Heading Back to London After Lockdown: Tips for Modern Professionals

The world doesn’t stop spinning, even for a pandemic, and you have to get back into London to get things back on track.

Feel that air on your… upper face. We’re finally free.

Sure, lockdown was hard, but you’ve got the whole world in front of you now, and you are going back to work! I’m sure you’ve got a staycation planned as well, but in the meantime the world doesn’t stop spinning, even for a pandemic, and you have to get back into London as everything starts getting back on track.

The days of footage of an empty Trafalgar Square are now over, and you are now one of many swarming back into the city. With that in mind, there are some things you should think about before you board that train into town.

Be safe

Yes, it’s obvious. You’ve heard it from the NHS campaign adverts, you’ve heard it from the Prime Minister, but unless you want to go back to a life within four walls and a computer screen, for all our sakes, be safe.

Haven’t you just got used to the masks? It’s going to be freezing soon, so they can double as a face warmer, as well as protecting you and the people around you.

The London Underground has a reputation for being one of the most unhygienic places in the world, for that reason alone you should keep using your masks and hand sanitizer. After all, it’s getting colder, and COVID won’t be the only virus you’ll be trying to avoid. Everyone’s immune system is now weakened from a year of staying inside, not rubbing our faces in mud, so this year’s colds are reported to feel horrific – and that’s not even mentioning the flu.

We’re tired of being safe, sure, but at least it comes without the constant panic it once did. You can calmly put on your mask rather than fearing entering the supermarket.

Follow in-office advice, and stay safe in the Wild West that is post-lockdown London.

Re-evaluate your London living situation

If you had to leave London in a hurry, and you have a secondary home near London, you might need to re-evaluate your situation. It’s still up in the air if we are going to see a third lockdown, so it might be a smart idea to move all your extra furniture and unnecessary belongings into a local storage unit.

There are over 45 local storage options offered by Safestore in London alone, with 125 nationwide, if you want to keep your things closer to home.

You can keep as much or as little as you want, with Safestore offering units as small as 10 square feet to 500 square feet. Keep your bike in it and beat the notorious London traffic or put away your belongings if you are offered an extensive business trip.

Don’t give up on the tech meetings

If you’ve been working from home for the past year and a half, no doubt you’ve become very familiar with Zoom lately. Or Microsoft Teams, or Google phone. You might be eager for the chance to speak to someone face to face again but keep your video call software downloaded on your laptop anyway, as it will become very handy in the future.

Remote working is becoming more and more of an accepted concept, with a surprising number of office workers turning down the chance to get back into their place of work.

Computers are being sold and replaced with laptops, larger office spaces are being split and rented out to various companies and travelling on the job has made things a lot easier. You can now contribute to that work meeting you almost missed while on the train to another meeting.

Looking for a new challenge, check out the latest jobs in London