I remember one time in 2017 when a strike hit on a Wednesday. My commute became a real-life episode of The Walking Dead. Except instead of zombies, it was people in business casual shuffling silently towards the nearest Overground station. We all looked like we’d just seen our own paycheques being burned in a bin. The camaraderie was almost beautiful—a shared, miserable destiny.
You know you’ve hit rock bottom when you start raging at the pigeons. “You don’t have to deal with this, do you? You just fly! You selfish feathery git!” A woman next to me nodded in solidarity. We were strangers, but in that moment, we were family. A family waiting for a 12-minute-late 38 bus.
There’s a London tube strike next week
The Art of the Backup Plan
So, you’ve confirmed the strike. Now what? You have two choices. Option A: the “heroic commuter.” You wake up at 4:45am, cycle 15 miles in the drizzle, and arrive smelling like a damp dog. You get a gold star from your manager and a dead leg from the saddle. Noble, but foolish.
Option B: the “lazy genius.” You simply work from home. You claim a “client meeting in Zone 2” but actually just wear pyjama bottoms under your jeans. You watch the chaos unfold on Twitter from the safety of your kitchen table. You sip your tea, and you thank the union gods for your WiFi.
Let’s be real: most of us do a chaotic mix of both. You’ll cycle halfway, then abandon your bike locked to a railing you’ll never find again. Then you’ll walk 40 minutes, only to find the bus is stuck in traffic because everyone else had the same “brilliant” idea. It’s like a choose-your-own-adventure book where every ending is “Arrive Late, Hair Greasy.”
