It was a woman standing on the corner of Edgware Road who tipped me over the edge. “Watch out on that bike,” she yelled as I waited respectfully the traffic lights. “You’re a woman, it’s even more dangerous for you.” I was tempted to congratulate her on her powers of observation about my gender but instead I stood seething. How else did she think I was going to get to work?
London is opening, we’re meant to be going back to business as usual. Offices are working out safe practices, rotas and social distancing. But the big question has been ignored — do you brave the Tube or find a new way to commute?
Mention the C-word to any Londoner and you are guaranteed to receive a rant. We have the longest average commute in the country — about 74 minutes a day. A study added up the time we commute: the grand total is 18 months of our lives, two per cent of the entire time we are on this planet. An eccentric few extol the benefits of the mindful commute, a chance for self-improvement (or catching up on sleep). Ignore them, they’re either deluded or have never had to endure the Circle (of hell) line from High Street Kensington to King’s Cross at rush hour, which usually features at least one menace eating a katsu curry and another wedged up against you. But that was small fry compared to what we now face. After four months of working from my one-bedroom flat, I had high hopes for returning to the office. I dreamed of the small things — a proper desk, a reason to wear proper clothes and, best of all, no more Zoom calls because I could speak to colleagues face to face.
The commute, however, is an obstacle. Like the majority of Londoners I live an hour from my office and I am not ready to get back on the Tube — that is the final frontier. Almost three-quarters of London commuters say they will avoid the Tube as they return to work, while car use is up.
I face a choice of sorts — a selection of buses, which would take over an hour, walking, which would take all day, taxis or getting on my bike. 1.3 million Britons have bought a bike since the start of the pandemic and cycling is up.
In France they have built pop-up corona cycleways. Here we just have a few half-built cycle lanes and an increase in cars. So much for nature returning. There are also the new cyclists and the scooters — it’s amateur hour on the roads. I went for my bike but was so nervous about it that I managed to forget my dress and greeted my colleagues after four months apart in padded shorts.
I’ve taken the Tube once since lockdown after a doctor friend told me how fine it was. She actually said the danger of being groped was higher than of catching Covid. It wasn’t. My whole body went tense every time a passenger coughed and I tried and failed to do a whole journey not touching anything.I never thought I’d miss the Circle line. Until that feels safe, we need better, safer infrastructure to ease us out of lockdown.
* I have certain friends whom I never feel the need to have a catch-up with, the reason being that they track their every move on Instagram.
I know where they were last weekend, I saw the pictures. Covid has put an end to that. During lockdown they were afraid to Instagram lest they were having too much fun, or worse, had gone somewhere when it was illegal. Far wiser to be like Florence Pugh, left, who puts her Instagram to good use, sharing recipes and jokes.
