A Journey of Thoughts
‘Thinking is the hardest work there is, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.’ – Henry Ford.
One of my favourite things to do, something I do every single day, is driving. Now, I don’t drive a particularly wonderful car, in fact, it’s a bit of a heap. I called him Oscar when I got him (actually, when I took him from my parents and kind of never gave him back) and he’s just your average car with a bit of a crappy 1.4ltr engine (too small for the size of the vehicle) and, having been in a few scrapes, some dents in his bumper and a fair few scratches on the paintwork. Still, he’s pretty reliable and although I moan about him, I actually really do enjoy driving him. Must do, to have given him a name and to call him a ‘him’.
However, I go off point. It’s not the actual driving part that I want to talk about. It’s the stuff I do whilst I drive, mainly, thinking. There is no better time to think than on a drive, and I’m lucky enough to have at least one whole hour (half hour to work and half hour back each day) when I have nothing to do but think (and concentrate on the road, I suppose…).
One of the things I was thinking about today was how long it has been since I last wrote a blog, and I decided it was time to write my next. So here it is.
I think about pretty much everything when I’m driving, from the person who occupies a lot of my time to money to work to friends to family to music to the future. I remember things that happened in the past, and try to work out what I want to do with my life.
I listen too, and think about what I’m listening to. Yesterday, I got angry on my drive to work because I was listening to Radio 4’s Today Programme and they were talking about the fact that the banks are thinking of introducing negative interest rates on our savings accounts. I mean, come on. It’s not the British people’s fault that we’re in the mess we are in economically. It’s the politicians and the bankers who can’t get us out of this mess. They want us to start spending money – well, unfortunately, we can’t spend money because we actually don’t have enough money to spend, not with the cost of living rising constantly. Consider us people who live in the country and need to pay the extortionate prices for petrol. How on earth are we supposed to go out and spend money we don’t have when we have to spend our wages on rent, bills, food, petrol and other essentials. These things don’t come cheap! Anyway…
Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about my future. Mainly because my temporary contract comes to an end in June and right now, I’m not sure if it’s going to be renewed. Obviously, what I’ll end up doing if it’s not renewed is finding a new job (hopefully) somewhere else. However, that doesn’t stop me daydreaming… Anyone else ever considered being a UN Volunteer? I’ll have to wait until I’m 25 to apply, but I think it sounds pretty awesome!
There is one huge thing I spend a lot of my car journeys thinking about is something that can’t be shared with anyone else. I hope that one day it’ll be something I can share with other people, but right now, I’d prefer to keep it to myself. It’s sometimes nice having a little (big?) secret to keep. Other times it’s hard. But that is why it’s so great having that space to think – thinking about it actually helps me keep my secret safe!
I tried to live in London once, as I have mentioned in a previous blog I believe. One of the worst things was that as soon as I stepped out the door in the morning, there were people. And although they were all as miserable as me in the morning, I missed my time alone in the mornings, waking up, by myself, not talking. The best thing about driving to work instead of taking the tube is that I can experience some beautiful sunrises and every single day I can appreciate the stunning scenery that I live in. Wales truly is gorgeous.
Basically, driving is a wonderful way to chill out after a stressful day of work, help me keep my secrets (and other peoples!), enjoy the Welsh landscape and listen to my favourite music turned up really loud. It’s one of the things I like best about living in the country and I wouldn’t have it any other way. If I ever move back to a city for whatever reason, my daily drive will be one of the things I miss the most. Sometimes, I wonder if it’s one the main reasons why I don’t pursue a career or a life in a more urban area…