[TW]Fox;15821662 said:
You are in privileged position of not having to commute long distance or not choosing to. I could be wrong, but I don't think it's a secret you live with your parents so commuting probably seems like a mugs game to you. Some people don't want to live in the city or the suburbs and want what they see as a better quality of life in a rural area. Of course that has to be balanced with the time spent driving, but for some, it's worth every soul-sapping minute of motorway tedium. Significantly lower crime rates, no slums or city traffic, less people and no neighbors, a slower pace of life, sense of community, ease of parking etc etc. That's excluding the whole property issue as well which is a huge factor. You want a big house with plenty of land, moreoften than not you'll need a city salary. Kids can dictate the commute as well...if you want your children to grow up in the country, go to a certain school, not have to move them away from established friends and family and the list goes on. So people make the sacrifice of their free time for the commute. Then you have to take into account where your spouse wants to live and work and where her career may take her and all of a sudden there are compromises that have to be struck.
My long distance commuting days are over for now, but that's only because I did it for so many years in the first place. I want big houses with land and nice holidays, no mortgages, financial security and not to have my nose to the grindstone when I'm 45, let alone 65. I really detest city living and I would rather spend an hour commuting in my car than 10 minutes on a bus or God forbid, the tube. Sounds snobbish and like I've said before, mollycoddled, but it's my choice and my time wasted.
I personally don't see it as a waste, it is just part of the graft. The time I 'lost' was an investment which no doubt some people may seem as a waste but we all have different concepts of what to do with our free time. I could never rack up some of the postcounts I see sometimes, but if a person chooses to spend quite a bit of time on an internet forum compared to say, reading a book...no better, no worse...just a completely different use of time.
As far as most of the extra money being eaten by car-related costs, not the case for myself but I guess you could argue that some people would rather eat the loss on a A4 and offset it against some of what I've written above.
I'm not making any counter-claims of my choice of commuting as "superior", because it's absolutely not. It's a means to an end for a lifestyle my partner and I chose. By the same token, I don't understand how a young, single guy would turn down an extra £10k a year for 500 miles a week. You have a well-maintained executive car, you are single with no dependents (apologies if I'm wrong on any of this) and would probably like a place of your own so I can't think of a better time to commute. But you wouldn't, fair enough and your reasons are just as valid as mine for choosing to commute, but I haven't seen anybody yet post with a "superior grasp of life", just different.
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