Car rides down the road - necessary?

20 Jan 06: Are lifts down the road really necessary? And how much does a kitchen mop cost to run? The daughter could not bear the thought of walking the half-mile to the tube station due to a combination of inclement weather and the fact she was wearing ridiculously high high-heels that were two sizes too large. Is it really necessary to take the car on such short distances? I thought not, so I decided to take her all the way to Golders Green (2 miles) instead. That's more environmentally-friendly? Had to deal today with the issue of kitchen 'mops' that actually use a lot of chemicals, that somehow slipped into our home inventory. How did I fall for this? The thing runs on two 'AA' batteries and makes a strange whirring sound when in operation. When I bought it I was relieved to read that the batteries would last around a year, but actually had to replace them in around two weeks. Maybe it's only the second set that lasts a year. The accused mop requires its own proprietary pads, which also seem to expire alarmingly quickly. Finally, it requires its own chemicals to do the cleaning, and no other. A bottle of these lasts about two weeks, so all in all I begin to feel the £35 cost in the first place was a bargain by comparison. We are now seriously looking at a miracle steam cleaner a friend introduced to us, whose marketers feel the cost of a full-page ad in the Daily Mail to be a worthwhile investment. This mop, which also runs on batteries, only costs £50, but has the attraction of using only water to clean. An appealing prospect environmentally, once I can adjust to the inevitable throwing-out of the other mop I purchased in December. So, I've started a fund.