The Hermit Poet

September 1, 2006

An Office (Space) in Gas Town

Filed under: General — Neil Aitken @ 10:03 am

I tried out my free membership to WorkSpace in Gas Town earlier this week.  Mixed feelings so far.

Things that I liked 

  • I did get a fair amount of writing done.
  • Great view – very beautiful at sunset and early evening.
  • Lots of places to work at (tables and chairs all over the place, but enough privacy to work uninterrupted)
  • Bill greets everyone from the cafe at the front — it’s like coming home, or for some people, to their favorite bar.

Things that were different than I expected

  • Frequent noise from the railway lines below, complete with  late night train couplings and uncouplings (oh the tragedy of the mechanically mobile!)
  • People keep very much to themselves.  I guess this makes sense, you’re working after all.  But I wouldn’t mind more interaction and conversation.  The cafe portion at the front was under-utilized as well.  Is it different in the daytime?  Or was it merely because I was there on a Monday?  I think I’ll try again tonight.
  • Dead silence.  Really.  I was surprised how much I felt like I was at a library or a morgue.  Perhaps a library morgue.  Almost unnerving.  But the lights stay on.  Also different from what I expected — guess I was stuck on the old programmer environment of the darkened floor with only a few cubicle lights on.  Here the lights are all on (makes sense) and there are no cubicles.

I guess I would like a little more chatting and banter.  I realize people need to work, but I miss that occasional human element – part of what draw me to it in the first place.

Another strike against WorkSpace is purely practical — it’s on the other end of the city from me.  As intrigued as I am by the space, I can’t reconcile the cost of travel and gas to make use of it.  If I lived closer or worked in the area it might make more sense.

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