My First Week on the Low-Car Diet

I admit that I'm usually pretty cautious when trying something new, like, say, a car sharing service. So I waited until the end of the first week until finally my old car decided for me: my tire had a nail in it and had went flat. Taking this as a sign, I went online and reserved a Zipcar to take me to the grocery store. I arrived at the parking spot and found my Zipcar with no problem. It looked good but there was a tiny ding by the gas cap, so I called to report it. Then I used my card to get in, found the key, checked the gas (it was full!) and off I went. The ride was much smoother than my old car, and I had actually reserved the cheapest Zipcar option, so that was a good sign. I couldn't figure out how to play music from my iPod so I listened to the radio. The acoustics were pretty amazing, and since my old car's radio is finicky (gets stuck on certain stations, refuses to turn on, etc) it was nice having such a great sound system. I had to try a few times to get the car in the spot straight when I arrived at the store, because my old car is smaller. I got my groceries and drove back, but realized I had over-reserved by a lot; I still had an hour and a half remaining. I considered driving around some more but not much else was open at that time, so I parked in the spot and that was that. Easy!