My husband and I are going to a wedding in Oxford this weekend, which is about 90 minutes from our home. I voted to go by bus; he wanted to take the car. My arguments were good: we'd save money on fuel; we could come straight back after the wedding instead of having to sleep off the booze on a friend's sofa; we wouldn't have to worry about parking; and – most importantly – it was the green thing to do.
Despite him agreeing on every single point, we are going by car. This made me reflect not only on who wears the trousers in our relationship but on just how hard it is to get people to stop using their cars.
I thought fuel prices might do it but a survey released today showed that, for some people, even petrol reaching £2 a litre wouldn't stop them driving. As the price creeps up, we seem to accept it as inevitable and quickly adjust our sense of value.
If neither our conscience nor the cost can do it, what on earth can?
