Observations on the working world

It’s been a while since I last wrote a blog. (Have you missed me? What do you mean, you didn’t notice I was gone?) 

Now that I am what is called “working” after about a year of what is commonly called “not working”, I find that I don’t have quite as much desire to blog as I used to. Maybe that has something to do with the fact that I now have to share my day with something called an “employer”, specifically Metro Edmonton.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m thrilled to be back at work, and it’s so far, so good. But I must admit to being a bit nostalgic (nostalgia comes much faster these days) for the good old days when I had nothing to do but keep busy during waking hours. Now I have to be in specific places and specific times, instead of no particular place at no particular time. So you see my dilemma – I like being back at work, but miss my old life, such as it was.

Now that I’ve been back at work for a week, I have a few observations about downtown, where Metro Edmonton has its offices. I’m glad it’s downtown; while it’s a bit of a hike driving-wise from where I live, it’s good to be in the heart of the city.

But you know what’s NOT good? 

First, the drive. I need a car for work, so I can’t ETS it. But I wish I could. When I worked for SEE and they had a downtown office, I took a combination of the bus and LRT. It was actually pretty good. Fast, efficient, pretty much worry free. Now I have to slog my way through traffic which, depending on the time of day, varies between sluggish to inert. 

Two parts of the drive really irk me. One is the condition of 159 Street, which sees a tremendous amount of traffic. It’s an atrocity, and it has been for years. The city seems to be quite content just to patch it up year after year instead of rebuilding it. I fully expect that one day, the whole thing will quite literally dissolve in a puff of asphalt dust. Please, city of Edmonton, fix that road.

Second, let me spew about the fine people at Impark, the monolithic parking near-monopoly. I park is a lot in a slightly less desirable section of downtown (cheaper, and there’s always space) that is so potholed that I saw one of those new Fiats disappear down one of the holes. One the plus side, it did fill the hole, which is more than Impark ever does. Seriously, Impark. You’re making millions of dollars with empty lots. How hard would it be to send a dump truck full of gravel to fill in the holes? I know it would cut into your colossal profit margins, but don’t your customers deserve at least that much respect?

Otherwise, it’s good to be working and working downtown. The city seems to be changing every day, and it’s fun to watch it evolve. (By the way, if any of my “regular readers” have good story ideas for me, pass them along.)