walk don't drive!

Cindy is 32, single and childless and holds an executive position. After moving from a city apartment to a magnificent house in the suburbs and buying a SUV she started piling on the pounds and felt lousy.

"At the time I wanted to show off my wealth and announce to the world that I had made it," says Cindy. "But most of all I wanted to own an automobile - a big SUV just like the one in the sexy ads."

Cindy soon found that one of the drawbacks of suburban living is that the further we live from our workplaces in the city, the more reliant we become on transport.

"Train and bus commuters are regularly held to ransom by strikes and breakdowns in the service," says Cindy, "but automobile owners have far more problems with traffic jams and when my SUV broke down or needed servicing -- which it did regularly -- I became distraught."

"I never really knew what stress was until I became an auto owner," sighs Cindy, "and I guess the more stressed I became the more I ate. To make matters worse, I started using the vehicle for short trips that I once was happy to walk. I became fat and lazy."

"Sure, it’s great to have an automobile to jump into for weekend jaunts," says Cindy, "but after the novelty wore off I just didn’t have time or energy to go weekend driving. I soon discovered that apart from driving to and from work, I used my automobile for little purpose other than driving a couple of blocks to buy a newspaper. I did this more to justify owning a car than because I was too lazy to walk."

Her suburb, like most suburbs, has good, cheap and frequent public transport - and she didn’t live more than a couple of blocks away from shops - so she really started feeling guilty about her extravagance and stupidity and thickening waistline.

She also found that owning an automobile is very expensive. More expensive for her than anyone else, perhaps, because she had to pay parking fees in the city on top of regular vehicle expenses.

"Most people living in city apartments just don't have a need for a car," says Cindy, "and they're richer and slimmer because of it!"

"Nobody can deny the joy of getting into a brand new automobile, smelling that brand new leather smell, taking to the open road and attracting the envy of everyone who catches a glimpse of you passing by in your SUV," sighs Cindy. "I was more thrilled to show off my new SUV than my new home. It was a novelty for me. It was my first vehicle!"

Not everyone is going to be envious, though. Plenty of people have escaped from the drudgery of car ownership and are walking or using public transport. When a large chunk of your income goes into paying for automobile expenses -- and especially when your income doesn't quite cover the costs of automobile expenses and you need to take out a second or a third personal loan to cover them -- you start to do some thinking.

"It wasn’t just the astronomical cost of owning and running the vehicle -- and the personal cost in terms of extra fat and general unfitness that I thought about," says Cindy. "I thought about the environment -- acres and acres of dead cars and acrid air to breathe. The road toll -- thousands of people getting killed or maimed on the roads every year, and road rage -- stressed out drivers abusing the hell out of each other."

"After much soul-searching I decided to get rid of the SUV," says Cindy. "I needed to put myself into a position where I had no alternative but to walk everywhere."

"I started a get fit routine by regularly walking around my suburb in the evenings after work," says Cindy, "and I also joined a grass roots movement to get into cleaner and healthier living."

"I advise anyone working to pay for a car, or paying for a car in order to work, or considering moving to the suburbs in order to own a car, to think very hard about SUV ownership," says Cindy. "These gas guzzling monsters not only break your bank but they have a negative impact on neighborhoods and the world at large and they also make you fat and lazy!

"If you own a SUV," explains Cindy, "it ends up ruling your life and ruining it, too. SUV ownership, for me, meant a stack of fat around my butt and a stack of bills in my desk drawer - both of which I’m still working hard to get rid of!"

When Cindy got rid of her car and the expenses it generated it was the best thing she ever did. She's now leading a happier and healthier lifestyle.

"I walk to the railway station every morning and I commute by train to the city and I'm feeling skinnier already," laughs Cindy. "I just wish that everyone who lived in the suburbs did the same thing, but sooner or later everyone will be forced to walk due to gas becoming either a scarce commodity or a banned substance due to air pollution."

"Honestly," says Cindy, "I just bought the house to go with the SUV and now that I no longer have it I feel a bit silly stuck out in the suburbs in a big house all by myself."

"There's really not much life in the suburbs as far as walking goes," says Cindy, "and in that respect I do miss living in the city where everyone walks and cars just drive by."

"I guess I’ll be moving back to a city apartment one day soon," she laughs, "and it will be great to be trim, taut and terrific again."