Ha-ha, well the Christmas run of posting almost daily didn’t last!
repeat to yourself :
I MUST NOT TAKE CONTRACTS THAT HAVE AN HOUR AND A HALF COMMUTE.
I MUST NOT TAKE CONTRACTS THAT HAVE AN HOUR AND A HALF COMMUTE.
I MUST NOT TAKE CONTRACTS THAT HAVE AN HOUR AND A HALF COMMUTE.
The drive and time spent in the car really is killing me. Another stupid mistake was rewriting the contract on extension to allow working 5-days-over-4, so at least I’d get 3 day weekends to work on my own stuff (i.e. Apple warez) and that didn’t really pan out either. The working day stretched from 9am to 7pm making me even more tired than before! Arriving home after 8.15pm, eating , then showering means that by the time I get to the ‘spare time’ its already 10pm.
Result : even less time to do anything useful and deteriorating health to boot. Not a good move.
However, you learn from your mistakes, and I’ll definitely take work closer to home next time.
One thing that did come out of all this was my need to enjoy the commute, so i bought a new car!
Ok, given its 120 mile round trip per day, i should have been looking for a diesel with a big tank. But i just couldn’t help wanting something special. I needed a reward for half killing myself. So I bought one of these.
It’s a brand new Lancer Evo X FQ330 SST and looks exactly like the image. Its an absolute MONSTER. A tank full only gets me 240 miles that’s on account of the tank only holding a measly 55L, and that’s taking it easy (26mpg), which translates to a visit to Shell (needs 98Ron) every 2 DAYS. I really do have to apologise to mother earth every time I get out!
However, I absolutely LOVE the car. The SST is automatic – this is the first automatic I’ve driven and I have to say its pretty amazing. The SST is a twin clutch drive train with 2 six speed boxes so while you’re in the current gear the other box is pre selecting the next gear, so the gear changes are seamless and fast – taking about 1/10th of a second. This means that it will propel me to 62mph in fraction over 3 seconds and has a top speed 180+ limited to 155. There are so many driver aids to stop me wrapping it round a tree that the tech is more advanced than what i work with as a day job! The SST has three driving modes – Normal, Sport and Super Sport.
Normal behaves like an ordinary automatic keeping the revs as low as possible making it a civilised drive and trying to keep the MPG in double digits, Normal mode gets ~26MPG. Sport mode is where the fun starts. Throttle response is tightened, and the RPM is held in the power band so the turbo is always spooled up and ready. RPM is held in the current gear longer and clever stuff like the Active YAW control prevents the box from changing at stupid times like mid cornering. Then there’s Super Sport. This really is track mode. Throttle response is tightened up still further, and the box only changes at the red-line. I haven’t used super sport, sport mode is plenty frightening enough. The technology and engineering in this car is absolutely amazing. Another distinct advantage with this car is its a lot more subtle than my old Subaru was. It doesn’t look out of place in the Asda car park, but it still makes for a double take when you see the vents on the bonnet!
So, whilst it makes the commute a little more acceptable, I still don’t think that offsets the distance and time problems no matter how much fun i can have playing in traffic.
My contract is coming to an end , its been a fantastic 2 years at the the Library and although another extension is on the table I’m really not sure I can tolerate another 3 months of the commute of death. In addition, the 2 year limit of HMRC kicks in which means I’d effectively be taking a pay cut if I didn’t increase my rate to compensate amongst all the other HMRC worries that make you look like an employee rather than a contractor. I’m pretty sure it’s time to move on.
I sure my writing and photography output will increase when that old friend ‘spare time’ re-appears.