Rush Hour Push
I'm not an overly confrontational person.
In fact, my friends would say I prefer to avoid it all together.
But nothing makes me to want to scream in a complete strangers face quite like the London commute.
But here I am, stood in a tin can with a briefcase wedged in between my arse cheeks and another passengers' delightful morning breath stinging my eyes.
I physically growl, clench my fists, grind my teeth and try my very best not to kick the person who is walking so frigging slowly whilst simultaneously trying to read the metro. Is rush hour crush particularly gripping today?
But surely winter is better than summer? Reminiscing back to the months when I frequently enjoyed someone's armpit is dripping on my shoulder, whilst trying to unstick myself from my own or a neighbours piece of wet sticky clothing. Or when someone stands on the back of my flip flop every step up the escalator - don't apologise then do it again - ahhh good times.
So why do we do it? And is it actually worth it?
Long term, absolutely not.
I genuinely believe this unnecessary daily stress is so bad for your health and wellbeing, both physically and mentally. And looking at some of the tired, fed up faces of fellow travellers who have clearly been at this for decades, I'm sure most would agree.
I love my job, but sometimes trying to get to work is so stressful that I feel like I've done a full days work before I even arrive at my desk! Luckily I have the most amazing set of friends who can break me out of a bad mood in seconds with a terrible yorkshire impression of me and a nice cuppa tea.
I know people think that London commuters are rude by not talking, but we do this soul crushingly boring journey every day, and sometimes the only way to deal with it is to zone out. Imagine spending on average, 40 minutes standing on a train so squashed that you can't even scratch your nose - twice a day - 5 days a week.
That's over 6 hours a week - meaning that we spend 12.5 days a year standing on a train rubbing up to someone we don't know. My commute is an hour, meaning I spend around 21 days a year with a complete stranger in my personal space.
So we don't want to / can't afford to quit our jobs, so how can we help release a bit of tension during the rat race?
I've tried meditating, which does really help, but I just feel a bit weird being stood up with my eyes closed. And if I'm sat down I fall asleep and miss the whole thing.
What about exercise? That's not my strong point, but I have been told that exercise releases endorphins, and I could do with a few of those as I'm zipping my hand in my pocket to stop myself punching the woman who just flicked her hair into my mouth.
Maybe there's just an aggressive beast trapped inside me and this situation has awakened her? But then I hear the most polite, timid voices shouting at each other to 'move down' or 'take your rucksack off ' (PG versions) and I just think that the situation creates the stress, not the people.
After all, everyone just wants to keep their head down and get to work on time, ideally without being being verbally abused on the way.
I do understand why people would rather commute than live in the city; apart from the obvious fact that it is (slightly) cheaper, it's to get away from the craziness.
Where I live, it's like a little piece of Yorkshire; big beautiful parks, cute village pubs and just all round normality. It's nice to escape on a weekend and just unwind. No tubes, no huge crowds, no big queues and busy roads.
That's what levels me out. My little Hampton house. We have cute village events and friendly neighbours, and we all say hello when we see each other in the street... and all still in zone 6.. Who knew eh.
So I'll put up with my annual 21 days of unwanted physical contact, for now... whilst I'm still hanging on to my twenties and my metabolism (turns out the gym is £50 a month and would eat into my Asos budget) but come the big 3-0 in 2018... who knows....
In fact, my friends would say I prefer to avoid it all together.
But nothing makes me to want to scream in a complete strangers face quite like the London commute.
But here I am, stood in a tin can with a briefcase wedged in between my arse cheeks and another passengers' delightful morning breath stinging my eyes.
I physically growl, clench my fists, grind my teeth and try my very best not to kick the person who is walking so frigging slowly whilst simultaneously trying to read the metro. Is rush hour crush particularly gripping today?
But surely winter is better than summer? Reminiscing back to the months when I frequently enjoyed someone's armpit is dripping on my shoulder, whilst trying to unstick myself from my own or a neighbours piece of wet sticky clothing. Or when someone stands on the back of my flip flop every step up the escalator - don't apologise then do it again - ahhh good times.
So why do we do it? And is it actually worth it?
Long term, absolutely not.
I genuinely believe this unnecessary daily stress is so bad for your health and wellbeing, both physically and mentally. And looking at some of the tired, fed up faces of fellow travellers who have clearly been at this for decades, I'm sure most would agree.
I love my job, but sometimes trying to get to work is so stressful that I feel like I've done a full days work before I even arrive at my desk! Luckily I have the most amazing set of friends who can break me out of a bad mood in seconds with a terrible yorkshire impression of me and a nice cuppa tea.
I know people think that London commuters are rude by not talking, but we do this soul crushingly boring journey every day, and sometimes the only way to deal with it is to zone out. Imagine spending on average, 40 minutes standing on a train so squashed that you can't even scratch your nose - twice a day - 5 days a week.
That's over 6 hours a week - meaning that we spend 12.5 days a year standing on a train rubbing up to someone we don't know. My commute is an hour, meaning I spend around 21 days a year with a complete stranger in my personal space.
So we don't want to / can't afford to quit our jobs, so how can we help release a bit of tension during the rat race?
I've tried meditating, which does really help, but I just feel a bit weird being stood up with my eyes closed. And if I'm sat down I fall asleep and miss the whole thing.
What about exercise? That's not my strong point, but I have been told that exercise releases endorphins, and I could do with a few of those as I'm zipping my hand in my pocket to stop myself punching the woman who just flicked her hair into my mouth.
Maybe there's just an aggressive beast trapped inside me and this situation has awakened her? But then I hear the most polite, timid voices shouting at each other to 'move down' or 'take your rucksack off ' (PG versions) and I just think that the situation creates the stress, not the people.
After all, everyone just wants to keep their head down and get to work on time, ideally without being being verbally abused on the way.
I do understand why people would rather commute than live in the city; apart from the obvious fact that it is (slightly) cheaper, it's to get away from the craziness.
Where I live, it's like a little piece of Yorkshire; big beautiful parks, cute village pubs and just all round normality. It's nice to escape on a weekend and just unwind. No tubes, no huge crowds, no big queues and busy roads.
That's what levels me out. My little Hampton house. We have cute village events and friendly neighbours, and we all say hello when we see each other in the street... and all still in zone 6.. Who knew eh.
So I'll put up with my annual 21 days of unwanted physical contact, for now... whilst I'm still hanging on to my twenties and my metabolism (turns out the gym is £50 a month and would eat into my Asos budget) but come the big 3-0 in 2018... who knows....
Comments
Post a Comment