Driving - one of the few luxuries left during the war

Driving a car - what is it? Is it a routine activity, a burden, or a pleasure? I think it depends on your perception.

Once upon a time in my life, I understood that driving is one of my favorite activities and it is something you can do for a long time. Two years ago I started to travel more by car in Ukraine. It was in covid times and it was complicated to drive abroad but in Ukraine, in 2 years I drove all directions: west, south, east, and north and in 2 years I drove more than 100 000 kilometres. That's easy to understand as I remember the numbers on my car counter. Being an entrepreneur and freelancer in the crypto industry also helped - as I didn't need to stick to a particular location of the office. I enjoy staying in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, the city which I know so well, but after traveling I like to return to this amazing city.

During the full-scale war with russian federation I was happy to do a lot of useful driving, and I even thought to write a book "War from a car". I'm still hesitating, as in contrast to many others, real heroes, I didn't do anything heroic. Yes, I was also risking a life, maybe more than average people. But still, it's not the same. However, if I will write, I might focus on locations, on the entourage of frontline cities and places, on people whom I was lucky to meet, and on their thoughts and personalities.

War changed a lot of things. The economic life returned to Kyiv. It started returning when russian troops were running away from the region. Today I noticed that in the business part of Podil region there is the same problem with finding a parking lot as it used to be a year ago. But it's not the same as before. The city is full of the noise of generators, dark streets are especially depressing when it's such a dark period of the year and it's getting colder and colder. The closer time comes to the curfew - the more lonely streets are in the center and in the suburbs.

Probably because of the cold weather - there are more cars on the roads so there are traffic jams. But many people abandoned driving because of the economical cost of fuel and maintaining a car. "I need $500 to change the tires to winter so I'm thinking maybe I won't drive till spring" - my friend says. The costs for everything auto-related are also increased, as well there is a shortage of some particular car spare parts. The fuel stations also face the fall of demand, but now at least temporarily it's holding with additional demand for the fuel for electro-generators. The fuel stations try to sell more coffee, food, supplies, and even books. That's always so cool to see new books there, even knowing that people rarely buy them.

Despite the economic problems, driving a car is something that I'm not willing to give up. Yes, I started to drive less in some cases - sometimes I prefer to walk or just to think if I need to drive there, or to plan the routes more efficiently. Giving a ride to friends was something that I did very often and I didn't even pay attention to how much I spent on fuel. Now I understand that fuel is one of the biggest expenses which I have monthly. Especially, when I drive long distances.

The thought to use trains for longer distances came to my mind. But not yet. Driving is the biggest luxury and maybe the only luxury which I still have...