Rarely being designated driver is one of the benefits of not owning a car. It basically lets you eco-strongarm people into giving you rides to and from parties and bars –

But Flexcar kindly offers us free hours to carpool to Green Drinks. So I, being a Flexcar member (only members can drive) and the chief complainer about the difficulty of getting over to Culver City via public transit / bike, become DD. I need to cut back anyway, think I.

Plus, I want to finally try out the Flexcar service. So I work out the details with the Flexcar people, reserve a car, write down the complex directions including a code for getting into the locked garage, and excitedly bike the dozen or so blocks to my nearest Flexcar on Thursday.

But the door code doesn’t work. So I call 800.flexcar. It’s a phone sex line. I hang up, try 888.flexcar. A strange answering service. Damn. I pull out the Flexcar card — Ah, it’s 877. I call and am promptly put on hold, then hung up on. I call back. “Sorry — we got cut off,” says the woman. A few minutes later I get a working code, buzz self in, lock up bike, get in Flexcar. A minute or so fiddling with the radio stations, then I’m on my way –

Eliza, Melissa and I carpool over (Cassie got sick and cancelled). As soon as I arrive, my mind starts filling with dread at the thought of watching others drink while remaining completely sober for an entire long night, endlessly stretching out before me — after which I’d have to bike 12 blocks home in the freezing winter (Thurs. was quite windy and cold).

I am not a v. happy DD.

I cheer up a bit over the course of the night, though. And in fact on the ride back — Jolia joined us for this trip — I think Eliza is convinced to sign up for Flexcar. She lives way closer to a Flexcar than I do, and signup’s free right now, after all.

When I get back to the garage there’s a lil note taped to my bike seat: “Please make sure that all bicycles are locked to either the bike cables in front of your assigned parking space in P1 or P2 parking garages…. Any bicycles left in any other area will be removed and disposed of.” Hmmm… But there are no bike cables in front of the assigned space — see photo documentation, top left…. The ride home is v. v. cold –

Last night I drank too much, and when I finally got to sleep had frightening Flexcar dreams. It’s a late night, and I’m too tired to return the car, so I park it at home to return in the morning. But the next day one obligation after another keeps coming up — classes run long, friendships come to a crisis, buses find new, unexpected routes…. When I finally start driving the Flexcar back in the late afternoon, I get lost on a semi-deserted, long, wide highway –

This post-nightmare morning I get an email from Paul of Flexcar, with the subject: “Thanks for being Our Champion.” Not only does Flexcar comp our lil carpool, it gives me 5 extra hrs of free drive time for my own use. Sweet!

Still, not sure if I’m down for another sober Green Drinks, even if that makes me a champion. Maybe I can convince Eliza to be DD next month –

Comments