Force of Habit

Twice in a row I’ve done this now. For the last two days at work I haven’t been able to cycle for wardrobe-related reasons, but instead of taking the most direct route home I’ve found myself automatically setting off on my cycle route instead which means going in a big loop well out of my way. The first time I was about half way home before I realised I wasn’t actually on my bike (although I did think I was going a bit slowly). Today I vowed to do better, but as I was walking towards the exit of the station I was fatally distracted by a woman who dropped her oyster card without noticing and had to be tapped on the shoulder before she realised that all the people in the station shouting ‘excuse me!’ were talking to her. Musing idly on the way some commuters get so lost in their thoughts that they become completely oblivious to their surroundings, it was only when someone stopped me for directions that I realised I’d done it again. Goodness knows what might have happened if they hadn’t stopped me – I’d probably have never realised, completed the whole loop, and then chained myself up to the railings when I got home.

SouthWest Trains have signs up all over the place advising us not to travel on Tuesday because of a drivers’ strike. It’s all very well them saying that but even if I did decide to take another route to work, I know fine well that Tuesday morning would see me lost in my usual reverie, waiting on the platform at Vauxhall, wondering where all the trains have gone…