Buses and trains

Am really much too bleary eyed to be writing anything that makes sense, but just a quick note to keep the habit. This week I discovered the train. Something many people before me have discovered I know. A nice bus man pointed out to me, as I paid for my ticket, that there was a much faster way to reach my destination. One thing I have wanted to achieve in my life was a better balance between my environmental goals and my actual day to day life. So I have a compost, rainwater tanks, I use a cotton bag for my fruit shopping, reduce the meat in my diet, and I take my own bowl to the salad shop. I always felt bad about sitting in my car, all by myself, driving to work. Originally the move to the coast was supposed to alleviate that by living closer to the salon I worked in, and having the kids go to school nearby. That whole thing blew up in my face, and now I work at Broadbeach, live at Pimpama, and my kids still go to school at Kimberly. We drive more than ever! So the way this all ties into the train is that a couple of months ago a woman drove into the back of my broken down car and wrote it off. Since then I have done a combo of hour long bus rides and being driven around by my husband. I was looking forward to getting my car back, but felt guilty that I was not helping reduce carbon and gridlock by getting another car off the roads. Now that I have discovered the train I think I may give away the new car idea. My family will think I'm crazy. It takes almost the same time to get to work in the morning as if I drove, saving me 40 mins each morning compared to the bus, but I don't have to concentrate on the roads, and have no traffic issues. I'm not as scared of "train people" as I was. I even caught the train home today. The cost of the train is very competitive with rising fuel prices and maintenance of a car and with the money we save we can upgrade my husbands car and get it converted to autogas. 10% less emissions! If we downsize to one car instead of two the kids will move school next year. That may hurt a little when the time comes, but it is the final step in committing to our new life. Next I have to prepare some garden beds for the food we plan to grow for ourselves, looks like we might be here for a while.