The Point of No Return

As I’ve mentioned, I take public transit to work. I actually it take everywhere I go, but work is my most routine destination. I have a small luxury that many of my fellow transit travelers don’t have. Most days for me, it really doesn’t matter what time I get into work. That is just the nature of IT work, especially since I will usually be there well past “quitting time” anyway.

Likewise I have no reason to rush home by a certain time. Because of this, I have a very relaxed attitude about waiting for buses, trains, etc. I’m a patient person, and I’ve been known to wait long periods just to add convenience to my life. The point of no return I’m alluding to isn’t some point at which I can’t make it back somewhere, but is more like the point, before which, I am not willing to run to catch a bus.

Not that I blame anyone who does run to catch a bus. I certainly have done it. I did it last night in fact. It tends to happen a bit more at night when the buses are less frequent and the waiting is a tad less savory. But for me, especially in the morning, where I have to walk along the street the bus travels for three blocks before reaching the stop, there is a point where if the bus rushes by me, mentally I know that I’m not going to make it. You would think that for a regular commute I would have my timing set such that I wouldn’t just miss a bus, but surprisingly it happens more often than not. I know when the bus is supposed to arrive, I just have trouble with that last couple of minutes, getting out of the door in time. Perhaps I need to train myself to target a different time that will allow me to spend less than 15 minutes waiting at the bus stop.