GOOD news. David Nobbs’ classic 1970s sitcom The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin is returning to TV. Better news. It’s not the Martin Clunes version.

BBC Four are to show the first episode of the classic sitcom on a week on Tuesday (February 23). Another chance to hear Leonard Rossiter rattle out a string of British Rail excuses as to why he is always late for work (“22 minutes late, badger ate a junction box at New Malden”).

When the series first aired back in 1976, I was too young to be a commuter. Now I wonder if that part of my life is in the past.

Like many, I’m home working these days. Have been for most of the last year. No problem on a day like today when it’s minus eight outside and there’s snow up to the top of my Wellingtons.

But a small part of me misses the commute to work. Not the delays, mind (ScotRail are just as capable of those in the 21st century as BR in the 1970s). Nor the cancellations. And definitely not the overcrowding.

The Herald:

Pauline Yates and Leonard Rossiter in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin

No, it’s more that the journey to and from the office was a reminder that work was not life (albeit part of it). A necessary evil that sometimes I didn’t mind, and now and again really enjoyed.

Apart from a trip to Edinburgh last summer, I haven’t been on a train since last March. I miss the familiar faces, the bumping into old colleagues and having a chat. I miss having the time to read; that little 25-minute window each way where I could be in my head and not worry about work or domesticity.

There are advantages to working from home, of course, not least the fact that you can wear the same sweatshirt all week and nobody’s any the wiser. But how many of us start earlier, finish later and work longer because the natural rhythm of the working day has gone?

Read More: The Covid test was positive

Read More: Covid trauma can silence us all

A survey carried out last October suggested that 60 per cent of those questioned were working longer hours at home. At the same time, perversely, another suggested 63% of us felt less productive, with people complaining about feeling burnt out.

No doubt there are some who are loving working from their kitchen table or sofa. What with home schooling, some don’t have a choice. And, yes, at a time when unemployment is on the rise, a job at all is not to be sniffed at.

There is a lot of speculation about how work might change in the wake of this pandemic. It’s possible there will be no rush to return to the office. Indeed, more flexible working patterns may be one of the good things to come out of all this.

But I wonder if there’s a danger that a wholesale embrace of home working might actually accelerate the need to feel constantly plugged in, online and on call? If we never step away from our desk (sofa/kitchen table – delete as appropriate) do we step away at all?

Anyway, my daughter is still commuting to work. This morning her train was cancelled.