commuting

photo of the backside of the lions taken at sunrise from the ferry in january of this year

in the last six weeks i have become increasingly accepted as a sunshine coast commuter by the other folks who make the daily trek across the water in search of higher wages and more meaningful work… although i have been doing the trip for almost 8 months, i seem to have recently passed through some unofficial probationary period during which people mostly just looked at me sideways and occasionally smiled. now that i have weathered out the winter, and am buying a house – thus staying for at least some period of time – those occasionally smiling people now talk to me! every day! they ask me how i am doing and inquire about the status of my move, we talk about politics and the weather and their kids and the goings on of our community.

i think the secret is, once a single person starts conversing with you regularly, other people feel more able to do that too – and in turn, i feel more bold in striking up conversations with people i have never spoken to before but see all the time. if all other conversation fails, you can always get by in complaining about bc ferries – it’s like being suddenly admitted into a secret circle where the other participants are easily recognized, and share at least one daily life function in common.

when i first started commuting, i didn’t think i wanted to get to know the other commuters that much – not because i am unfriendly, but because i tend to use my ferry time to read and do school or union work. all that transit takes up such a large portion of my day, i want to make it useful rather than socializing with it. i think that factor tends to be recognized for the most part by other people though, and i have noticed that people tend to leave you alone if you are engrossed in work – and i have come to enjoy the end of the day chit-chat on the days when i am too burnt-out to stare at a computer screen any longer and crave for contact with humans rather than machines.

i am now in the rhythm of a life i suspect will be mine for a few years to come – and as much as it seems daunting, i also know that it isn’t nearly the big deal i once thought it was. not only am i able to work and read during the time i spend traveling, the sunrises and sunsets on the sound and the straight are frequently jaw-dropping, and now that summer is almost here – the idea of escaping the hot city at the end of the working day has infinte appeal.

at this juncture, the thing that bothers me most of all about commuting, is the people i encounter who say (over and over and over) “doesn’t it bother you? i could never do that”, as if there is some deficiency in me that i have chosen a long commute in order to afford the lifestyle i want (clean air, the ability to buy a home, being close to the backcountry). i often feel i am having to justify why i have chosen to live this way to people who i barely even know. fortunately the people closest to me get it…. and at least i’m not asking myself “why?” (okay, there have been a few of my tiredest days when i wonder – but it’s not anything approximating a regular occurence). it’s an interesting thing – this commuting and the people who do it are at least as odd as me….. who knew?