A lot of people who live in the city decide that owning a car is just not worth their time. These people must be patient, this makes them reliable on public transportation like the bus and the metro, things like bike share and zip car to get around. OH and cabbies, I despise cabbies (yup in general, they are actually really bad drivers). I am not patient; I have not ridden the metro in a long, long time. First off it’s expensive and the stations are hot during the summer. The metro also has a lot of draw backs, when I used to work in NW I would have to walk to the metro station which would take 10 to 15 minutes. I would then have to wait for the train which would take 5 to 10 minutes, I would ride three stops (10 minutes) and then I would have to walk to my office (10 minutes). On a good day that would be a 35 to 45 minute commute. The problem with that is that often times it wasn’t a good day. Maybe when I get there I’ve missed the train and after waiting 10 minutes the next one arrive and is FULL. Now I have to wait another 10 minutes. Then you get on the train and it’s slow, waiting from station to station because the timing is slightly off, add another 10 minutes. Factor in the fact that it’s body to body on the actual train, the guy next to you didn’t shower and you can smell his pits because it’s a 100 degrees out and both of you walked yourself to the point of sweating just to arrive at a non-a/c’d station which you waited in for 20 minutes and now you see why I don’t take the metro.
So on to what I like, driving, specifically to the new place I work, which is out of the city. My commute, which is a reverse commute, takes me….wait for it…. 24 minutes each way. If you live in a city you understand how rare this is. When I tell others in the DMV how long my commute is I can see them salivating. You’re lucky if your commute is anything under 45 minutes here. Under half an hour and you can see people envisioning what they would do with all that excess time if they could calmly drive to and from work, at a reasonable hour, in 24 minutes. I am not going to lie to you, it’s nice. I enjoy it. It’s not stop and go; I don’t have to leave my house at 4 am to do it. Life is good.
The other thing I LOVE about the city, which most people don’t, is street parking. There is this little game I play every time I come home as I come up the street called “Am I a Winner?”. About two blocks from my house I start envisioning if there will be a parking space near my home. Is it going to be on the same side of the street as my house? Maybe just maybe, if I’m lucky and I have a car load of groceries it will be right in front of my house. As I round the corner onto my street it’s the equivalent of doing jazz hands while screaming “TA DA” as I scope it out. If there is a spot, and if it’s the dream spot I literally think to myself “WINNER!” every single time I pull in. I’m a winner about 90% of the time. It’s the simple things you know.
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