Well that summer went by quickly. Folks on the lake are in transition. Is it time to take the boat out? When do I turn the water off? Should we keep the heat on this winter or not?

I too am in a transition of sorts, one I hadn’t planned on.

Last decade, I moved up to the cottage because I was working on contracts and didn’t see the need to pay $1000/month in Toronto rent when I could do most of my work up here. This decade, I’m kind of doing the same thing. At a place I used to work at. Twice before. CBC. (Here’s a picture of a CBC recycling bin…look at all that old tech!)

Anyway…

I have to be in the office more than I had to be a decade ago. So I have to get creative with my time. I still can’t afford the $1000-plus for a basement apartment. I negotiated with the team, and can now work from home on Wednesdays. YAY. So my cats are happy as they are back up at the cottage…

But what about me? Well…I’m am a commuter again. I take a GO train from Barrie on Monday morning (I have to get up at 4:30 am to catch the 6:26 train! UGH!), I couch surf like the ageing millennial I am, then take the train back Tuesday night. I hang with my cats (and sometimes a plumber or contractor…it’s cottage fix-up time before the winter, don’t you know) and work from home Wednesday. Then I do the same commuting thing Thursday morning and Friday evening.

It may run me ragged. It may make me crazy. When the snow comes, it might be impossible…

But it’s interesting. It’s amazing what someone will do to survive in the Gig economy (remember that?) And to make their cats happy. But it’s not boring. Life is just a funny thing, you think it’s going to go one way, then it throws you for a loop. But it would be dumb to think the loop you’ve been thrown into is bad or inconvenient. So I’m going to enjoy the early mornings, I’m going to watch the seasons change again, and I’m going to continue living a life I hadn’t planned. I think it’s pretty cool.