Carpool Conversation

It's been a big week which partially explains why I've been thin on the posts. Early January means a lot of things. Snow, cold temperatures, people talking about skiing, others talking about the Caribbean, company's engaged in Strategic planning activities, viruses, ear infections and street parking becoming scarce. The crunch on street parking and access on the street impacts me specifically because I carpool. Which is to say that I am courteously retrieved every morning from my front door by one of two people. Ramona or Stephen (pictured here together). Carpooling reminds me first and foremost of Fred and Barney of the Flintstones. It seems like such a happy, community activity and since I work for a company with a strong environmental identity and green policies, we are rewarded with premium parking for commuting together and doing our part. I am the advantaged party here. Stephen and Ramona do the driving. Because Stephen has been away this week and he's the usual ride, I've had a chance to reflect on the differences in the two experiences. With Stephen: He arrives precisely at 8:20am. In the winter he's highly annoyed if I don't come out right away because he will have to circle the block as there is nowhere to stop. (street parking/snow removal effect). I do most of the talking. He makes up things that he did the night before because it annoys him that I always ask. I bring a ceramic, lidless coffee cup that I attempt to leave in his car every night and if I do, he throws it out the window as he drives away. We talk a little bit about work but mostly we listen to the CBC until The Current comes on, then we are so irritated with the intro that we quickly switch and if we time it just right we get over to Virgin Radio's Billie's biz and hear the celebrity gossip that we both already seem to know about. He hates Eglinton Avenue. He swears at drivers and calls them names. We see some characters along the way that we have named(Crazy Legs and The Twins) to amuse ourselves and we arrive at the office mostly in a good mood ready to start the day.

With Ramona: She has two kids and a longer morning ritual so the timing is a bit looser. She calls me when she's "around the corner". She has heated seats. Mmmmm. She doesn't have a radio. We both bring ceramic, lidless cups that eventually accumulate in the back of her car so that every few days there is a symphony of clanging when you go around a corner. This annoys her. She hates Eglinton Avenue. We talk about the summer and crafts and work and projects and the blog and we arrive at work delighted to be so close to the front door. Tomorrow she'll be glad to go back to her silent morning drive and I'll miss her a little while I'm listening to Stephen tell me about his business trip to Montreal and how he didn't speak a word of English while he was there and that he bumped into Justin Trudeau who asked him where he got his hat.