I’ve been back to work in the office for two months now, and although it hasn’t been entirely unpleasant (with the exception of the near daily fingernail clipping and almost constant tea slurping in the cubicle behind me), I’ve decided that I would be much happier working back at home. I spoke to the boss man about it last week and although I’m convinced he’s pegged me as one of the office crazies, he’s agreed to allow me to return to that arrangement beginning this coming Monday. The lawyerly-looking books have begun their takeover of the office upstairs.
I first started working from home the spring after Graham and I moved in together. I had been living downtown in Toronto up until then, and my commute at that time was about 25-30 minutes up the Don Valley Parking Lot. When I moved out to suburbia, that commute turned into 50 minutes of wanting to pull all of my hair out on the 401. My company allows us to work flex hours, which means I can leave our house at about 8:40 am in time to arrive for 9:30, and then my work day ends at 5:50 pm. Not 5:45 or 6:00, but 5:50. The traffic is definitely better an hour later than the time most people are driving to work, but it still means I’m spending an hour and a half to two hours in the car. I’d much rather spend that time in my garden or writing on this website or cleaning the dust from the ceiling fan. Plus, there’s the added bonus that I won’t have to buy as much diesel and! and! I can feel better about pumping less carbon into the world.
Good for you!
I have to drive 35 minutes to work, and 45 to 50 minutes (on a good day) to get home. If I don’t get out the door before 7:20am, that goes up to 40 or 50 minutes. Don’t even ask what happens if I leave after 8am!! If I had the option of staying home to work, I’d take it in a heartbeat. My tomatoes would appreciate it greatly, as would the big pile of laundry that I tripped over this morning.
I also drive on diesel because it gives me the opportunity to use biodiesel made from waste oil (when I can get it), but I can’t help feeling guilty on smog days… the diesel is better as far as greenhouse gasses go, but we’re more guilty for those NOx guys that cause the smog.
~ Mel ~
Did you make that video while you were driving?!
Mel: I haven’t tried the biodiesel before. Is it cheap?
Ainse: I just set the camera on the dashboard and pressed the button. I didn’t actually have to handle the camera while it filmed.
There’s apparently a biodiesel station at Queen and Pape, and it may be the only one in the city (although there may be something out your way too). Its prices are usually slightly higher than pump prices because they use “virgin” (for lack of a better word) oil that comes straight from soy or rapeseed or whatever, and has never been used for anything else.
I get my biodiesel from a place in Owen Sound that uses spent frier grease from a fry factory and margarine from a margarine factory that hasn’t been processed properly (most often it has gone off-temperature). It is usually a few cents below pump-price (right now they’re selling for $.899 for 100% biodiesel). I pick it up when I’m at my parents’ place, which is up in that direction. The same company has pumps in Barrie and will be opening soon in Southampton, and they’ll deliver 210L drums to your house – not sure if they’d deliver this far though. I fill my car, plus my two 20L jerry cans. Their website is crappy, but here it is: http://www.greatfish.ca (they’re also a fish-processing company).
Let me know if you want any more info, because I could probably go on about this for HOURS!
65 minutes to get to work this morning (accident on the QEW)… I really need to find a job downtown!