Well I'm trying an interesting experiment. In a bid to minimise my car use now that I don't need to drive to Oxford every weekend I'm going to pass my Micra on to my cousin. But I still want to use a car every know and then, especially for ice hockey practice on a Tuesday so I have signed up with Streetcar .

The idea is that I can book a car over the web for whenever I need it and only pay to use it, not to watch it depreciate in my car park space. I don't need my own insurance or road tax, they give you 30 miles 'free' petrol per day so it should work out more cost effective. It certainly makes the costs of motoring more visible which again will help me cut down on pointless journeys by car - in fact it already has.

Anyway my first trip is tomorrow night. So far so good: the booking online was very easy and they send you a text confirming the times you've booked and giving you the licence number and what seems to be the name of the car. My car is called Emanuel (unless there's a VW Golf Emanuel model out there that I don't know about) and I shall let you know how it works out.