Motorists versus pedestrians: it’s a false opposition if you ask me. I enjoy both driving and
walking. When I’m walking I try not to hate drivers. When I’m driving I try not to hate
walkers. Sometimes it takes a bit of effort, but on balance I manage to stay tolerant.
The fact is I do like cars very much, the stranger and cooler and more patinated, the better. I’ve lived with one or two ‘interesting’ cars in my life, but I’ve concluded that the more interesting a car is, the more trouble it’s likely to be. I still like cool cars, I just don’t wish to own one. And when I’m out walking and I see one, then I go across the street and have a look, and in some circumstances take a picture. As vicarious pleasures go, I think it’s harmless enough.
Naturally there was more scope for this when I lived in Southern California. Old cars last longer there because of the lack of rain and snow, and only high in the mountains do roads get gritted and salted.
And cars there continue to be driven even when they look like absolute wrecks. These are things magnificent and if I found myself by some chance driving one of them I’d be perfectly happy, but I wouldn’t seek one out, I wouldn’t deliberately buy one. I just like to look.
Meanwhile here in England ...
.... interesting cars are fewer and further between but they’re not completely absent. They do a lot to make me happy when I’m walking. Here’s one I saw earlier (Texas plate, I know, but it was in Mistley, Essex):
