Number one has got to be that we actually see each other, which is always a bonus when you are married to someone. I am contracted to work a 37 hour week..........now some weeks I work 45 but others I work 27, so it all evens out in the end. Hubby is contracted for a 39 hour week, and basically, that is what he works. After being used to him working a minimum of a 50 hour week, and quite frequently 60 hours plus, you can work out the impact this change is having on hour lives.
Number two, he actually enjoys the job he is doing. Not saying that he hated hospitality, but there were days that he said he did not really want to go to work, where as now, bit like me, he is happy to go to work.
Number three is the 'magic pass'. This is my current pass - I had to get the pictures done especially as my previous pass has the same picture as my passport, so therefore I look like death!!
Now I like my car, I like driving so I have never been an enthusiastic user of public transport since leaving university. We use the train occasionally to go to London, which works ok, but other than that, until I went to work in Oxford, I could not have told you the last time I got on a bus. However, as parking at the station is extremely limited, we are only allowed to park there on certain shifts - lates and nights if you are interested. The rest of the time, like the County Council desires, we have to use public transport, which for me means park and ride. Apart from the fact that the park and ride I use, is also the coach interchange for the Oxford to London coaches (over 100 hundred a day!!), so is usually full by 9am, this works well. The park and ride buses run about every 15 minutes and mine stops just round the corner from the station, so I have to walk about 50 metres once I get off. Why walk if you pay vast sums in tax to have a car??? The other advantage, is the local bus company in Oxford (Oxford Bus Company, if you are interested) let us travel for free to and from work on production of our ID, so, it doesn't actually cost me anything - goody, we like free!
Anyway, back to the magic pass. One of the perks of hubby being a bus driver is he gets free travel on any First buses (except London, coz they are TFL) in the country, and so do I. Now initially I did not think this would have a huge impact on lives............after all, First are not our local bus company, we have Arriva, so why would I travel all the way to Slough, just to use the bus. But then we discovered the bus company have reciprocal arrangements with other bus company's.............now we are talking! We have a long list of buses we can use in the local and not so local area, so actually this thing has the potential to save us quite a lot of money.
For example this morning I had to go to the hospital. Hubby dropped me in because for some reason Arriva do not run hourly buses to our village. We have a couple of buses before 8am, and then the next one is not until after 9am. Then they run until about 2pm, and then we have a gap again until after 4pm. Not very convenient, but anyway, I got to hospital, had my appointment and then went and had a coffee before getting the bus home.............for free!! A couple of weeks ago I went all the way to Slough, by bus, again for free! Now if I had had to buy a ticket this morning, it would have cost me over two pounds. I dread to think how much I would have had to pay to get to Slough. I am starting to think that when I want to go to Wycombe shopping, I will start to go by bus...............after all, parking usually costs us at least £1.80, if not more, and that's before we even get to the fuel costs.
This is my first pass, with the horrible passport picture. It was the only one I had two of at the time that hubby demanded pictures (you have to provide them with two for some reason). Luckily it expires at the end of this month, so new ones have been issued and my new picture is much better.......I smiled for a start; you're not allowed to smile in passport pictures!
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