Traffic, holidays and entertaining kids

Right.

So it feels like a Monday because of the public holiday yesterday and the full inbox yet again. Grrr.

But the traffic was even better than a Tuesday (the best traffic day - I have STATS to prove it) which totally makes it worth it.

I believe in indulging my little idiosyncrasies so whenever I drive myself to work, I write down my start time and my end time. And that's how I know Tuesdays are, in fact, the best traffic days.

Fridays are hands-down the worst days followed closely by Mondays.

Who else likes Jelly Babies?

I think I'm finally getting my head in gear with this holiday thing.

It's been hard for me to get used to forking out our hard-earned money for a less than stellar experience just because you have to holiday at a specific time of year due to school holidays.

Like with the Drakensberg holiday in Dec, it was perfectly acceptable because of what we paid (50%). If we'd paid full price, I would have been very annoyed.

But my head is slowly catching up and as someone (Cat?) said on an earlier holiday post, there are places that aren't "as bad". This is true - if we go to places marked as holiday resorts with kids' programmes, then chances are I will hate it because.... too many people and too much noise...



Sabie was lovely - yes, we had to "entertain" the kids ourselves but I've found they're actually perfectly capable of entertaining themselves. This time we only took ONE set of fancy (soft) crayons, two exercise books (R3 at PnP) and they actually used those books. We also took 3 board games - Ludo, Rummy and Bingo - and two DVDs and that was enough. We always take a few real books and a kids' Bible. Less is more!

Which is the best traffic day for you?
When are you next taking leave?

PS Terisha, I know I need to start blogging the Sabie pics. I am still not finished but I've done 4 of the 5 days :).
PPS This post is for Mrs FF who told me today she misses me blogging daily :)

Traffic personalities - part 1

D has his preferred way to drive to work, and of course, I have mine.


Generally speaking, I'm the type who:

• doesn't mind driving an extra 2 km if the driving is smooth sailing
• doesn't like zigzagging around the suburbs
• doesn't mind a bit of traffic if it's downhill (like down Glenhove)
• hates "begging" to be let into the traffic flow (I'll happily wait a longer time for a traffic light rather than push my way in)

 
 Exhibit A

for your viewing pleasure, carrrrrrrrssssss everywhere!

 Exhibit B

and here's where you depend on someone to be kind and let you turn left into the traffic flow. Granted the cars turning right (red one straight ahead) have it worse, so there is that

On the days when I travel by myself, I occasionally try a new little bit here and there. I don't like change to my routes if they work, so this is only if it's a complete disaster somewhere.

One day I tried D's way (this one above) and I determined that it was the first and last. I hate feeling like I have to beg to be let in...

I'll take my chances crossing a busy road with no traffic light rather than this craziness.

I worked in the previous location for 14 years and after a few weeks of finding the best way at the best time (turn left and go one way except if after dark then rather turn right. Slightly longer but probably safer), I drove the same way to work all the time. No, it's not boring for me - it's comforting!

Except when I joined that new team and had to be at work at the crack of dawn - well then, all ways were horrible and I tried different routes all the time just in case there was a magic way that was better than any other (there wasn't).

Tell me about your traffic personality.

PS next time I'm going to talk about what happens when I get lost (hint - it's not a pretty sight)

So let's talk more about this commute

taken from our 3rd floor window

D has changed from being a total rule-follower into this weird person who actually leaves work early.

I have always kept my own hours. Basically, I always just work til I'm done. Most days that is far longer than what is "required" but Fridays, in my view, are meant for 4 pm departure times.

I think this may be due to having worked flextime for 19 of my 20 years, and technically the 20th year was also flextime except those teammates were super "structured".

I think all Jhb drivers feel a bit smug when the traffic is at a standstill in the opposite direction

I asked D today on the way home what's got into him because I get these emails from him at 3.45 ish asking what time I want to leave, and today I said, "RIGHT NOW" because I worked really well in the morning and was super, super productive. And I was out of there at about 4.15.

He says he feels bad having me wait, and I said I don't feel at all bad that you feel that way :)

on the way to work

As we were driving, I said, "how do people do a one-hour commute every day?" and he said, "well, remember most people are not like you - some of us LIKE time to ourselves in the car".

!!!

So do you like alone time in the car like D?


I keep thinking, "there's SOOOOO much more I could be doing if I were somewhere", so much so that I whatsapped Nanny S from the car to tell the kids we were going for a walk when I got home.

First they told me they wanted to stay home and so I bribed them with yoghurt pops (I will write another post on those pops) and that got them out of their laziness.

jacaranda bloom

These days I "amuse" myself in the traffic (when I'm not driving myself obviously) by taking photos of interesting things.

I have a list of about 4 places already that I want to go back to with the kids to take pics!



We've discovered that the time we leave work doesn't make a bit of difference if it's anytime between 4 and 5:15 - it still takes about an hour to get home.

Now I know why all my colleagues fly out of there anytime from 3 - 3:30.

Granted, D and I now play a little game (all my idea to make life more exciting) to set personal best times to get home. Our fastest time is 39 minutes. Today's was 42 minutes. Our longest was 54 minutes.

How do our commute times compare with yours?

PS one of my pet peeves is when I ask people this question and they say, "oh, when there's no traffic it takes me 15 minutes. And I say, "well, when is there no traffic?" Um, never? You're always travelling to and from work in traffic. Unless it's the once every 6 months when you go to the dentist and you go in to work at 10 am!

Thoughts on the traffic and how denial is a good thing

Well, I've been working at New Company (NC) for three weeks now and things are still good.

So NC is only about 8 km further than old company but the traffic is much worse.

If you read this post on the traffic, you may be wondering how on earth it is that I'm actually calm...

Well there's a back story.

When I was first approached about this job, I thought definitely not but I sent through my CV anyway since the job looked interesting, at least on paper.

I suspended all judgement til after I'd met them (first interview) and then I prayed a strange prayer, "God, if this is from you, then open my mind to the TRAFFIC but if it's not from you, shut it all down super quickly".

Boom, boom, boom. I'm now working here.

I decided to use my fabulous denial skills so I'm not thinking about the traffic at all while I wait for my new neural pathways to kick in.

In other words, I'm creating new traffic habits that my brain and body are getting used to. I mean, the other morning I didn't even stress in the traffic.

BIG news for me!

We've had bad traffic once (Praise the Lord!) but the rest of the time it's been (honestly) fine.

We leave home at 7:30 ish (kids!), drop kids and then hit the roads. And I'm there latest 8:20 except for that one day which was an 8:45 day.

I'm also employing some other tactics to help me, like this:

My previous commute was 25 - 30 minutes so I now tell myself that I can't even THINK about complaining for the first 30 minutes. And then it's the not-too-bad part for the last 10 - 15 minutes :)

So all my mental tomfoolery is working for the moment.

I still haven't driven in the rain yet so I might have to come back and do a rebuttal then!

Do you play mind games in the traffic?

Let's talk about traffic!

Let's talk about the traffic.

I was driving home this afternoon and it took me 33 minutes to get from the mall to my house.

33 minutes!!!!!!!!!

Please bear in mind that I left at 3:30 ish, there were parking problems (the machine was swallowing my money so I had to go to centre management. The manager there asked the security guard to check the machine to see if it had, in fact, swallowed my money, so I told her, "I'm not very happy that you're accusing me of lying for R9!" She looked taken aback and told the other girl to just let me out. Hell!) but I got out of there at 3:40.

So here's what I was thinking in the traffic.

1. I can't believe there's traffic this early!!!! What happened to 4:30 ish?

2. How is it that other people find it okay to sit in this crazy traffic day after day? Is there something wrong with me? I can't BEAR it!

Is it that I like to be productive too much? I was about half way home and I was thinking OH MY WORD, still so far to go.

First job - I took a bus to work.

Second job - I still took a bus to work. I lived on the bus route and my work was also on the bus route. So I literally walked 2 minutes in the morning and the bus dropped me at my building. Afternoons were the same story (even more buses than in the mornting).

Actual commute 20 - 25 minutes but I read on the bus so I was happy as Larry :)

I did that happily for 5 years and then got my licence when I wanted a new job because I realised I didn't want to be stuck choosing a company on the bus route again!



Third job - I had the car and the licence but the company was 15 minutes away, maybe 20 in severe traffic :)

Happy for five years.

Fourth Job - Secret Company was an HOUR away (I'd interviewed at another building) and I told them I didn't want their job. No kidding. The recruitment agent begged me to reconsider and said the magic words... "they're moving to ______ in two months". It turned out to be 3 months but still. I endured that long commute for 3 months. Torture!

This business of leaving 5 minutes later and being 20 minutes late is for the birds.

I was happy, happy, happy when they moved and I then had a 20 - 25 minute commute again for the next 9 years.

And now I've started to think about driving again as I verrrrrrry slowly dip my toes onto the job websites.

Do I just rule out everything more than 30 minutes away? I WANT TO!

But seriously people who travel far every day, help me to readjust my attitude! How do you make it okay in your head?

I'm just not sure thousands of rands is worth sitting in the traffic :) :)

And then 3, it's quite sad when it THRILLS me if I let someone into the flow of traffic (which doesn't happen in CT!) and they actually thank me. I am delighted!

Tell me your traffic stories!