A less grown-up commute

Unless you happen to work locally or live centrally, most of us zone 2 or 3’ers have to face the dreaded London commute. Given that this necessary evil takes up a ludicrously large chunk of our lifetime, we strive to make it as quick and painless as possible. The first and most obvious solution is to GET UP REALLY EARLY. Hmm…OK, well if that doesn’t work what else can we do? Drive to work? Selfish, un-green and expensive. Cycle? Admirable, but scary for the inexperienced and frankly bonkers for those Boris bikers, aimlessly bumbling around with no helmet (I speak from personal experience here!)

So it’s never going to be perfect, but this Summer I took inspiration from my 3 year old daughter and bought a scooter. No, not a sit-on hair-dryer, but an actual old-school scooter (or kick-scooter if you want to be nerdy about it). I’m happy to say that 6 months on, I’m still scooting, pretty much every day and it has greatly improved my quality of (commute) life. So I still have to get on a sweaty tube in the middle bit of my journey but travelling from home to station and from station to work is now a pleasure rather than a chore. See me glide gracefully over Hammersmith Bridge WHEEEEE, see me dodge effortlessly through the Oxford Street crowds!

I know I look a bit silly, but I don’t care. Small children in particular are constantly amazed when they see me ‘Look mummy, a grown up on a scooter!!!’ and my daughter’s still of an age where she thinks mum’s antics are brilliant rather than acutely embarrassing. So commuting these days is not so bad after all and I can feel justifiably smug with all the extra calories I’m burning. I don’t understand why more people don’t take this up; you quickly get over looking like a spod and indulging in an activity generally reserved for pre-schoolers is strangely liberating. Why not give it a go – just don’t get in my way – I’ve not got a klaxon yet!