Day One

I got my driving license in my thirties.

I have many friends who got their license in college.

But I was never keen.

I never wanted to even learn driving.. There are many reasons for my aversion towards driving.

Firstly, car ownership is very expensive in Singapore. Cars are expensive. The Certificate of Entitlement (COE) which one has to buy to own a car has always been expensive as well.. (Of course, the price now, at about $80K to $100K is plain ridiculous..) Petrol, road tolls, road tax.. all these costs quite a lot.. and they do add up.

Secondly, I like being driven. When one drives, one has to concentrate on the road. As a passenger, I can read, surf the internet, play with my phone, day dream and sleep.. You can't do any of that whilst driving..

Thirdly, I am just not that good with machines in general and the thought of getting lots of scratches on the car as I navigate it around just doesn't feel good..

In short, I don't like driving. But I finally relented when The Husband encouraged me to take up lessons. "It's a skill that will come in helpful."

Oh well... so I went for the test and I passed.

I have been driving on and off since then but on a daily basis, I still take the public transport to get to work.

Until now.

After 5 months of being away from peak hour subway traffic.. the first week back to work was a bit of a shock.. It's not just the number of people in the trains.. it's the behaviour of fellow residents during peak hour.. the train breakdowns.. the long wait time to be able to even get into a train..

Buses are not an option for me because where I live, buses take forever to come and go around half of Singapore to reach my office.

So I finally relented and decided I'd try to drive to work for a month and see if that helps me save some time and energy...

Today is my first day.

I survived the peak hour traffic, one way streets in the Central Business District and the narrow multi-storey car park.

I saved no time and conserved no energy.. I did get rather stressed out though...

But I guess it's still too early to tell.

How I wish at times like this I can "apparate" ala Harry Potter. 

 Very nice views from near the office..

Though I'd rather my office is nearer home than in the heart of the CBD