Dedicated to a dear friend, who will know why. Hope you like it.

The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy has a few things to say on the subject of towels.

More importantly, a towel has immense psychological value. For some reason, if a strag (strag: non-hitch hiker) discovers that a hitch hiker has his towel with him, he will automatically assume that he is also in possession of a toothbrush, face flannel, soap, tin of biscuits, flask, compass, map, ball of string, gnat spray, wet weather gear, space suit etc., etc. Furthermore, the strag will then happily lend the hitch hiker any of these or a dozen other items that the hitch hiker might accidentally have “lost”. What the strag will think is that any man who can hitch the length and breadth of the galaxy, rough it, slum it, struggle against terrible odds, win through, and still knows where his towel is is clearly a man to be reckoned with.

From the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, written by Douglas Adams.

Last month I started to use the bus to get to work and walk home in the evening. I reckoned it would take me 15 minutes to walk down Hollyhill, but it takes more like 25. Still, around the same time it takes the bus going up there. I really enjoy the walk home, but I couldn’t be bothered to walk the 3.5 Kilometres uphill in the morning. The bus stop lies not really convenient, but it is fair enough.

Now why haven’t I used the bus before? Well, we didn’t had resident parking and the parking space at the Gate View building wasn’t finished till early this year. So we quit simply had nowhere to park the car during the day, but I had free parking at work.

Now here is something intriguing: Using the bus turned out to be more expensive then taking the car. Even the heavy Defender, with a Diesel engine that eats like a whale while cold, couldn’t eat as much gas as a single bus journey costs. 1.30 € per trip, the car was doing both trips in just under a Euro. And in my case, a one month ticket, would be even more expensive.

Ignoring the time waiting for the bus, the trip now takes four times as long.

And here is another thing. Going by bus isn’t what I call nice. I love going by train. It is so much better then flying, mainly because you don’t have to queue all the time and get through annoying security checks. But you also get leg room and end up directly in the middle of the city, and not somewhere in the middle of nowhere. In first class you can even watch TV, like on a long distance flight. Oh, and you can use your cell phone. Given, it often turns out to be more expensive then an inner European city flight, but for me, that is just fair.

Buses on the other hand, tend to be cramped and indeed dirty. Usually not on schedule (as they are held up by other traffic) and the people inside are often, lets say, not in a friendly mood. All reasons why I prefer to walk home, unless it is raining cats and dogs of course.

So why am I going by bus and not keep on driving to work?

Personally, because I want to look after the engine. Driving lots of short trips just isn’t good for a Diesel engine. Actually, for no fuel burning engine. Since I stopped that hideous cold run up the hill, the car runs smoother and does almost an extra 100km per tank. (Very nice, but still doesn’t break even with the extra costs.) Second reason, I really enjoy the walk down home listening to my mp3 player. I spend most of the day sitting in front of a computer and can really need the exercise. However, that are personal reasons not everybody will share.

Keep in mind, when the sea hits the land it does not always result in a beach area.

The famous cliffs of Moher:

For quite some time now, Austria is cut off from the ocean. So every time an Austrian is standing on the beach, the sound of braking waves and the scent of ocean automatically triggers this special holiday feeling. Well, here in Ireland there is always a beach in reach within an hour. That means that every sunny weekend can turn into a little holiday.




Which is great!