Commute

My commute to and from Parramatta is navigated by landmarks. On the way in, Strathfield station marks time for breakfast. Dooleys (some sort of club venue) at Lidcombe Station is an indicator that I need to start mentally preparing to get off the train and ready for work.

 

Auburn swimming pool. Gallipoli Mosque at Auburn. “Furn ture”, something my mind catches every time I pass it. The missing ‘I’ really messes with my perfectionism, but the equal number of letters on each side satisfies my need for symmetry. Harris Park means I need to pack away the book I’m reading. Landmarks are the Saree shop and a random group of weatherboard buildings that have been fenced off for the 4 years I’ve been semi-regularly commuting this route. The high-rise buildings either side of the station create a tunnel effect that signals I’ve arrived.

I love catching public transport. Its the option of being able to gaze as the world wizzes by, to read a book, to fashion watch strangers. Its the journeys through suburbia. Its the joy of the top front seat on London’s double decker buses, or the driver seat on the DLR. 

As many archaeologists live in Sydney’s inner west, the trendy part of town (read: reasonably affordable, lots of young people and share-houses), a train journey to Parramatta can become a social occasion as other archaeologists jump on the train (during one stint, there were about 10 of us that all seemed to get the same carriage on the same train). It can also turn into a chance to catch up with colleagues who you may not have seen for weeks due to conflicting fieldwork schedules.  

The most laborious journey getting to site via public transport was in London. It took 1.5hrs and involved a bus, the DLR, two separate tubes, and then another bus. This journey, too, often became a social occasion: on the first tube ride I’d join one person already in the carriage, at the next station a few others would join us, and then yet more would appear at the bus stop, the last leg. Some days there would be 5 or 6 of us going against the flow of people and traffic out into suburban Essex. 

Commuting in archaeology - whether by car, train, bus, plane, helicopter - is a bonding experience. I’m interested in hearing others experiences of commutes, particularly to the same place over an extended period of time. Leave a comment below.