I love reading Cup of Jo. She always has things on her blog that make me think she reads my mind from across the globe.
A golden nugget from her the other day:
In his book The Happiness Hypothesis, psychologist Jonathan Haidt says your commute is one of three main external factors that can affect your everyday happiness.
(The other two factors are noise, especially noise that is variable or intermittent, and sense of control — believing that you have the power to change and manage your environment, whether it’s your schedule, your workload or even the tidiness of your home.)
Steven commutes to London everyday, which seemed relatively close when we bought the house, but now feels an eternity away. Since starting work in paradise, I walk for ten minutes, ride the train for nine, then walk for another eight. Total time? 27 minutes of spring-in-my-step commuting, door to door.
And NOISE! So glad you brought that up, Jo! I admit it: I hate noise. I'm inundated with what I consider to be far too much noise all day long and by night time, I'm happy to sit in relative silence just to recover. The smarmy pap I watch on TV is pretty mindless drivel, but that noise I don't mind. I also don't mind the roar of a football match on in the background. But I hate loud noises like my neighbour's Call of Duty heard through the wall, the sound of engines revving, and the noise made when buses pass too closely to me. I also hate the sound of children who are old enough to know better crying loudly. But I digress.
Now that my commute has been fixed and I'm no longer trekking to hell's half acres everyday, noise is now my biggest (only?) irritant. Blame it on my poor (amazing?) hearing. Shhhh...
