first day

Today is the first day of the rest of my life. It was Sugar D's first day on the new job, and the new, four-hour round-trip commute. It was also my first day doing the breakfast, clothing, drop-off, get to work run, without the benefit of a vehicle powered by anything other than my own pathetically out of shape muscles. Yes, I rode my bike to work today for the first time since the summer BEFORE I got pregnant (2004).

I was pretty nervous about it all yesterday, and perhaps just a titch grumpy. But this morning went surprisingly smoothly (touch wood!). Swee'pea didn't grump over breakfast, throwing half of it on the floor the way he often does, mostly thanks to the city workers who came to investigate our neighbour's basement leak. They brought lots of trucks and machinery, which captivated the young lad more effectively than the Teletubbies, and he ate his breakfast at the front window. Lots of men in bright orange outfits and hard hats stood around and gestured while a big yellow tractor with an enornmous jackhammer attachment pounded into the tarmac like a monstrous robotic woodpecker (well -- if woodpeckers drove their beaks into concrete, that is). That thing looked effortless, piercing the pavement like a butter knife into mashed potatoes. The vibrations under our feet and rattling our windows like an earthquake belied the true force.

After about half an hour of this staccato pavement pecking, they changed the attachment, and the machine stuck out these rather graceful legs to brace it over the now-crumpled driveway, like a preying mantis drinking from a puddle or maybe more like a foal when its legs are longer than its neck and it needs to stick them forward to let it graze the grass. It was actually quite fascinating.

During my bike ride, I pulled off the main drag to avoid its huge hill and rode through a nice neighbourhood where residents were already pulling weeds and watering their garden. I went right by the house where I used to live in second year university, and funnily enough, it smelled just the same as those early fall afternoons right when I'd walk home after a hard afternoon of skipping classes, drinking beer, and playing pool on the broken table on campus. Somehow the morning retained that freshness, that excitement of come what may of starting school after a summer vacation.


The big downside was that my math sucks, and it took 45 minutes to drop off Swee'pea and get to work. And this could get worse depending on where we end up finding daycare. Last time, I was prepared to drive ANYWHERE for the right person, but now I am much more limited geographically in my search.

So lesson learned. Getting around by my own weary muscles is not so bad. In fact, it's almost pleasant.