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Original poster

Any other covid-WFHers really missing commuting?

47 replies

GoldenOmber · 04/06/2021 12:41

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.

OP posts:

ElizabethTudor · 04/06/2021 14:17

@looptheloopinahulahoop

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

that is serious CF territory.

I know, god I know. 😫

mommybunny · 04/06/2021 14:48

@BuffySummersReportingforSanity

Iamanunsafebuilding · 04/06/2021 15:04

[quote mommybunny]@BuffySummersReportingforSanity

I miss dressing for work too! I actually have a decent wardrobe and am at a weight where most of it fits me. I’ve been watching a lot of styling videos and makeup tutorials on YouTube and Instagram and I’m keen to try it all out on an audience that isn’t just me, DH, the DCs (and can’t forget the dog!). I started a new role that has daily video meetings and it gives me the push I need to fix my face and hair every day. It may sound shallow but I really benefit from that.[/quote]
I'm not wearing make up wfh but I am doing my hair every day. I stopped for a while last year and realised it's my hair that makes me feel smart or scruffy not my clothes or lack of make up (not that I wear much slap to the office but i do wear some)

mommybunny · 04/06/2021 15:08

@Iamanunsafebuilding

One reason I wear makeup every day is that it forces me to cleanse my face thoroughly every day, which is best fir my skin. I had a period where I wasn’t wearing my makeup every day so I was lazy with cleansing and other skincare and it showed. Since I started wearing it every day and cleaning it well my skin has been transformed.

But sorry op, that’s quite a digression from commuting!

AvonCallingBarksdale · 04/06/2021 15:11

YADNBU OP.
I would like a mixture, perhaps 2/3 days at home, the rest in the office. I feel as though I am now no longer working from home, but instead am “living at work”.

AvonCallingBarksdale · 04/06/2021 15:13

I also enjoy the 40 min drive as a bit of me time - my music, my radio station. And I used to go for a brisk lunchtime walk with a colleague which I miss.

Oblomov21 · 04/06/2021 15:18

I'm surprised more people don't feel like this. But MN is primarily introverts who don't want to leave the house.

I myself started a 20 minute drive commute, for 2 days, 6 mths ago and am loving it.

MaMelon · 04/06/2021 15:30

But MN is primarily introverts who don't want to leave the house

What nonsense.

chesterelly · 04/06/2021 15:34

I miss my DH commuting. He was emerging from the spare room still keyed up and trying to manage me. I pointed out he needs a break between turning off his laptop and seeing me to wind down because I do not need a manager, but I'd quite like to still have a husband . It took a while but he finally got it.

isitjustlockdown · 04/06/2021 15:43

I am missing it, but my commute was a 15 minute walk (or 20/25 if I went the longer, but more scenic route, which I often did).

It was my separation between home and work, and a bit of time each day that was just me and my thoughts.

I cannot wait for the office to open up again, even though we will only be back in 1/2 days a week.

idontlikealdi · 04/06/2021 15:44

I miss the enforced exercise it gave me but I do not miss standing on a rammed carriage in someone's armpit.

MistySkiesAfterRain · 04/06/2021 16:04

@looptheloopinahulahoop

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

that is serious CF territory.

I know I was horrified/glad it's not me!

WTFisNext · 04/06/2021 16:24

I don't miss my commute at all. Instead of being shoehorned into a train carriage which may or may not run on time I now either go for a run or walk. The morning one solo, the evening one with the children.

My physical and mental wellbeing has massively improved because of it. I never want to return to the rotten hamster wheel that is a stressful commute.

SwedishEdith · 04/06/2021 16:39

Not at all. It all seems so pointless - 10 hours a week is essentially another 1.5 days of work. Just to sit at another desk listening to someone going on about their dog or Love Island.

The 10k steps per day were handy but by Friday, I was knackered.

LadyCatStark · 04/06/2021 16:41

I miss everything about going out to work 😭.

currahee · 04/06/2021 18:01

I can absolutely imagine missing a pleasant walking or train commute, with some time to drink a coffee and listen to a podcast, to a nice town or city full of historical buildings where you could have a mooch at lunch time to visit different shops and places to eat. I desperately miss visiting London at the moment exactly for days like that.

My commute was a crap 30 minute drive on potholey country roads and the nearest place for lunch was a Greggs, and you had to drive to that too, so I don't miss that at all.

Oblomov21 · 04/06/2021 18:29

MaMelon most of the wfh threads say they don't want to go to the office, their childcare suits them, and thrust don't need the social interaction, better off, introverted wise.

I bet statistically I am right. Of many threads. I know because I've read not 100's of threads, but 75+. So I know I'm in the minority. On MN.

NeedWineNow · 04/06/2021 18:32

Certainly not missing going out at 7am and not getting home until 7pm 5 days as week and the astronomical cost of my train season ticket.

I do miss the lack of separation of work/home, seeing my colleagues, potter round the shops lunchtime etc. It's voluntary if we want to go into the office at the moment, so I've been doing one day a week to break the week up. We have been told that will be expected in at least 2 days a week come the start of September.

One bonus is that my train journey is just the right length to fit in an episode of Downton Abbey so I'm doing two every day I go in. I'm very late to the Downton party, and it's not really DH's bag, but I love it, so it's nice to have a bit of a wallow

MaMelon · 04/06/2021 18:40

I bet you’re not.

Not wanting to put yourself through a shitty, stressful commute five days a week to sit in an office and do the same job you could do at home doesn’t means you’re an introvert who never wants to leave the house - it just means that you want a better work/life balance without the cost, stress, and all the other drawbacks of working miles away (when your role allows for it obvs). I include myself in that.

A combination of wfh and in the office seems to be the preferred model on MN.

mommybunny · 04/06/2021 18:42

@NeedWineNow

I watched the first three series of Call My Agent on a daily train commute, and because of that my association with the horrors that are South Western Railway is vastly softened. Enjoy Downton! 😃

Womencanlift · 04/06/2021 18:55

@LadyCatStark

I miss everything about going out to work 😭.

Snap!

I had much more of a work life balance when I went to the office. Commute was a walk to and from work that set me up for the day and let me switch off at night, I went to the gym during the day as the one I am a member of is in the office so it took me less than a minute to get there from my desk, meeting friends for lunch and then going out with other friends after work.

Now there is little separation between work and home, I now need to drive 10 minutes to the nearest gym so not feasible to go during the day and by the time I finish it’s too late, no friends locally to meet for lunch or those that are local are also stuck on yet another zoom meeting

Thank god my work life will (hopefully) be returning to normal on the 21st. Cannot wait!

MotherWol · 04/06/2021 19:19

Yes! I miss my 45 minute cycle to work, I miss getting a bit of exercise in every day without having to make time for it, I miss the general pottering about step count, I miss having a bit of time at the end of the day to disconnect from work mode.

DH and I work for the same organisation, in overlapping areas, and WFH in a small space has really eroded the boundaries between work and home. Plus I’m so inactive now!

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