Time thief

Time thief

This is yet another one of the weeks when I’m doing the thing. The thing runs from 9:00 to 17:30 which is fine. That’s like a working day. It’s the extra four, five or six hours to be tackled in the evening that that’s the killer. It devours time. The dishes would be piling up if there were any cooking done. The newspapers do pile up. The intention is always to read them at the weekend. But that never happens and they end up being fed to the recycle bin. Blogs don’t get read despite WebMon flashing at me pleadingly.

It takes up the whole week. Worse still, the thoughts of what’s to be faced in May, makes my hole weak. Age has a lot to do with it. You can’t teach an old mouse new clicks. Well you can, but it takes much longer.

I’m not looking for sympathy. Far from it. I took this on because it’s something I’ve always wanted to do and I’m loving ~~every minute~~ most of it. Masochistic tendencies? This is simply an apology to my readers for blowing hot and cold - not posting regularly and not reading your posts. To both of you - I’m sorry.

Now, can either of you tell me why people with tanks on the right, insist on queuing on the left of petrol pumps? Have they not noticed those pipes are longer than NTL’s call queue and will stretch right around even the biggest car?

5 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

Never mind, blogging will be there when you get back. Good luck with the thing.

I’m guilty of doing the wrong side petrol tank thing - if the garage is full and I’m in a hurry, and that’s the only space left, I’ll sometimes take it. I got caught out in one petrol station that didn’t have an extendable pipe - it was fixed and was only about eight feet long, so I just barely got it in. I looked like a prize gobshite trying to wedge it in.

1. kav on March 6th, 2007 at 8:55 am
I’m pretty sure that despite noticing, they don’t really believe, and don’t want to risk looking like Kav.

Back in the dark days when I drove I could never keep track anyway, so I’d pull into a parking spot, get out, have a look for my tank, get back in, mutter repeatedly something like, debit on the right hand side, credit on the left, and eventually when opportunity presented itself, drive over to a pump hoping I wasn’t going to end up looking like Kav. And when even then I was wrong side around, no messing with the legth of pipes for me, no it was back to the parking spot for a new plan.

2. Eolaí gan Fhéile on March 7th, 2007 at 8:16 pm
Having just bought a car and being somewhat unfamiliar with things like where the fuel tank is, I’ve ended up in that wrong-side situation quite by accident. I was in the middle of directing my husband to move the car when an auld fella came over and showed me that the hoses do, in fact, stretch around to the other side of the car.

3. Ann on March 7th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
Had me going there for a while, Kav. I thought you were on about your post from Feb 21 again.

Eolaí. I hate having a car. Hate it! I only use it when I really have to. Folks slag me for walking the 4km round trip for the morning paper. Going from A to B is possible here with public transport. But a car is the only choice for going to C. Or a ship, maybe. You may have to invest when you come home. Like Ann did.

4. Primal Sneeze on March 9th, 2007 at 4:48 am
I can’t see that happening for me Primal. It’s been over two years I’ve survived without a car in Kansas City - which was solely designed around cars - so even with the changes at home, I think I can pretty much survive anywhere without one.

As mad as it may seem, right now with my super extended bicycle (and blog on it due to launch) there is no load in terms of weight or bulk that I have been unable to carry any distance. That includes people, furniture, and other bicycles. It will mean that life may have to be arranged a certain way, and that sacrifices are likely and more time is necesary to get from A to B, and especially C - but so much would seem for nothing if I can’t achive at home what I’ve managed here. And everybody here, locals and people from Ireland, said going car-less in this city was impossible.

Apart from not having to worry about which side of my car was the tank side, and apparently not knowing that I needn’t have worrried in the first place, I love going past garages and not noticing how much petrol costs. With big changes daily in prices at the pumps, that was something you always did with a car.

5. Eolaí gan Fhéile on March 10th, 2007 at 8:29 am