After much mulling over and some of my “tough love”, NPY went for and secured a new position at the bank in October. The new position with a new group also involved changing offices.
For the past 8+ years, NPY has been at an off-downtown location – in the city, serving an affluent area and for the past 2+ years, he has had THE BEST COMMUTE EVER. He was too far to walk (41 minutes), the public transit route is yucky, 27 minutes long, and involving one transfer, but it was just an 8-minute 3.1-km drive that hardly ever hit traffic. And he had a complimentary parking pass.
His new office is a 10-minute drive (but like several hundred dollars per month for a parking pass), a 37-minute walk which will never happen, a 15-minute bike ride that I’d be so surprised if it ever happens and an 3-station subway ride with door-to-door time of 18 minutes. Transit it is and I’m so surprised that he has not fussed about the rain as much as I thought he would so I guess that’s some Vancouverite mettle showing up.
The previous Normal (ending in early October)
- Monday: I’m at home – wheeee!
- Tuesday & Thursday:
- I get E ready for daycare and dash out the door ~7:30 a.m.
- NPY does daycare drop-off ~8:30 a.m.
- I do pick-up ~5:30 p.m., start trying to ply E with food, NPY gets home around 6 p.m.
- Wednesday & Friday:
- I get E ready for the day and dash out the door ~7:30 a.m.
- NPY does the 14.8-km drive out to East Vancouver to drop E off with grandparents, drive past our house and go to work – at least 45 minutes
- after work, NPY makes the reverse drive – out to East Vancouver and then back home – usually between 6:15 – 6:30
- we start trying to ply E with food
Our New Normal
- Monday: I’m at home – wheeee!
- Tuesday & Thursday:
- fortunately, we haven’t had to thus far adjust our schedule on daycare days
- these days, to help NPY who has a more difficult commute, I ensure E is all prepared to go: fed, fresh diaper and changed into day clothes
- I pick up by 5:30 p.m., start trying to ply E with food, NPY comes home between 6:30 and 7 (on average half an hour later than before)
- Wednesday & Friday:
- I get E 100% ready to go and dash out the door ~7:30 a.m.
- NPY does the thankless 11.7-km return trip to his parents’ house to drop off E – then he either takes a Skytrain to work (thus parking the car in our parking garage then 18 minutes walk/Skytrain to get to work) or drives
- the biggest change is that on Wednesdays, I do pick up from the grandparents and endure the one-hour round trip in soul-crushing traffic on the city streets – I feel so pressed for time because E needs to eat in a timely manner
- we get home usually by 6:15, I start trying to ply E with food, NPY comes home betweeen 6:30 and 7
- on Fridays, we pick-up together from the grandparents which has been a nice change to have about 45 minutes of child-free time and when we have dinner at the house on Friday (where it’s a crapshoot, and E tends not to eat much), we are free to make our own plans on the weekend. :D
I told Lil Sis my apprehension about this and she and her fiance stared at me blankly as they face 90+-minute 100-km round trips when they go to work. I know – while we work downtown, I could never move to the suburbs.