‘Car clubs would cost me well over £3,000 per year’

• WHEN I got my allotment 13 or 14 years ago Camden had a 30-year waiting list for a plot; I believe it’s a 40-year wait now.

I was advised to go to Barnet. There are two allotments a bit closer than mine but I know one of them gives priority to Barnet residents and the other might do the same.

In any case they’re too far to walk; it would take too long and I would be too tired to do any work when I got there.

Your correspondent suggests I could give up my car, join a car club and do my shopping online, (Tips on living without a car, August 24).

I doubt even a large carrier basket on a cycle would take everything I need to carry at times, (Air pollution from cars is a matter of life and death, August 24).

In any case I’m 74 and have no desire to ever cycle, especially in London. Again even if I did so I would be too tired to do any work on my plot and dread to think how I would manage with a large carrier basket or a trailer full of crops, gardening equipment or products and / or a supermarket shop.

I average three or four visits a week to my allotment from April to October; two or three per week in March and November, and at least once a week December to February.

I reckon, having looked at a couple of local car clubs, this would cost well over £3,000 per year, which is probably a lot more than I pay for my car in terms of insurance, maintenance, and fuel.

More importantly, with a car club you have to know when you want to go, and how long for, as you have to reserve the car in advance for a predetermined length of time (or a whole day).

It is impossible to know in advance when I will want or need to visit my allotment. This is governed partly by the weather but also because I might have got everything I needed done the day before, or I’m too tired, or my plans change at the last minute, and so on.

There is no way I will ever get groceries delivered, either. I want to do my shopping in person, to see and hold things, even heavy items. I did try it a few years ago when I broke my leg but was extremely unhappy with the whole process.

I feel I contribute my share to “saving the planet” by keeping everything until it falls apart or stops working. I’m not a heavy consumer and rarely shop online. I have one PC, no other devices. My mobile phone is for emergencies only.

I drive about 2,000 miles a year, mainly to the allotment. As I said in my previous letter (Anti-car? Join me on the allotment, August 17), I often combine that with visits to the garden centre and / or Waitrose.

We all have to live our lives in a way we think is right. It would be interesting to know what my carbon emissions are compared with those of the average individual.

MARCIA MacLEOD, NW6