Going postal
As you may be aware, postage increased yesterday. It's now 41¢ to mail a letter. I knew this, being the mailroom monitor at work. Except that I completely forgot that the mail I dutifully stamped on Friday afternoon wouldn't go out until Monday morning, when each letter cost another 2¢. Whoops. Silly me--had I thought about it, I could have put the outgoing mail in the company mailbox, but no. I'm slow. Luckily I discovered you can run certain-size labels through the postage machine and just stick those labels on the already-stamped letters. Phew. And, we discovered that it actually cost *less* to mail some stuff on Monday versus Friday. Prior to yesterday, all mail went by weight. The mail in one flat (8.5"x11" envelope), weighing 1.5 oz, cost 63¢. Since flats are now 80¢ to mail, we redid it and put it into a standard-sized envelope...where it only cost 58¢. Sweet. Except we're out the 63¢ from before, but now we know. It was sort of worthwhile.
Now, ask me how long it took to get to work today. Go on, ask.
Why, how long did it take me to get to work this morning? Thank you for asking. The answer is 45 minutes. Such are the joys of living in a river town. Ah, that's plural. Shouldn't that be singular? Well, see, I only need to take one main road to get to my job. It just happens to have one of the area's few bridges. Typically, during rush hour, I can make it from work to home in 10 minutes. This is except when there is an accident on said bridge. I should have known. Traffic was backed up basically to the feeder street near my house--like, I could *see* all these cars purposely not going in the direction I was to go in, but I couldn't tell why until I turned onto the street. And then I'd sit in traffic. I'd think, oh, maybe I'll turn down the next side street. Well, when I'd get close to the side streets, that's when traffic would start moving again...until I was just past the side street. Of course. So, finally, when I reached Fabyan and 31, I thought, okay, I can see what's going on. Except all I could see was a fire truck blocking eastbound traffic from the bridge. That would be joy #1. So then, of course, that meant I had to find a different bridge, like about half of the drivers in the area. Route 31 was backed up pretty heavily. I decided not to wait for the light at 31 and Wilson and turned a block north of there...only to discover that the intersection of Wilson and Island was probably worse. See, the Wilson Street Bridge is under construction--that would be joy #2--and the intersection with Island is just west of that mess. Actually, it's still part of that mess. So that combined with a few thousand extra cars just made a bad situation horrible. The good news? I discovered that it is possible to call work and get a person to tell them that, hey, the person who answers the phones can't answer the phones for a while. *sigh*
The funny thing? I had a chance to leave about five to ten minutes early for work today. But no.
Now, ask me how long it took to get to work today. Go on, ask.
Why, how long did it take me to get to work this morning? Thank you for asking. The answer is 45 minutes. Such are the joys of living in a river town. Ah, that's plural. Shouldn't that be singular? Well, see, I only need to take one main road to get to my job. It just happens to have one of the area's few bridges. Typically, during rush hour, I can make it from work to home in 10 minutes. This is except when there is an accident on said bridge. I should have known. Traffic was backed up basically to the feeder street near my house--like, I could *see* all these cars purposely not going in the direction I was to go in, but I couldn't tell why until I turned onto the street. And then I'd sit in traffic. I'd think, oh, maybe I'll turn down the next side street. Well, when I'd get close to the side streets, that's when traffic would start moving again...until I was just past the side street. Of course. So, finally, when I reached Fabyan and 31, I thought, okay, I can see what's going on. Except all I could see was a fire truck blocking eastbound traffic from the bridge. That would be joy #1. So then, of course, that meant I had to find a different bridge, like about half of the drivers in the area. Route 31 was backed up pretty heavily. I decided not to wait for the light at 31 and Wilson and turned a block north of there...only to discover that the intersection of Wilson and Island was probably worse. See, the Wilson Street Bridge is under construction--that would be joy #2--and the intersection with Island is just west of that mess. Actually, it's still part of that mess. So that combined with a few thousand extra cars just made a bad situation horrible. The good news? I discovered that it is possible to call work and get a person to tell them that, hey, the person who answers the phones can't answer the phones for a while. *sigh*
The funny thing? I had a chance to leave about five to ten minutes early for work today. But no.