Saturday, December 3, 2016

A new normal

It's been a week since I've been officially carless. It definitely takes some getting used to. The biggest thing is getting to and from the office.

While I can work from home, I don't want to do it permanently. If I don't get out of the house now and again, I start to go a little crazy.

Plus... someone has decided to finally be a lap cat...
...just not at the ideal time. In that picture, the lap top is balanced on my right leg, and my left leg is stretched out so he has something to snuggle against. And don't think I'm allowed to work at the desk when he's decided it's snuggle time.

So.... a couple times a week, Dave is dropping me off at the office (it's not too far out of his own path to work), but since he generally works until 9 pm or so, I'm taking transit home.

Since the office is 60 km (37 mi) and six towns/cities away, and our region doesn't exactly have the best transit system, it's a bit of an under taking. In theory, it should work like this:

I take the free shuttle from the office to the local GO station (GO is the regional transit system from all outlying cities/towns into Toronto), I catch the train and take it from Toronto, through Mississauga, Oakville and get off in Burlington. From there I get on a GO bus, and ride that into Hamilton. From the Hamilton GO station, I catch an express city bus (called the Bee Line) and ride that almost to my doorstep. The whole thing should take about 2.5 hours (like I said, It's not the best transit system).

Wednesday of this week was the first time I gave it a whirl... but it didn't exactly go to plan...right from the get go. The free shuttle was 12 minutes late. Which meant I missed my train. Normally the trains run every 15 minutes, but the station closest to work doesn't get full service.... so not only did I have to wait half an hour for the next train.... but that train was only going to Oakville. So in Oakville, I had to wait 10 more minutes, catch another train, and ride that to Burlington. Of course, all this waiting, meant that I was running well behind schedule, and when I finally got into Hamilton, the Bee Line was no longer running.. so that mean instead of one quick city bus, I had to take two slower ones.

In the end... that 2.5 hour trip morphed into 3.25. But it's okay....
I'm a knitter!

Hopefully Monday will be better... if not, expect to see a completed pair of socks soon!

5 comments:

Araignee said...

Oh, good golly what a nightmare for you. You are being so brave about the super inconvenience of it all. I'd be blubbing like a big baby.

Anonymous said...

That is definitely making lemons into lemonade!

The mitts look great!

Delighted Hands said...

Yeah, this was what it was like when I first started work-public transit is so frustrating UNLESS you have your knitting with you!!!! Hope it works out better next time.

kathy b said...

Hugs to you and you'll need all your winter wools to keep you warm. I admire your efforts. I love that you will embrace it with knit time! I bet you will meet someone fun while you are knitting who also knits!

Cat Lover said...

Oh my, that is a long commute! Our little town has no public transit so you have to have a car here.
Your mitts look lovely.