In just over a week’s time, I’m moving home! Up until now I’ve always lived pretty near to the city centre where work and choir are based. And as such, I’ve enjoyed the luxury of being about to choose to walk or cycle to work on a morning. The walk takes a maximum of 20 minutes, and the cycle is less than 10 minutes.
However, nothing ever stays the same for ever, and a recent rather large change in my life has been my girlfriend moving in with me. Now the living together thing is going swimmingly well, but she does have one particular niggle with my house, which is the 1-hour drive each way to her office – especially as my journey time is so short!
And so, we’ve both agreed to move to someone that’s a bit more equidistant between our two jobs, to make the commutes more equal. And that means moving to the burbs! Don’t get me wrong, we’re moving into a lovely part of south Dublin, and the new house and neighbourhood are fantastic. But I’m now facing a longer commute to work.
The new place is just over 6km from the office, which is not massive in the grand scheme of things. I know of loads of people who cycle 20-30km each way to work, but they tend to by lycra-clad road warriors, who ride considerably faster than me! I suppose my issue resolves around losing the choice to walk to work. To go that distance on foot, according to Google maps, would take about 75 minutes (far too long!), and so that option isn’t viable. So my only option is to cycle.
Don’t get me wrong, I love to cycle, and I’m not bothered by wind and rain (although snow can be scary!). And my commute time each way is still going to be under 30 minutes. But a tiny little bit of me mourns the loss of choice.
I could, of course, investigate going to work on the bus, or even – shock horror – by car! But I’d prefer to avoid those options if at all possible.