How did I end up with a job where I get up at 5.30am?!

[shouldntBeButIAm]

Just drinking my swift coffee and getting ready for work and wondering how I ended up with a job getting up at 5.30 and an almost 2 hour commute each way! AIBU for thinking there must be more to life?!

Six years of commuting 2 hours each way every day was enough for me. Leaving the house in the dark and getting home in the dark really impacted me and I'd often see very little daylight during the day as my office was in the centre of a building. Going part time and working from home transformed my life. I feel for you.

Can you work from home at all?

I did it.......but it was slowly ruining our lives.
I’d leave the house at 0550, Walk 35 mins to the train at 0640, arrIve London Victoria at 0815, catch a bus and get to the office at 0845.
Coming home was worse, I’d get in my front door at 8.30pm.
I quit.
Took a 12k pay cut - bearing in mind my train ticket was 6k a year.
Now earn a lot less but leave my house at 8.20am and am in the door at 17.55.
Life was/is too short.

Ah man that's going to be me next year, one packed bus, two packed trains... but I can't move house as excellent spot near a good primary school (boys 7 and 3 so there a long time still) and my parents live around the corner for emergency childcare. Also I don't drive. Not that I'd want to into a major city at that time in the morning!

I'm travelling for the best university for the medical course I want, very competitive and I haven't even got in yet but I'm going for it. You just need to ask, is this job worth it? Can you look into transferring? Change of career even?

Meant to say, train is £71 a day but that includes the underground.

To be honest my drive to the station and the main line train are bearable, that's an hour. It then takes me another 45 mins to get across London and walk to the office.

When cross rail opens it will hopefully better. I nearly cried at the news report that the date is now some time in 2021. When we initially planned the move it was December 2019. Then it was May 2020, then March 2021 and now 'as soon as possible in 2021!' Ridiculous

@Youngatheart00 that is a really good idea. I sometimes work or like today, I'm on mumsnet or I'm using the time to buy Christmas presents and organise our life online.

Perhaps I need to come up with something for me.

@Mermaidtissues I'm working on being able to maybe do 2 days from home which would be fantastic. Although I'm so tired I think it would take a while to appreciate it fully!

Well to all of us who are commuting right now, (I would have used wine but that would put me back to sleep, caffeine more practical!).

I vowed I'd never be more than half an hour from work after years of London commutes.

Currently,as a HCP I'm the only one in my team who works 9-5, three days a week. The others opted for variants of 13 hour days/ night shift. As it's an expensive city, many have long commutes, so get up at 5am, get home at 9pm (for three long days). Then call in sick.

I do this too Op! We moved from a zone 5 suburb to central Kent and a lovely town, however my commute is 1.5-2 hours a day and I get the 6am train up at 5. Going in is fine but the journey home is long and relentless as I’m tired. I’m the main bread winner so stuck with it for a while and I’m very well paid. Looking at potential redundancy so that might change things but I enjoy working in London it’s a nice balance to country life but possibly not 4/5 days a week! I feel your pain

That’s meant to read 1.5/2 hours each way!

I did years of being up at 5.45 to walk the dog before work. I used to say hello or smile at the same commuters walking to the station catch the 6.30 train to London. The station was rammed too. I always felt a bit less sorry for my self in the dark winter rain seeing them.

Even worse I would walk into town at 7 or 8 for a drink with friends and see the same people coming home. That’s pretty grim.

I used to have the choice of getting up later and sitting for 75 minutes in traffic then straight to work or getting up earlier, taking 45 minutes by car and sitting in a coffee shop before going to work. The latter was much better for my sanity

Same here! Currently in the train, and the commute is such a waste of life!

but... my kids are much happier here, they have a great house in a lovely neighbourhood and their schools are great. The alternative would be a small flat and private school in London (which would be interesting to finance, with 4 kids...) and cutting down on all holidays, trips, treats, clubs.

So without kids, I wouldn't even have considered it, but for them it's absolutely worth it.

I keep an eye on local jobs, but I doubt I'll find something that pays nowhere near enough, I haven't yet. Working from home as many days as possible is the answer!

Another one who feels your pain! Up until last November I worked 1.5 hours away each way. I took a 5k pay cut to work 8 minutes away, best choice I ever made. Get to see my children in the morning and feel much less tired. It's hard, especially when it's so dark at this time of year. Would be great if you can managed to work from
Home a couple of days. I think you get to the point where enough is enough.

@shouldntBeButIAm I sympathise. I used to do similar either a long train commute then a different job meant 2 hours drive. I listened to audiobooks or podcasts. Nowadays there is so much choice in the podcast world I'm sure you will find something you enjoy. If you'd like suggestions, MN will help! I have a 'scrib'd' subscription which means I can read ebooks in my phone/iPad but also ( usually) there's an unabridged audio version of the same book so I can listen sometimes, read others. That might work for you. It's £7.99 a month and I share it with DD. BBC sounds and obviously so many others have great podcasts. Try to carve out a bit of enjoyment from the commute time at least. I hear some trains have book groups/ chess clubs...

I’m on the train- having commuted before kids and then working school hours locally I’m now back up in London full time now kids are early teens. I'm not sick of the commute yet- I feel like going back to London has made my world broader and I have more career opportunities, but I can’t move until they’ve finished school but all moving together as they enter the Workplace would be beneficial I think.
Getting up at half past bastard five is killing me too though!

@Sooverthemill thanks so much, I'm going to google it now!

Like a PP, this is why I work a job that is NMW but a three minute drive away. Yes, I could probably double my salary if I worked in the nearest city, but I'd have to get up at dawn or before, drive over a hour and a half and the same (or longer, in rush hour) to get home, to fall into bed and do it all again.

I traded money for time and I don't regret it.

The wake up time wouldn’t be an issue for me, but commuting is just dead time.

I'm the same as you, same distance, same cost, but I stay up here two nights a week and catch up on much needed sleep.
I'm not sure how long I can do this for, we are seriously considering moving back to London.

I did have a job like that once. It was only an hour commute, but I was up at 4:30 for a 6:00 start. What I did was ask for a compressed work schedule. So I worked 4 ten hour days (eleven including my lunch break). But, I had every Wednesday off. This made all the difference in my life. It’s true it is the commute that wears you out. Not having to do it more than 2 days in a row was a relief.

@shouldntBeButIAm sorry was in a rush www.scribd.com/here

sorry

I only realised when older that this type of commute and job was totally pointless in the grand scheme of things.

most of the work is in London and we don't want to move closer, although DCs are nearly through A-levels so we would be more portable in a few years.

Commute is about 1:45 each way, but that is longer than it could be of my own making. I get the slower train (30 mins instead of 15) so I can get a seat and close my eyes on the trip in; and I walk from the station to the office (40 mins) instead of tube because the tube is horrendous and just adds to cost.