Any other covid-WFHers really missing commuting?

[GoldenOmber]

My commute was longish (just over an hour), walk/train/walk. It was a bit of a hassle sometimes especially trudging out in the rain and the dark in winter. But oh my God how I miss it now!

I miss getting to fit some exercise into my normal day without having to think about it. I miss listening to podcasts on the walk. I miss reading a book and drinking a coffee on the train and having a bit of time to myself that isn’t children/work/children/sleep/repeat. I miss getting to see things out of the window! I miss walking through the city to my office. I even miss the bloody train announcements at this point.

I have heard so SO many people talk about how glad they are to give up their commute, but it’s one of the things I’m missing most of all. Is there anyone else or am I uniquely weird?

Maybe it would be different if I had that commute time to do other things? At the moment limited wraparound care and a small house means I can’t get my commute time back as free time.

I'm the same! My commute wasn't/isn't long, about 25 mins on a bus with 5/10 min walk both ends but I miss having that time on my own to separate work and home. I love my DH a lot but we share our home office and walk the dog after work together and there is always someone in the house! I do go out with the dog early morning on my own but I do miss my commute weirdly

No! I used to drive to work, perhaps that's why.

45 mins on two hot sweaty germ filled tubes twice a day. Nope, can't say I do!

There is a huge silver lining to this though, when we do go back to working in the office, a number of people won't, or will be working some days from home, which will mean the trains aren't as crowded. I know they will cut services but I doubt it will go back to as crowded as it was.

I loved the tube! Although I wasn’t in London very often so I can imagine it loses its shine as a daily thing

Hell no. 45 minutes in a car is not a commute I'm missing. I'm back in the office for 2 days a week and had forgotten how annoying other drivers are.

When I was commuting by train for a while I had to put up with crowded carriages, the endless worry of cancellations and the panic about what I'd do about collecting the kids from the afterschool club before it closed, passengers who didn't know how to behave in public, the expense.

Literally miss nothing about commuting 5 days a week.

I feel exactly the same as you OP. Apart from anything else, I used to rack up 10-15k steps per day just through commute and pottering around the office. It was no effort at all, just part of my day. Now I have to force myself to get more than 3k steps and my muscle tone is gone.

And the time to myself just staring into space and thinking. God I miss it.

I totally get this OP! My train journey could be really gruesome but the walk between Waterloo Station and the City was so incredibly beneficial for my physical and mental health. Now I don’t go walking at all because if I do DH would expect me to take the dog and we don’t get on very well - she can be unpredictable with just me which I find stressful and defeats the object of the walk.

And I am SOOO sick of having my shoulder looked over for everything I do, and being required to eat with DH and DCs at every meal, and hearing the dog go ballistic every single time the phone rings.

Like you I miss being able to listen to podcasts and music, but I also miss being able to pop out at lunchtime to pick up something from Boots, or have a browse in a clothing shop, or sit in a cafe catching up with an old work friend. I have to do all that stuff on Saturdays, when I have other stuff I need to catch up on.

My place of work isn’t calling people back to the office till September, and everyone is moaning about not wanting to go back, ever if possible (it won’t be). I can’t wait to go back!!!

I've really missed my train journey sitting with a coffee watching the world wake up, wander up to campus and morning second-coffee before lectures.

What's struck me, since I started doing a physical placement with a fairly decent drive out to get there - is that I feel so much bloody better with that transition zone built into my day between work/uni and home... the drive back in particular is a plod down the motorway - but it's just that feeling of having arrived into work mode and back into home mode that my brain seems to need.

I went back to the office yesterday (City of London) for the first time since September

Pros
Was lovely to see my colleagues face to face and have a chat
Office was lovely and chilled, very few people in there
99.5% of people were wearing masks on the train station, on the train, on the Northern and Circle Line
Everyone kept their distance where possible

Cons
Train was cancelled in the morning making my 2 hour commute 2 hours 20 mins door to door
No Waterloo and City line so tube journey is a lot longer and I have to change instead of a 5 minute journey
Northern Line was packed at 4.30pm and everyone was shoulder to shoulder
Train was cancelled in the evening (signal issues at Wimbledon) making my 2 hour commute, 2.5 hours door to door.

... I don't miss it at all - I despise the trains as there's always issues and the number of people on the tube in the afternoon made me quite nervous....

I would love to WFH 95% of the time and head into the office once every 2-3 weeks, but sadly our company is gearing up to open the doors on 21st June if the lockdown eases...

Yes

• separation from home / office that comes with commuting
• the disregard for standard office hours that seems to have become the norm during Covid (ie meetings being booked in at 7am & 7pm because people aren’t commuting), that 9-5.30 office hours helps prevent
• the post-work socialising
• face to face interaction with colleagues

Pre COVID I didn't appreciate how enjoyable my commute was, despite how uncomfortable it would also be.

I would get on the bus with the same people and say morning. Then I'd stand by 'my' train carriage and get on to find the same people as always, and say good morning again to a few of them. Off the train and onto the tube, or a walk if it was nice weather. Wonderful views of the City, the Royal Exchange, the Monument etc and sometimes a walk over London Bridge too. Quite exhilarating/ inspiring in the morning. I especially enjoyed the clear late winter/ early spring mornings when I would get to see the sun come up (I was always in very early!)

Now I get up and shuffle to the kitchen table. I miss the human element most of all.

Yes, I do! I had 1hr 20 - bike or car to the station depending on weather, then 40 mins on train and 10 min walk at the other end. It kept me reasonably fit, I had time to read or just stare out the window, and I was on my own!

I don't miss train delays or standing on platforms in the rain, or crowding onto a busy train and standing all the way. That was shit. But I really miss the good bits. I'm almost never on my own now, I work in the same room as DP and if I'm not working my 2 year old is at home.

I really miss London too. I live in a nice suburb, countryside nearby, lovely, but god I miss the people and bustle and the buildings and Pret on every corner!

We already had home working and hotdesks so I think that will just increase a lot - I doubt I'll be back in regularly until next spring, and even then probably just once a week for collaborative work as a department. There's really no need to spend £30 a day on the train fare just to sit at a different desk.

@ElizabethTudor

Yes

• separation from home / office that comes with commuting
• the disregard for standard office hours that seems to have become the norm during Covid (ie meetings being booked in at 7am & 7pm because people aren’t commuting), that 9-5.30 office hours helps prevent
• the post-work socialising
• face to face interaction with colleagues

Completely with you

Nope. I don't miss commuting one bit.

I maybe a little tiny bit missed catching up on Radio 4 Woman's Hour on my commute but the show has massively gone downhill over the last few months since Jane and Jenny left so I don't miss that now either.

I would be happy to work from home permanently forever. Never have to commute and never have to sit in the same room as wanker colleagues ever again.

I miss my 40 min drive to work. It was my time to listen to the radio and separate my brain from work thoughts.

I've commuted from Bedfordshire to London for over 20 years and have recently started to go in a couple of days a week.

I do a bus/train/tube commute and spend most of the time reading - I've managed to get through a few books already and miss seeing the normal 'regulars' that I used to. The office has been quiet and it's been lovely seeing a few people and catching up. We even went out for a team drink last night and sat outside in the sun. It felt so normal .

Love browsing on Oxford Street and running a few errands during lunch times again. Like others, good to get some more exercise and a few steps in.

I don't miss wasting time and money at all. However, it was a good way to get exercise.

meetings being booked in at 7am & 7pm because people aren’t commuting

that is serious CF territory.

I go in a day or two a week. There's an office I can walk to in an hour. I love it. I work better in the office and I like having the separation between home and work and the decompression time. I like dressing for the office. I'm not saying I want to go back to commuting every day but I do miss sitting on the tube with my Kindle.

When I WFH I use my "commute" time to do long walks or runs. It really helps. I'll do early calls/meetings if I need to for colleagues in Asia Pac, but I knock off at 5, 5:30 latest, hell or high water.

Generally not missing it. I hated it when I was doing it daily - it felt like such a waste of 10 hours of my week.

But, I find now I get very little time to read or watch French language shows on Netflix (my husband doesn't speak fluent French), and I miss the functional movement of a day in the office (although I have more time to do actual exercise now I am not commuting).

I've been coming into work all through ( I work for the NHS) and I'm really glad. It's been lovely to get out of the house for a bit of almostnormailty. During the first lockdown I was driving in partway and then cycling and the roads were sooo clear. Also shops in the City that I didn't have to queue to get into..even in the worst toilet roll hoarding days.

My husband has been from home throughout and he's a little bit stir crazy. He would definitely like to go back a couple of days a week at least.