I had some downtime at work today so I decided to go to the supermarket and get some groceries for the week. When I mentioned to my coworkers I was going to walk over there, they immediately asked what was wrong with my car and did I want to borrow one of their cars. The supermarket is a 10 minute walk from work, we are in a very nice and safe neighborhood, and it was a beautiful day outside! There was no excuse to not walk! Being single, I know I dont need to buy too much stuff to feed myself so I won't be lugging a ton of stuff home.
On my way back, I noticed that the cost of gas had jumped 9 cents since Saturday. I felt even more justified in walking despite what my coworkers thought - no need to burn fossil fuels when I can walk it and get in the extra steps!
We have to cut down on driving the Trailblazer once the car we bought from my son-in-law is registered. Gas is almost $3.50 a gallon and we drive like 50 miles one way just to get work. They say by summer it could be $4.00 or more. Unfortunately living where I live there is no walking to stores, I'm out in the middle of no where so we shop on the way home coming through town. Good thing is we work about 5 blocks from each other and work almost the same times so there's no need to take 2 vehicles. There's also no public transportation out here in no man's land.
I just paid $46 for 12 gallons in SoCal! I should start taking the bus, but the direct one from my house to office goes through some Nasty parts of town
Parts where english is not spoken / unknown and it is common for young women to be leered at...it doesn't make me feel warm and cozy as in my car with the doors locked, the windows up, and the radio blasting.
Parts where english is not spoken / unknown and it is common for young women to be leered at...it doesn't make me feel warm and cozy as in my car with the doors locked, the windows up, and the radio blasting.
Do you have a co-worker who could be a bus buddy? When I used to ride the trains and buses in NYC, almost everyone had headphones on, many wore sunglasses (even on the underground subways), many closed their eyes and feigned sleep under a hat, and some people buried their nose in a book/newspaper. The rest of the people paid no attention to the others getting on or off and had a glazed "don't think to mess with me" look over their eyes. Basically no one made direct eye contact with any of the other passengers. No one said "hi" unless they were about to ask you for money, rarely did you hear an "excuse me" if you got bumped, and definitely no one smiled. I played along and used to keep the headphones in my ears even though I wasn't actually listening to anything.
I understand being leery of public transportation; I don't know that I would rely on it as my main form of transport here in Nashville either.
I have to put gas twice a week because of work, dropping off my daughter at her grandparents at night before going to work, then daycare to pick her up. Thank God I drive Neon, not some SUV... I already spend about $250/month.. I don't even wanna know how much I would be spending if I was driving SUV or truck.. although I do want to get a CUV really bad. HAHAHA...
(I actually put some gas on the way to work today and was EXCITED to see 3.23/gal.. The most I saw on the way to work was 3.39/gal)