Well that was a quick week. One down, many to go and so far it’s all good. I’m beginning to remember names, suss out the office culture (much quieter than my last place, which is good and bad in about equal measures) and I think I’ve got all the shortcuts on my commute sussed out.
There is one problem though, guilt.
You see I’ve gone from a train user to a car user (and a single person in a car to boot) in one fell swoop. Granted I’m driving a small diesel and public transport just isn’t an option, the quickest journey I could find involved 2 buses, 2 trains and takes around 3 hours for one leg of the journey. Sod that.
Car it is then, pumping out noxious fumes left, right and centre (not as many as most though, it’s almost in the lowest emissions category). I’m very conscious of it, and with that in my head I’m trying to cut down on my consumption elsewhere, turning lights off, not leaving the computer on all the time, and so on. Every little helps, hopefully.
Stormy weather
The gales on Thursday morning finally did for the broken fence panel, removing it from it’s fixings completely. It’s staying down for now which doesn’t look great but it’ll just have to wait as it’s probably going to be fairly expensive to fix. It never blows but it gusts.
Still, we’ve got a nice quiet weekend planned. We’re off to Cameron House Lodges to stay over on Saturday night, and we’re taking some friends with us. Will be nice to show them our ‘home turf’ (sort of).
I’ve got a Joanna Newsom concert on Sunday night, which features a symphonic orchestra so should be pretty fab, and if I get any free time I’ll continue tinkering here. I’m particularly perturbed by the “you don’t have permission to do that” messages, as well as the “connection to server reset” error which is really annoying. Not sure how to fix it, and Google-fu is failing me. So if anyone has any suggestions, let me know.
Let’s see…. Tom went to his childminder today. The dustmen came. We have to go to work tomorrow. Nope, not Friday, definitely seems to be Thursday here.
Oh yes, the other clue – your post is dated Thirsday 11 January. I knew there was something else that reminded me that it is Thursday.
Bah. Typo. Just when I was being a smartarse.
Joanna Newsom tickets. Nice. A recent musical discovery, and I’m hugely envious that you’ve tickets: They’re completely sold out now, and ebay tickets are going for a nice premium. Enjoy!
Serves me right for rushing, this was SUPPOSED to be posted tomorrow! DOH.
oh well.
Richard – got the tickets the minute they announced them, really looking forward to it.
Joanna Newsom – recent discovery for me as well. Went looking to find who did the “Svetlana sucks lemons” thing in the Orange ad at the cinema, found out, started listening to more of her stuff. Very good, enjoy!
Do any of these commuting shortcuts bypass the Kingston Bridge? If so, spill the beans, because every other route I take is pretty much just as congested.
I too am a single person car user, also a small diesel. And my recent request from DVLA to pay them to keep my car on the road has made me feel that my car must actually be helping the environment because a year’s road tax cost me marginally more than a full tank of diesel. Result!
Is there anyone you can car-share with?
If it’s any consolation, I’ve stopped driving to work, so perhaps we cancel each other out!
Bryan, I’m travelling from Hamilton to Inchinnan. I take the A726, onto the M77 and then down through Paisley. No where NEAR the Kingston Car Park.
Isn’t public transport great?
Welcome to my world.
Well… nearly – nearest bus stop is 2 miles away, 2 buses a day into Local Big Town. And this is about 45 miles as the crow flies from the centre of London…
Enjoy your weekend activities.
The Kingston Bridge, the only free car-park in Glasgow. That level of irony alone surely justifies the place getting another shot at being the European Capital of Culture.
“..and the award for open air artistic installation based on a literary or rhetorical device goes to, Glasgow”.
Cue applause.
Come 5pm on Friday it’ll be full.
On the environmental issue I’ve quit my job and have therefore taken my decrepit petrol engined Volvo off the road, this means the rest of you can “go nuts” and hammer in a few more miles from my allowance.
I share your commuting regrets. I’ve recently gone from a daily 3-mile round trip on foot, to a 74-mile round trip by car. That’s quite an increase to my carbon footprint – and a substantial increase in journey times too. Luckily, I should be able to reduce the daily total to 43 miles in the near future, but it’s still a lot. And I don’t particularly enjoy driving anyway.
Be a hippy and cycle. Or run. OR get an electric car. Sinclair C5 anyone?
My only real contribution to being “green” is not owning or using a car. It does make supermarket shopping a bit tricky though.
Man I feel like a high bayies pupil wen I glance through your blog…it’s a wonder you have any free time to work and have Louise. Anyway, I feel you may like these lyrics.
My grnndparents were Scots-Irish.
I’ll have another read and look through as there seems quite a lot.
I don’t mind the quiet
Or the lonely nights
I don’t miss the funky attitudes
And I don’t miss the fights
I lie on the couch ’till suppertime
And hunker down and read the Post
And that’s when I remember the things I miss the most:
The talk
The sex
Somebody to trust
The Audi TT
The house on the Vineyard
The house on the gulf coast
These are the things I miss the most
I kinda like frying up
My sad cuisine
Gettin’ in bed and curling up with a girlie magazine
But sometimes in the corner of my eye
I see that adorable ghost
And then ba-boom I remember the things I miss the most
The talk
The sex
Somebody to trust
The comfy Eames chair
The good copper pans
The ’54 Strat
These are the things I miss the most
I had a little birdy friend
By morning she was gone
Birdy good-bye
Birdy bye-bye
I’m learning how to meditate
So far so good
I’m building the Andrea Doria out of balsa wood
The days really don’t last forever
But it’s getting pretty damn close
And that’s when I remember the things I miss the most:
The talk
The sex
Somebody to trust
The Audi TT
The house on the Vineyard
The house on the gulf coast
These are the things I miss the most
I’m with Timbo, that is doable on the bike. Bout 40km one way? Get a really decent bike, be prepared for it to take a while the first few weeks, but find the right route… alternatively, part train and then bike.
Every decent firm MUST have showers in the building somewhere. If not, you’d be amazed how showers can be found.
Cycling is the way, I assure you.
Take a while?! It’d take me about 2 hours, probably more.
Even if I took trains to Paisley, it’d still take me about 2.5 hours, so, at what point does having a life outweight the impact on the environment?
weeeell, when I was in Luxembourg I was living outside the city and cycling to work was the only option. It started off taking about 90 mins one way (Luxembourg is pretty hilly) through woods and involved me dismounting at some of the steeper inclines. But a few weeks later I had it down to about 45 mins on a good day (a couple of really nice hills with those speed things so you know how fast you are going – could hit 50km/p/h at times. Did sort of worry about coming off at that speed with just the shorts and tshirt on to protect me…) with no dismounting. Had to get up early in the morning and it was pitch dark at night. Had to have the bike working like a dream. It was beautiful. I loved it. It was a great journey, even in the wet, with freezing fog and pitch darkness through a wood I would choose it over going by car. I just happen to love cycling and thereby and unintentionally help the environment and I was having a life, I assure you. Felt fitter, out and about in nature, and work is a much better thing after a cycle ride and a shower, you feel ace. But I do love my bike. *sigh* I spent an hour every Saturday making sure it was in great nick for the coming week – after about a month it was running like it had never run before… great days…
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