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When I lived In England I commuted by car into London every day. I was part of a Central London Sales team and the way we got around was by car. It wasn't ideal as I had never seen traffic like it before. This was the days before mobile phones and apps.
I bought myself a map book which was called the A-Z and self taught myself London. The first year I was in the East End and I hated the Black Wall Tunnel under the Thames.The Peters Pie factory was on the entrance on the left hand side and it stank nearly as bad as the polluted tunnel itself.
A common site as traffic is backed up to enter the Black Wall Tunnel.
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A few A-Z's later and I was comfortable without a map book and low and behold I was moved to the city center. I was in the hub for three years and must have used another four A-Z's as they just fell apart. I always kept one even though I didn't need it after a couple of years.
The London taxi drivers do a five year course and believe me this isn't an easy course to pass. London is a maze of one way streets and any roadworks could send you in the wrong direction. This was me being thrown in the deep end as it makes Johannesburg and Durban city centers look like child's play. Durban has 3 main streets basically and that is it.I had a chauffeur when I worked Durban City center as well.
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See how small Durban is compare to a major city like London. There is no comparison and Durban is like a suburb of London.
I hated spending the days in the car and most likely spent a few years in the car over the 10 years working the London area. I know am going back into the traffic having dodged it for many years. I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't do rush hours again, but this is now for me and not working for someone else.It kind of feels different and that is what I have told my brain anyway.
Unfortunately where we are setting up has to be fairly central for businesses and I see the need for this. The only set back is the road system seems to get backed up fairly often where we are going to be based. Bitter sweet I suppose and my hours must just change accordingly.
When I drove into London I used to wait for rush hour to die down before I left home. I worked out others who left at 6.30 am only got in at 8.30 or so. I left at 8 am and would be in at 8.45 and thought that was just using common sense. I would be on my way home by 4.30 pm dodging the mass exodus.I never took a break and always finished everything that was needed to be done with time to spare.I was caught out once and spent over 6 hours in one very bad jam.
What I need to do now is leave early and come home late which will benefit me even more. The time after work waiting for the traffic to die down I will get the deliveries ready for the next day. When I arrive at work early in the morning I will most likely grab a coffee and do some of the deliveries myself cutting down the needs of having extra staff members for now.
Busy times ahead,but also exciting times and no doom and gloom of going back into the traffic.