Veer Exhaustion

Ich Ach Och

I dislike driving in Melbourne. Dislike may be too mild a word actually. How about detest? Better.

There are no direct turns in Melbourne it would seem. Every intersection is either a veer left or a veer right or a veer to the second left or a veer to the second right! Where did all the turns go??

And of course there's the trams, and the way your tires get stuck in the tracks and the way you get stuck behind the tram 'cause there just isn't enough room to get around them. And the hook turns they engender...

And then there's the bloody Islands! Ok, so a normal dividing island, between two lanes of traffic going in opposite directions, is perfectly acceptable. But here they have three - one in the middle and one each dividing lanes oftraffic going in the SAME direction. And if you're not in the right part of the road, the right 'right' or 'left' road, you can't veer in the direction you need to go.

So, no. I really don't like driving in Melbourne.

Oh, and yes, there's peak three and a half hours here too. Very like Sydney in that respect. Really Not Fun.

I drove yesterday by accident (my train got cancelled) and today by design (going to Bendigo this evening). Yesterday, it took me 1.5 hrs to get in and 2 hrs to get home. Today, as I left half and hour earlier (6.40), it only took 1hr 10m, but I was still in 'Peak'. I wonder how long it would take me to drive with no traffic - and if I actually want to know. I'm sure I don't actually. It'd just be too frustrating.

So, although I thought it was a drag taking public transport on my 2hr - 1 way transit, now I don't mind so much. And the math is really simple too: 1 tank of petrol a week @ $90 versus 1 monthly train ticket @ $40 / wk. A no brain-er. Especially considering the wear and tear on my nerves that driving inflicts, the fact that I can read or write on the train if I wish, as well as the fact that the time difference is negligible.

Now I'm positively looking forward to my training time next week.