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Original poster

Do you change your clothes when you get home after being on the tube or other public transport?

178 replies

Teaandcaaaaake · 01/04/2023 21:39

I never used to need to change clothes to sit on my sofa or whatever until I moved to London years ago. The tube is filthy! Now, it has become automatic habit to me to change into 'house' clothes when I get home - I don't live in London anymore but another large city where I'm on equally grotty public transport to get around. I really don't think this would have become habit if I was going from my home to my own car on a daily basis, instead of public transport.

Am I normal or a weirdo?

OP posts:
notthe1Parrot · 02/04/2023 11:13

I never sit down on buses, tubes or trains (no journeys are longer than half an hour).
So no dilemma!

MuddlerInLaw · 02/04/2023 11:15

Entertaining to see all the outrage about perfectly harmless things people do in their own homes!Grin

I don’t care at all if you want to sit on your sofa in your outdoor clothes … And of course I don’t ask visitors to change their clothes when they come in. But I do limit the washing / dry cleaning of expensive ‘out’ clothes by not wearing them to lounge / cook / generally mess about at home.

Ginmonkeyagain · 02/04/2023 11:56

I change out of my work clothes when Iget in as I don't want to be sitting around or cooking in my work clothes. Often I will exercise when I get in, so change by default. I also think the "no work clothes at home" is a legacy of growing up on a farm where "work clothes" would be very dirty so my mum made us all change when we go in.

A.those people who change because of "dirty public transport" what do you do if you get public transport to work or a day/night out?

I have been using public transport in London pretty much daily for 20 years, I have yet to have had an issue.

Surlybassey · 02/04/2023 11:58

@MuddlerInLaw you see your approach to me makes perfect sense - keeping certain clothes for work/going out etc and changing at home into scruffier/more comfortable clothes to cook, clean, do gardening in I can totally get on board with. What I can’t get my head around is all this filth that some people seem to encounter on the tube that immediately requires showering and changing, I’m just a bit baffled as to where you draw the line and how much washing people must do if that’s their outlook.

NurseCranesRolodex · 02/04/2023 12:06

DuesToTheDirt · 01/04/2023 21:41

No of course not. I don't want to call you a weirdo, but this is not normal behaviour!

It is very sensible and hygienic. I change as soon as I come into the house and NEVER wear any of those clothes inside. The thought of carrying spores, germs or dirt into my home is worrying. Especially since Covid when, in my job we were encouraged to change clothes as soon as we shut the front door and put them straight in washing machine. I wait til I'm in my bedroom now though! Similarly I'd never wear outdoor shoes in my home and others remove their shoes when they come in. So when I'm at home no matter the weather I'm wearing shorts, vests, Uggs!

Ginmonkeyagain · 02/04/2023 12:07

Exactly my view @Surlybassey .

Today I am doing it the other way round. This morning I have been having a lazy breakfast and doing household jobs, so I am wearing old jeans and a sweat shirt. I will soon get changed in to smarter clothes as I am going out to meet friends - I will be using a bus to get there but will try not to poison anyone with my public transport polluted clothing.

Ginmonkeyagain · 02/04/2023 12:09

@NurseCranesRolodex how would an average person get covid from their oitdoor clothes? What is everyone doing? Licking them?

Supersimkin2 · 02/04/2023 12:12

Insane.

Fabric is too unstable to harbour germs unless you’re rolling in them for days (eg flu sheets) or a medic (sneezed and vommed on).

I got fleas on the tube once.

rattymol · 02/04/2023 12:13

If I go out in my garden I change my clothes before coming back inside.
And the neighbours just need to mind their own business and stop looking.

Arapawa · 02/04/2023 12:16

I do. People put their filthy shoes on seats in the tube and buses and I've actually seen a man standing up and urinating all over a seat on the tube while it was stopped at a station and being emptied. I ran to get a member of staff and they didn't manage to do anything on time. I can just imagine some poor person sitting down on that seat.

TimeToStopLurking · 02/04/2023 12:18

You're definitely not weird on my scale. Although I don't always change clothes, I never sit on my bed in 'tube' or 'public transport clothes'. Gives me the ick and I love the feeling of clean bedding and don't want them 'contaminated' for want of a better word

Tinybrother · 02/04/2023 13:02

I don’t think it’s especially weird, and it makes no difference to me what people wear in their homes, but I do wonder at the logistics when I think of my own coming-home-from-work situation. I’ve either collected children from childcare or they want to see me when I get in, bundling everyone upstairs for me to shower and change while they are hungry and/or wanting to tell me about their day, wanting me to see their pictures or read their books, I need to get food for them and/or me, it seems impossible. Is it only people without toddlers or do you somehow factor all this in with your showering and changing the instant you get in?

TokyoStories · 02/04/2023 14:19

Yes, always. People put their shoes on seats and god knows what else. I find gum squashed into seats. Some of them reek of BO and even piss. It isn’t about germs for me, it’s just the thought of it and like PPs have said I can’t relax. Plus I can’t wait to get out of normal clothes and into loose loungewear. Can’t imagine wearing shoes in the house either.

I don’t judge anyone for not doing it, each to their own.

SunhatsAndFlipFlops · 02/04/2023 14:28

I used to wash my hands as soon as I got in the door, after being on the tube - my hands just felt grubby. I changed into joggers and vest top usually, but that was to be comfy, not because I was worried about dirt.

BabyStopCryin · 02/04/2023 14:33

I change because it’s mucky where I work! I often have a quick shower to freshen up too.

LolaSmiles · 02/04/2023 14:37

I get changed when I get in from work and I don't travel by public transport.

I wouldn't get changed at lunchtime because I went on a bus in the morning though.

Motheranddaughtertotwo · 02/04/2023 15:35

Lcb123 · 01/04/2023 23:13

i don’t think you can make a judgment on something you use twice a year.

Show quote history

As a born and bread Londoner who still lives here I think I am in a position to judge. When I do use it, just blowing my nose I see the dirt I’ve inhaled. Don’t even get my started on the amount of filth that I can’t see.

Tinybrother · 02/04/2023 15:37

Motheranddaughtertotwo · 02/04/2023 15:35

As a born and bread Londoner who still lives here I think I am in a position to judge. When I do use it, just blowing my nose I see the dirt I’ve inhaled. Don’t even get my started on the amount of filth that I can’t see.

Show quote history

You get that just from being in London, not just going on the tube.

Florissante · 02/04/2023 16:15

massivenamechnage · 01/04/2023 23:29

Not an environmentalist then?
Screw the planet as long as I am ok brigade?

Show quote history

Yep.

newtowelsplease · 02/04/2023 16:48

Teaandcaaaaake · 01/04/2023 21:52

The tube is gross but I don’t lick my sofa so I’m okay with it all really.

I feel compelled to point out I don't lick my sofa either Grin

I don't feel it will kill me, but the filth does make me feel like I can't relax.

Washing my hands and changing clothes promotes a sense of calm and delineation from the grubby, bustling, frantic outside world and my zone of peace and privacy in my flat, I suppose?

I feel the same OP. Its obviously not necessary, but when I get home from work I do prefer to shower and change if I can. It's something about a day in the office and commuting, I don't mind it if we go out somewhere at the weekend

newtowelsplease · 02/04/2023 16:52

I do realise that it's strange though 😂

Crumpetdisappointment · 02/04/2023 16:56

when i get home from work i change my clothes

LlynTegid · 02/04/2023 17:02

I change out of work clothes when I have been to the office. Not otherwise.

Poor standards of hygiene for too many (most of whom have access to warm water/showers etc) is an obstacle to increased public transport use.

MyMachineAndMe · 02/04/2023 17:04

Only because I prefer to be in my PJs. I wear the same clothes again the following day if they're not dirty.

Tribollite · 02/04/2023 17:59

An old article, but I doubt bed bugs have gone away. This is why I change and keep my bag and clothes away from soft furnishings when I get in. Obviously if I have visitors it can't be helped, but I'd rather cut down the risk when I can, and it takes 30 seconds to get changed when I get in.

I have been bitten on the tube (not sure by what), have sat in liquid, seen kids with their shoes all over the seats, seen people puking. Why on earth wouldn't you get changed.

metro.co.uk/2018/08/31/yes-you-can-pick-up-bedbugs-from-sitting-down-on-public-transport-7899505/