Less Busy…Everywhere
When we lived in California, we used to either make an appointment at the DMV and only wait a little while. Or on the unfortunate times where you couldn’t get an appointment, you were stuck waiting for hours. So when we needed to get our new Washington drivers licenses, I went online to make an appointment. They don’t have appointments here. Apparently for good reason. We were in and out in less than 15 minutes on a Saturday morning. And then we got our licenses in the mail about a week later. For realz??? We DID have to go to a second licensing office to register the truck though. That took all of 10 minutes and we left WITH plates AND tags. What? Crazy!!!
Speaking of cars…it’s very refreshing when drivers on the road aren’t cutting in at the last minute so that they can get to their destination all of two seconds faster. True story: I was driving to work one morning in the left lane (two lane highway) when traffic started to slow. After rounding a corner, I saw why. There was a truck broken down in the left hand lane with a tow truck working on hooking it up. The shoulder there wasn’t wide enough to park on so essentially all cars in the left hand lane needed to merge right in order to go around. I was a good 100 yards away and signaled to merge over to the right as did the cars in front AND behind me. We zippered. Nobody rushed ahead in the left lane even though they could have passed up at least 30 cars. I couldn’t even see a car in the left lane in my rear view mirror anymore…the lane was empty. We all went around the broken down truck…and…I got to work two minutes later. In California, that would have caused me at least a half hour added to my commute. Amazing.
The dentist, the doctors, voter registration, Christmas shopping lines…in and out! Quick! No hassles! Jim had to go to the emergency clinic right after we moved here and even that was pretty simple and probably the longest wait we’ve had (which has nothing on California emergency rooms). I’m going to have more of an issue fighting with the stingy California insurance to pay for his much needed emergency treatment.
I’m sorry if this sounds like I’m gloating. But I kind of am. Sorry not sorry! Here…this will help…
The Downs…
Well there aren’t that many. But we are used to a much faster pace and that can be a challenge here. Both Jim and I have trouble with it at work…people aren’t very fast and the technology isn’t quite what we are used to making for time wasting additional work. He’s getting used to it. I have moments of complete boredom but it’s getting better and will be busier after the new year. And we just need to start adjusting our expectations.
Jim helps bag our groceries. The cashiers usually bag as they ring things up….it takes a little while. Sometimes a lot a while. We might need to take some lessons in slowing down….I’m sure we could find a class we can get into…hassle free!
