400 Miles a Week

I commute. I spend two hours in the car every weekday*. Two hours a day in the car is not ideal, but I do it. The fact that I drive counter-commute helps (there is something undeniably satisfying at cruising along while the oncoming traffic is at a dead stop), but my real savior is books on tape and CD. I actually prefer books on tape, since the car has a cassette player, but sometimes CDs are unavoidable, so on to the iPod they go.

(That’s a wee marsupial bag that the iPod lives in- what kind of knitter would I be if I kept my iPod in something that wasn’t hand-knitted?)

I find it interesting that I prefer to read nonfiction, but I like to listen to fiction while I drive. Most of it is stuff I would never have read on paper (say, Harry Potter). The best example, and one of my favorites is Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. A paperback copy sat unread on my bookshelf for years (I inherited it when from an old roommate). It is masterfully narrated by George Guidall (I’ve started to pay attention, and find I prefer people who are British, good at voices or both- again see the Harry Potter books). Sometimes it seems a little odd to be passing my time listening to stories, but it gets me through. Sometimes, every once in a while, I actually, just a little, look forward to my drive… so I can get back to my book.

*Yes, this means lots of fill ups at the gas station, but I try not to feel too bad about this since my car gets good gas mileage, well over 30 mpg, and it allows Mr. Beagle to get to work in 10 minutes… on a bike- we only own one car.