Add A Bit of Country To Your Morning Commute

Who doesn't get the Sunday blues come 6 pm on a Sunday evening?  As I type this, I'm already pushing away visions of paper on my desk, though at least I have the London Book Fair to look forward to tomorrow.

I don't think I actually dread going to work - once I arrive, it's fine.  As evidenced by my weekly tube rants, however, it's the getting there that I find problematic and stressful.

But I think I've got it sussed out.  Well, at least, I think I've found something that can help: country music.  Yes, seriously.  I'm not talking about going crazy here, but instead of the usual combinations of Radiohead and Massive Attack (which send me spiraling into instant depths of depression and/or total un-motivation) or Copland and Dvorak (which prove too soft to drown out the horrible tube sounds) or Rihanna and Kanye West (which is a bit too "party" on a Monday morning), I found my face spreading into an involuntary grin when my iPod shuffle landed on Lady Antebellum (which is the closest you'll get to country on my MP3 player).  Actually, it made me laugh.  A lot.  Listening to country on the tube can only be described as ... ironic.  I can tell you right now, there's no weirder place to experience the lyrics, "Met up with some friends outside of town / we were headed towards the lake / I hopped into the back of a jacked up jeep and felt the wind upon my face / We got to the spot and the sun was hot, everybody was feelin fine / So we jumped on in for a midday swim and then we lost all track of time" than sitting across from a serious man in a dark suit with a leather briefcase and a frown on the Bakerloo line at 8:23 a.m. on a Monday morning.

Try it.