Yes. The vaccines are being now at various speed distributed across the globe, creating a promise our life will soon turn back to normal. However, it is not easy to come up with the definition of the old normal. Wearing a mask or avoiding crowds is something we are all pros now.

Recently I’ve just discovered a photo from summer 2019 where I’m waiting on a train. Just picture it – a platform, people chattering and no sign of masks or distancing. How oddly it looks like. I must admit.

Anyway, while the vaccines promise that restaurants will open and some of the emails will start to be meetings again, I’m wondering how the new commuting will look like. In particular, do people really want their commute back?

Surely. For a long time, I thought that the lack of my 40-minutes commute is a horrifying scar in my daily life. Being romantic about passing scenery of the river, old town or forest right before arriving the campus. It was an empty void that made it hard to draw a line between the work-time and home-time, I would complain back then.

Time has passed, and the old routine is replaced by new ones. Exactly like when changing a flat, neighbourhood, city or country. Now there is maybe some extra time to go for a quick walk, not eating out in a rush but cooking instead which compensates it. And there is a new opportunity of being romantic about those routines too.

Yes. I still miss the bike commuting. Even though it’s winter right now. But once there will be the option to decide, whether to come back fully to the office or staying at home, I’m not sure what my answer will be. And I think I’m not alone. At least in my social bubble of “knowledge-workers” for which the internet connection and room to focus are the essentials.

Now, when we’ve adjusted to it and in many cases realized that it is the way to go, I hope we will take only the good from the office and home-office mode. The romantic commute and onsite brainstorming to maintain our working relations from the office. Less disruption and more time to focus from the home-office.

credit: unsplash/@goumbik
credit: unsplash/@goumbik