Missing the commute

I was fortunate enough to keep working during the local coronavirus lockdown, and even though I had the equipment to work at home, I just couldn't trust the internet at home and have just been driving to and from work every day.

It was all very convenient, especially when the roads were so empty, but I did genuinely miss the commute, because that's when I get a lot of my reading done. It's half an hour where I don't have to worry about work, or the child, or anything in between, I just have to sit and read.

To get to work, I usually walk, or take public transport. It's a 45-minute walk and while I usually use that time for catching up on podcasts, I'm still a fiend for getting some reading in on the move, getting through entire magazines and comic book trade paperbacks as I wander through the suburbs. And if I do have to take the bus, that's at least 25 minutes of nothing to do but read.

That's when I've been reading the vast majority of my books of the month over the past few years, or get through another in my ongoing and long-term mission to read all of the Dr Who New Adventures in order for the first time, (I'm now up to #11, only another 50 or so to go but, unfortunately, The Pit is coming up next).

Life is so fucking hectic that sometimes it feels like you've got to grab any chance to switch off and dive into some fiction. The long commute might be a scourge of modern life, but it's also a brilliant chance to get some reading in. What else would I do with the time?