In hindsight, agreeing to commute for a total of 4 hours every day wasn’t the best decision I’ve ever made. Not so much the journey itself – a drive, 3 trains and a 15 minute walk – more the resentment of losing sleep and losing most of my evenings for the past 8 months.
So I’ve done the sensible thing and found a new job 45 minutes closer to home. A commute that’ll still feature a drive and a 15 minute walk but just the one train. No more London Underground. No more DLR. No more being bowled over by umbrella wielding commuters intent on obeying a Pavlovian-type sprint response to the doors-closing beeping sound, despite the next train being (literally in peak times) a minute away. No more calculations to determine the most optimum route through the bowels of London (the Jubilee to Victoria Line interchange saves me about 30 seconds over the DLR to Northern Line one. What should I do with those 30 seconds?).
45 minutes doesn’t sound much. But it’s an hour and a half per day. Effectively I’ll get a full working day back by the end of the week.
As of this Monday morning, I have one week to go. The underground countdown starts today.
So if you’re thinking of taking on a 2-hour-each-way commute, don’t do it. Life’s far too short and you’ll just resort to writing endless nonsense in a blog that starts its life as a well-meaning, optimstic ode to the weird world of commuting but gradually becomes a dirge of drivel.
Some Pilot You Are 