Traffic Patterns

I am stuck with the highway, public transit, commuting theme just a bit longer. It’s a side-effect left from my over a year of commuting on I-10 in LA maybe... Weekly traffic volume in Melbourne follows a steep descent from Monday to Friday. My commute feels like swimming in mud on Monday mornings, but by Friday I am flying through air. Not literally, but you get the idea. Don't think its because of the (at least) four weeks of paid vacation we enjoy every year. It's called "annual leave" because it really feels as if it's a leave! And if you worked for a while, you may already have six weeks. Take them all at once and for co-workers who cover your duties, it does feel like it's a year long! (I know you all American friends are now jealous on me... Sorry) So, no, I cannot explain the low volume of commuters on Fridays on vacation days. I think I am right though that part of the reason is that in Australia (Oz) a huge percentage of women are employed part-time (40-50% of women between 30 and 59 years work part-time, most likely NOT on Fridays). About 10% of men do part-time work in that same age range. Although Australians are very proud of this large number of mostly mothers who stay home to look after kids, and they see it as improved quality of life, I do see it as a lack of emancipation. It's Romania of the nineteen thirties, but at least if traffic improves towards the end of the week because of this, then let it be! I do not mean to open a can of worms (what is quality of life anyway? is there a uniform definition for all of us?), so I shall return to today's theme of heavy Monday morning traffic. Not only I got upset for arriving at work later than usual, but I also had to listen for longer to a boring radio station, and I could not park in my usual spot. I will discuss parking in Melbourne tomorrow. And I will tell you why I cannot take the train to work the day after that. To soothe my driving frustration, I added here a picture of a bottle brush flower. I feel better now.