18 minutes...
Today, I managed to get to work in 18 minutes. It would be less, but for this building, the Decatur Depot. When I get to this building (which is admittedly adorable) the road turns into a one-way and I get lost trying to find my way. But today I shaved off 3 minutes by cutting down a little side street.
This new thing, the "commute" is an interesting addition to my life. I know a lot of ATL folks despise their drives, because they live OTP (outside the perimeter) and get stuck in massive traffic on the interstate and the beltway...
But my "commute" is a little urban cruise through diverse 'hoods, past new sights (for me) and I love it! I like having 20 minutes in the morning with NPR and coffee . I love trying to find landmarks for myself. I love waking up slowly, without having to talk to anyone.
I drive through my neighborhood, down my street and past the lake with no name, turn left on Candler and then I tool through East Lake, where the houses get bigger and fancier. There are increasing numbers of potted plants in each block.
Then-- just when you think the potted plants are at their utmost possible utmost, you enter Decatur, and the speed bumps and adorable cafe's take over for the plants. Once you get through Decatur, you enter Druid Hills (Jessica Tandy's 'hood from Driving Miss Daisy), where the mommies-with-babies-in-expensive-strollers-brigade is constantly vigilant.
Then you get to Emory, and work.
"Commute" is the word for the day.
3 Comments:
Commutes can be great. The LA Times did a survey a while back, and found out that most Angelenoes wouldn't change their commute times if they could. It's time to decompress, time to be alone, to think, to focus, to wake up, to settle down, to drink coffee, check voicemail, return calls, listen to audio books or NPR or good music.
Whenever I introduce new folks to LA culture, I tell them about the Zen and the Art of Los Angeles Traffic: the traffic won't go away, so don't fight it. Accept the traffic; move with the traffic. Harbor no ill will towards other drivers.
Yes: it's important to drive less, take more public transportation, carpool, and generally tread lighter on this planet. But in cities like LA and Atlanta and Houston, where traffic is simply inevitable, you have to learn to cope somehow.
And 18 minutes? That's nuthin. Small potatoes. Not even enough time to hear a full news cycle on Morning Edition. Enjoy it!
One of the things I miss most about being a "working" musician is the drive time between gigs. It wasn't often solitary time (what with being surrounded by any number of sweaty guys in a van), but there was definately something to the fact that you were driving *somewhere*, listening to cds or NPR, or just watching the world whizz by the windows. Now that I've entered "the workin' life", I miss that travel time. And I don't even get a commute, per se- My drive time is less than 7 minutes, even if I have to stop for kids crossing the street to get to the school by the highway. That's 1/3 of an Morning Edition newscycle, and hardly enough time to gulp down coffee and a kruller.
But you're right, there is something meditative about the drive from home to work, and work to home. Like that scene in "Smoke" where Augie shows Paul the pictures he's taken on the same corner at the same time for years and years- if you slow down and really look, you'll notice the minute changes as they happen every day. For me, it's the weeds in the lot on the corner of Victoria and Selby- they're starting to flower now, and there's something amazing about watching their life cycle play out as I drive by.
That's it. Coffee, NPR, Italian restaraunts with Sinatra on the juke, Civil War battlefields. Sign me up.
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