Courier Journal - Winter 2023-24

My wife has a folder in her desk called "Why I Do What I Do." It is filled with remnants from her years as a teacher ... drawings from kids, nice notes from parents or students, pictures, etc. I used to joke with her that if I had such a folder for my job in IT, it would have only one thing in it, my pay check. This is mostly true. While I have made some good friends, had fine experiences and I enjoyed the actual job (detective work solving computer problems for hospitals), ultimately, the biggest thing I liked about the job was the pay. The stress of the job always got to me. The corporate environment in general, was just uncomfortable to me. I felt so out of place, like a fish out of water, imposter syndrome abounds. I could feel the tension in my body simply approaching the building, the muscles tightening in my neck and shoulder. Even when I telecommuted, stress was bad but I admit not as much. I don't feel that now, at all. The money sucks as a courier, but I really do enjoy it. I feel very little stress. I might start a folder of my own. 

I have been delivering in the city of Burlington most of the winter so don't expect a lot of beautiful pictures of the VT landscape from me here. I have a few and the city is beautiful at times, but it is not like being out in the mountains for the day. I have delivered in Shelburne, Charlotte, Essex, New Haven, Johnson, Jeffersonville, Eden and Monkton this winter, but these are one-offs. I've spent most of my time in Burlington or South Burlington. South Burlington is technically its own city, but it is really just a big suburb of Burlington. I prefer the city or the countryside over the suburbs. Always have. 

The winter has been a mild one. I've had a few unbearable days. Mostly it is my hands that get cold. I wear layers but I need my hands free to use my devices for the job. I also fell on the ice once at an insurance company in South Burlington. As I write this, I still feel a pain in my left arm. The warm days are a problem because things melt and when the evening comes, it goes below freezing again and everything becomes ice, like this picture in Shelburne on Lake Champlain. 

Lake Champlain (Shelburne)

Camel's Hump (Waitsfield)

stream in North Ferrisburg

The dirt roads get muddy during the day and then freeze at night causing ruts that are difficult to drive on. The muddy roads aren't easy either. I've gotten stuck twice in the snow this winter, but almost got stuck in the mud once. It happens. I wouldn't have been the first driver to do so. 

Most of the driving I've done in my life has been in New England. So I don't know if this peculiar character of the roads are particular to New England or if it is like this everywhere. I am talking about how some roads change names for no apparent reason. I can understand a road changing name when it crosses a townline or perhaps when it crosses a major intersection, but here in New England road names, like the weather, change often. You could be driving on Greenbush Road in Charlotte Vermont, north for several miles, beautiful drive really. You go on for a few miles. All of sudden, the road name has changed and you are now on Bostwick Road. Why did it change? I don't know really. It might because the town changed. This is right about where Shelburne starts. You continue on Bostwick north, it turns east you can now see the Adirondack Mountains and Lake Champlain in your rear view mirror. You reach route 7 and guess what. Name change? You got it. It is now Marsett Road, but only for about 1000 feet. When you cross Mt. Philo Road, it changes again to Falls Road for another 1000 feet or so then it changes to Irish Hill Road. So in a matter of a mile, you haven't changed roads, but its name has changed four times.It stays Irish Hill Road for about a mile. When you cross Dorset Street it changes again to Pond Road. It travels by the beautiful Shelburne Pond, so lets rename the street, I guess. It stays Pond Road for a little over a mile and ends in St. George at route 116. I am grateful for my GPS.  

Luckily, I drive in Burlington most days and no longer need to use a GPS because I've gotten to know the city so well. An order does exist. Remember, it is still a Northeastern city, so it is not a grid like Midwestern cities. But once you figure out the order of things, it is quite pleasant. 

This is a city that is so messed up that it has both a North Avenue and a North Street. They are both major roads and they intersect. The planners were not thinking of visitors when they planned this city. 

Burlington pivots around Pearl Street. You think it would have been arranged around Main Street, which is one street away, but I am grateful it has some order so I won't complain too much. Streets that cross Pearl, have the North or South designation. On the North side is North Winooski, North Union, North Willard, North Williams and North Prospect. South of Pearl, you have the same streets but the South versions. Champlain Street doesn't ever reach Pearl, it must have at some point. Now there is a huge complex that includes the Marriot and the Hilton are where Champlain would connect, but there are still a North and South Champlain. 

The main West/East streets downtown are (going South to North) Maple, Main, College, Bank, Cherry, Pearl and North Street. I remember MMCBCPN. I haven't made a nifty mnemonic for it yet. The North/South Streets are (going East to West) Prospect, Willard, Union, Winooski, Church, St. Paul, Pine, Champlain and Battery or PWUWCSPCB.  It doesn't exactly roll off your tongue but I remember it. 

Getting oriented in Burlington isn't very difficult because you have a big lake. If you can see Lake Champlain, you know what direction you are facing. If you are driving towards the lake, you are facing West. You can see the Adirondacks, that's New York State. All else falls into place after you know that. If it is in your rearview mirror and you are facing the Green Mountains, you are driving East. If it on your left and you are going towards Colchester, North. On your right and headed toward South Burlington, South. 

I spend good part of my day driving up and down Pearl Street. If I get a package to deliver on ### North Willard, I simply drive down Pearl and turn onto North Willard and look for the number. if I took any of the other East/West streets, I would be taking the risk that I am going to turn the wrong way once I got to Willard.  

I time my day to be near Church Street around noon because I have a choice of about twenty (no exaggeration) amazing coffee shops where some of them even know my name now. Some of them even give me free coffee.  So far, life is good being a courier.