily," she said in a voice that I suspect was designated to calm me or rather to calm me enough to save her life from the mad woman next to her.

Thus when buying a car was a requirement in setting up the business (not sure if Rick talked the attorney into to putting that clause in when I wasn't in earshot) we realized we needed to look.

At the same time the friend's car that we used was falling apart http://lovinglifeineurope.blogspot.fr/2014/01/deals-on-wheels.html. Calling it a jalopy was like calling a soapbox car a Ferrari.

Down here, with my friend and I using the car it took over nine months to use a tank of gas.

We found one. It drives well. It's a pretty green. It's in great condition. Even though its 14 years old I hope we never, never need another one.

I did suggest to Rick that we have an artist friend paint a mural of an airplanes covering one door to reflect his business. He added, how about a golf course on the other.

He may have been humouring me.