Margot Cargo

Susan had left a baking tray at my place at the end of the barbecue we had one evening. She needed to get it back at some point, of course! And she suggested she’d pick it up the next working day on her way to work. I thought it was a lovely idea, but I thought one step further: if she would be appearing at my front door with her car on the way to our respective offices anyway, I might as well just jump in myself. And so I did! It was a nice and sociable commute. I have done two half commutes of that kind recently; the first time because she just offered to take both me and the bike back home and I accepted the offer, and the second time because a meeting overran massively, and only by hitching a ride from Martin would I manage to be home in time for climbing. But this was the first time I went both ways! And on the way back we went past the B&Q.

Soon after that day, I decided I needed to bring a monitor into the office. I had a desktop there, and you can only work these things with a screen! And the only screen I had available there was my old TV, then that is only mildly compatible. But a full size screen is a bit big to put into a pannier bag. So I hitched a ride again! And this time we swung by the Waitrose on the way back.

It didn't take Sue a very long to come up with the term Margot Cargo. I thought it was quite amusing! And we might do this a bit more often. I don't mind having my time for coming home decided by her working schedule, as I have a working setup at home as well, and if she leaves too early I can just do some more work at home. I could imagine this happening a bit more often in the near future! She is driving anyway, and it is nice to sometimes share the commute. I don't mind being cargo from time to time!