scumble grumbles: inhumane commuting

Medlar on 7/11/2008 at 23:40

I did the London thing in my 30's, did the commuting then the living there. Made huge money but...Never never again, you have to be stark raving mad to even try to make life worth living in that hell hole. Find work somewhere else bud. Your wife will thank you, your kids will thank you and you will thank yourself. :D

scumble on 8/11/2008 at 08:10

Quote Posted by fett

I wish 'scumble grumbles' would become a regular featured article on ttlg. :cool:

This is the third installment in an irregular series.

Quote Posted by Starrfall

Two hours is absolutely ridiculous, and I'm always amazed that so many people here do it. We're about 2-3 hours from SF with traffic, and LOTS of people make that drive. They're insane.

Yes, insane fools. I wasn't considering doing this in the long term, but even a few months is difficult. The season ticket costs nearly 300 quid a month too. Crazy.

Quote:

Have you tried asking your coworkers where they live? They're probably your best bet. Or you can let me pick a place from google maps at random. I choose Ripley! You should live in Ripley. (Note that I know nothing about the London suburbs)

A few of them have long commutes just coming from the other side of London. The trouble is that I'm not used to living in the middle of huge sprawl. I do live in a small city now, but parts of the London conurbation are great expanses of dingy looking houses discoloured by years of pollution, so I'm not sure how you choose. The best I've managed so far is the area my Grandmother grew up in, called Carshalton. Her sister still lives up that way so it's a family connection of a sort.

Quote Posted by nickie

Just wondering whereabouts (roughly) you are now. It's a bit difficult trying to think of everywhere surrounding London. Know south and west pretty well but not a lot about north of.

South west London is going to be most convenient. Wimbledon is very close but too expensive, so it's pretty much down to somewhere in Surrey that's within the M25. I'd be grateful for any comments about the south west as I'm unfamiliar with most of it.

Quote:

Yes, I'd agree that most of it is pretty rubbish, but at the moment job options can be limited, and unfortunately the IT work is in the cities. The only alternative is to work towards a different line of employment, or self employment, which would be my ultimate goal I think.

Gryzemuis on 8/11/2008 at 11:00

My suggestion: quit your job. Or even better: let them fire you. Then go collect wellfare. Stay where you are. You might have a bit less luxury, but you'll be happier in the end.

Without kidding: I've moved around a bit over they years, moving towards new jobs. I even moved abroad a few times. In the area where I went to University, there are no interesting jobs. So I moved to another city first. Later I moved to a neighboring country. And I've even lived and worked in the US for a while. I've also spent a few years long-distance telecommuting. (Working for a team in the US, while being in Europe).

I had a nice career, made quite some money, did some things I can be proud of. But in the end, if I had known in advance, I would have not done it. I would have taken an average job in the city where I used to go to University. And not moved no matter what. Moving around is bad for your social relations. You will invest a lot of time in trivial stuff. Just think how much time you have to invest moving house, and getting the new house ready. Now realize how little spare time you have anyway, when running a fulltime job. It's just not worth it. My oldtime friends, who stayed over the years, have a much nicer, richer and more social life than I have. Now that is also partially because of whom I am (less social, I gues). But I'm pretty sure that moving around a lot, and spending a lot of time at work, has something to do with it.

Hope this helps.

Ulukai on 8/11/2008 at 13:24

If you stay at home on welfare I'm going to come round and kick your arse.

Hope this helps

I can understand the commuting issues though - I used to spend 3 hours a day in a car and it was a killer. In bed by 10, up at 6.

D'Juhn Keep on 8/11/2008 at 17:55

Quote Posted by scumble

My brother works in IT and used to work in London. At one stage he was commuting from north east London to Esher in Surrey. He decided to take a pay+benefits cut and move to the Essex coast. He works in Colchester and is much happier now that he can actually see his wife and son!

ACT SMILEY on 8/11/2008 at 20:26

Quote Posted by scumble

This is the third installment in an irregular series.

Yes, insane fools. I wasn't considering doing this in the long term, but even a few months is difficult. The season ticket costs nearly 300 quid a month too. Crazy.

I pay that at the minute for a half-hour train journey to Woking. Heading towards London in rush hour just makes things silly money. Can't afford to move closer either, because anything beyond Basingstoke turns into prime commuterland, as its 45 mins from Waterloo - don't know if I'd even want to though, Woking might have some nice bits apparently, but everything around the centre is rubbish. A fairly substantial shopping centre and some grimy '60s shopping precints doesn't really explain the reams of flashy estate agents offering silly money places, so presumably the surrounding villages are quite nice.

PigLick on 9/11/2008 at 00:20

Jesus christ I have a 20 minute commute and I still cant get to work on time!

N'Al on 9/11/2008 at 09:55

Haha, same here.

In my defense, it involves walking uphill.

nickie on 9/11/2008 at 16:56

Trouble with west and south west area is that if it's a nice place to live then it's silly money. Maybe somewhere like Raynes Park - not overly expensive considering.

To start with I'd have a look at e.g. (http://www.findaproperty.com/) this site and see where I could afford to rent/buy and then about half way down the page (http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/free-house-prices) here is a section 'Is it a nice place to be' with links to sites where you can get info on different areas.

And then it's just a case of checking out the pubs in your shortlisted areas and bob's your uncle. :)

It'd be easier to comment on any possibles you come up with and it's easier to come up with a negative rather than a positive, if you see what I mean.

Brian The Dog on 10/11/2008 at 11:20

If you're not worried about the cost, then Wimbledon and Putney are both nice places to live, lots of greenery (for London). Barnes, Twickenham and Richmond all have a "small-town" feel to them despite being in the London suburbs.

Raynes Park, as Nickie mentioned, is a good bet as it's just beyond the tube map and hence cheaper. If you're really wanting to go further out, then Guildford or Woking are good bets, just change at Wimbledon for the District Line. Or somewhere like Reading or Windsor go into Putney overground. However, the travel costs will be a few thousand a year :(

You can get an idea of what train lines are quick into Wimbledon (http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tocs_maps/maps/LondonConnectionsOctober08.pdf) here.

I also notice the knackered look on fellow-commuters in the morning, I think it's a London-wide thing :)