Commuting

[Bydo]

I was wondering how many of us have a big fuck-off commute to work in the morning. I work as a Teacher in Dundee and have been living in a flat there for a couple of years now, but I'm a Glasgow native and my Mrs. also stays there because of work, so I find myself back home most weekends for her and to see the folks, as well as mates, wrestling buddies, and the like.

I'm starting a weeks trial to commute- but to get into work by 8:45, I need to leave Glasgow at about 6:30 by bus (I can drive, but literally can't afford to at the moment), and would get back in at 7pm. The bus would give me time to do tedious tasks such as marking and stuff, but I've a feeling that I'll be bloody knackered. On the plus side, if it goes well, i would move in with my Mrs, ridding me of my horribly expensive flat and all it's add-ons.

Anyway, over to you- anyone in a similar position? How do you cope?

[Bus Surfer]

Before I got with my Girlfriend, for years my daily commute was 55 miles round trip. Usually taking between 1 hour - 1 1/2 hour hours each way depending on traffic. These days I live about 4 miles from where I work so it's like a different world.

 

Doing a full days work is bad enough, never mind having upto 3 hours travelling on top of that.

[Bashar]

08:45 is pretty late in for a teacher. If there's a big traffic jam or the bus fails you're well fucked surely?

 

You're probably better off trying to sleep on the bus back. Get some hypnosis mp3s or shit like that.

 

Sounds a little barmy, if you're trying to fix yourself up with a Glasgow teaching job for next year then maybe you can make it work until then. Doubt you would hack it much later than that unless very well organised. If it's long-term, might be better trading down your Dundee flat for a small room.

 

Good luck!

[Bydo]

08:45 is pretty late in for a teacher. If there's a big traffic jam or the bus fails you're well fucked surely?

 

Good luck!

 

Absolutely! There's already a fella in my work who makes the exact same journey, and after talking to him, he told me that he's pretty rarely late, but it's a close run thing. He manages, but he tells me he'd rather see his kids at night and be employed- Physics teacher jobs down Glasgow way are a rare occurrence indeed!

 

And cheers mate!

[King Pitcos]

I used to commute from Coventry to Birmingham on the bus, to a minimum-wage temp job. It's not really that far, but because of the dickhead route I took, I had to leave at about 5am to get to work for 8. I assume that if I'd just got the train, I'd have shaved an hour and half off the journey. The 900 from Cov to Brum takes fucking ages, then I had to get two more buses in Brum.

 

I lasted about three weeks doing that. Couldn't hack it. It meant either getting no sleep or having no time to do anything in the evening, so something had to give. Got absolutely wrecked one night in Cov, drank a bottle of overproof rum and woke up chuffed thinking "ooh, my alarm hasn't even gone off yet." Then another lad at the house said my phone had been going off all morning with the alarm and work ringing. The battery had died by the time I was awake, and I was several hours late. I'd been sick out the window as well, and I had to go and clean that up. Never went back to the job, and that was actually the start of a downward spiral of homelessness for the next four or five months, at which point I went to university just so I had somewhere to live. Needless to say, I had the last laugh.

 

So yeah, give it a go.

[Halitosis Romantic]

That's a sad story, and just proves that Wray and his nephew have a lot to answer for.

[thefallenangel]

Don't commute for a job, it's horrible, nasty and i am stuck doing it plus driving ontop of my job driving.

 

I've clocked 20,000 miles in 9 months on my van. It's fully paid for but my job has extended to 11 hours days from 8.5 hours. Hereford is a horrid little place full of hillbilly idiots who have no respect for trades. If you can give it a go, do it attitude which is extremely unsafe and wrong in an engineering environment which people do get killed in. I commute on a quiet day 90 mile minimum taking me 3 hours to drive.

 

I recommend anyone not to commute unless the place is so foul to live in and people are just so dense it really isn't worth it. Oh and cost of living comparing a house price in hereford to newport you can have a house in Newport for

[GlennCullen]

I currently get up at 5am every morning in order to make work for 8, get home around 8pm, and go to bed at 10pm. I'm also 150 miles away from my girlfriend, meaning I make an additional 6 hour trip every other weekend. After 6 months it's killing me, it really is.

[Bashar]

To OP, buy a Citroen C1 about 3 years old for

[Kaz Hayashi]

I work on two different college sites, one of which is an hours walk away, the other one is an hour on the bus.

 

Its bad enough but nowt like some of the above, especially KJs travel. I understand man, i live in newcastle and my girl used to live in london, i was a poor student and would travel down on the mega bus every couple of weeks which took about 9 hours each way, and cost an entire quid.

[Loki]

My gut on this is always, if it's more than an hour each way I'd rather not. I did that for 6 months and it was exhausting.

 

Anything less than an hour, and really you should be considering it. In the modern age, you can't always work where you live, or at least you'll severely inhibit your prospects.

 

I'm currently considering a 50-minute each way commute. If I can get it down to 45 minutes, I reckon that'll be ok.

[Joey Joe Joe Jr]

I have an internship beginning in a two months so till then I'm traveling from Eastbourne to Brighton for a telephone interviewing gig as its flexible and they've just offered day shifts to me so I can earn more while I'm at a loose end (plus there is absolutely zilch in Eastbourne). First I have to get into Eastbourne town centre to get a bus (cheaper option) to Brighton which takes just a bit more than an hour in the morning. If they keep me on the full day shift, I have to get in for 9. It's about 90 mins of travel but because the next Brighton bus is scheduled to come in at 9 on the dot I can't risk it, so get in like 30 mins earlier which is a bit of a nightmare but better than being stuck in a tiny bit of traffic and then being late.

 

I was doing shorter evening shifts up to now so today was a shock to the system (and before that, my job was just 7 mins walk from me but was generally awful). Hopefully with Spring around the corner, the sun will be up and make the travel a bit more bearable and even then it wont be for long so I can't complain too much.

 

Thank god for podcasts.