First day at work

May 20th, 2008 by lynnylchan under My Life

My feet are blistered and I’m tired. This must be what life after work is like.

To be honest though, this isn’t work’s fault, and it isn’t even my first day at work. Theoretically speaking, I was supposed to have started today, but I started last Friday instead. No, today is not the day to rant about work.

It is the journey to and from work that tires me out. I have to take 2 buses to get from home to work, and those transfers involve a bit of walking because the bus routes don’t jive nicely, and I have to cross a very busy road. I got to work just fine, in fact I got there early enough to pop into McD and buy the new McGriddles breakfast. I wanted to see what’s so indescribable about the taste. Well, let me just tell you now: McGriddles are griddle cakes, which are essentially fat, thick little pancakes. 2 of these sandwich a sausage/egg and make up the breakfast meal.

Now, pancakes are a little sweet, and sometimes there’s syrup on them to sweeten them further. So it is in this case. Can you imagine sweet pancakes with a savoury sausage slice? Yup, I thought so. That’s probably why the marketing people decided to stick with “indescribable”, because “sweet and salty” sounds like a recipe for failure.

By the time I got to work, my new shoes were biting me. Or rather, the left shoe was biting my Achilles tendon with a vengeance. My right foot remained blissfully unharmed. Add to that the fact that the shoes were narrow, and my feet are broad. Yes, yes, this is the price I pay for vanity. But it wasn’t for lack of trying to find a comfortable shoe, I assure you. It just seems to be my destiny to be sandal-shod for the rest of my life, and you can’t blame a girl for trying to change her destiny.

The journey back was markedly worse. First I had to cross to the opposite side of the street. Makes sense, because this morning I alighted on the “correct” side, so I am on the “wrong” side when I have to travel in the other direction. But even such a short walk is murder on blistered feet. Then, I got off a stop too early. And when I got to the proper stop, I decided to use the MRT underpass instead of crossing the road on the surface, and came up at the wrong exit, so I had to cross again. Whew!

Bukit Timah Road is so boring, especially if you have to travel from one end to the other. I am literally going its entire length, from the eastern junction with Rochor Canal Road to the western termination at Upper Bukit Timah Road. It’s straight all the way, so you don’t even have the excitement of swaying from side to side as the bus turns.

And after this urban adventure, I get to walk back home. Uphill.

I am going to work in sandals tomorrow.