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commute hell

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

This morning I was out the door at 07:15 determined to ride to Kichijoji, half of my 25km commute and something I used to do routinely. I discovered that the rear tire was completely flat, so I removed the wheel and got the tube out to discover a pretty good pinch tear where it seems there had been a fold in the tube inside the wheel; a problem I've been having here in Tokyo for some reason. I use tire cream, so I'm not sure what the problem is.

Anyway, the spare had a tear in the tube where the valve attached, so I set out to walk, now more than twenty minutes late. I got to the station to find it busier than I'd ever seen it, and what followed was one of those commutes where the attendants push people onto the trains. Only two stops from home I decided that it wasn't going to be worth it and that I wanted to go home, but the train was too crowded to reach the door.

So despite having originally been ready at 07:15 I got to a desk at the office by 08:58.

And they wonder why we want to work from home.