I reckon I must be a slob....

[Firedome]

Absolutely. She'd lived out her "Sex and the City" dream life, it seems to be a common one for a lot of girls in their 20s, but finally grew up and moved on.

After she moved away, we binge watched that show, we normally watch very little TV, but she'd been obsessed with it at 20 and we wondered what the appeal was. It was entertaining in a voyeuristic kind way, seeing what is a fantasy life for some younger people (not us!). Did you ever see Carrie's apt on the show? as if a minor writer like her character was could afford a place in NY like that in real life?...you really do need significant wealth to live in that city. Chris your photog friend got it right. Everytime we left and got across the river to the Palisades Parkway heading N back to Vermont I'm sure my blood pressure dropped 20 points.Give me a small town or city any day, in VT even the docs in my wife's office never wore ties or even sports coats, just nice casual attire, to go back to dressing up. The laid back lifestyle here is reflected in the clothes, and flannel reins supreme!

[TC Chris]

If we count my "working life' as including high school and higher education as well as real employment, then in 60 years I never lived more than two miles from where I worked, with one year's exception. Then last August my workplace moved 3 miles from home. Farthest ever. But I still commute by bicycle. It is common to read about long commutes. That would drive me nuts, dealing with crazy drivers, bad weather, road hazards, construction detours, etc. It has always seemed normal to walk or bike to work but eventually I realized how unusual it was, and how lucky I am.

Chris Campbell

[Firedome]

For sure long commuting is draining, we opted to live out in dairy country about 40 miles from Baltimore as we wanted the kids to grow up in the country, and I worked summers going to farms for U of MD Extension. For several decades that hour long commute each way ate up much of our time and energy. When we moved to VT in 1998 neither of us had to go more than 10 miles and that seemed like a god-send, amazing, and retirement is even better, no commute and no dressing up at all!

[walyfd]

Covid sent most of my 2k office wfh. I live 4 miles away so I still went in. Gave me a reason to get up and get dressed every day. Plus, it's not the way my parents were raised. On the off chance I did wfh, dad was in a quandary...

After he died and mom was home alone, even for those 9 hours a day, it was too much so now I'm home. Love the summer because I can putter outside. I'm amazed how much I've gotten done. What about winter? Oh, yeah... redoing the fisher amp in the console and the r2r, papering the bathrooms...