In the second of our new series, RTÉ multimedia co-ordinator and freelance photographer Leah Carroll tells us about her usual out-of-hours commute across the city.
Tell me about your normal journey to work
I travel from Sutton to Donnybrook. I usually drive - I have cycled a couple of times but it's 19 kilometres and when you're going along the seafront it's really windy.
It's outside of normal commuting hours. It goes from a week of starting at 6am to be at my desk for 7am and working until 3 or 4 in the afternoon, and on the later shifts, I leave at around 2pm and I'm at my desk for 3pm. It doesn't take a full hour but I leave a bit of a buffer so I'm there on time.
What are the biggest variables that affect the time it takes?
3Arena, if there's a gig on. It depends on the people going to the gig - if a lot of people come up from the country, they'll have taken the day off and they make a day of it, so the traffic can start to build really heavily from about 4pm. Depending on the shift I'm on, that can affect me in either direction.
Sometimes I work weekends and if there are matches on at the Aviva or Croke Park, that can affect the traffic massively.
Do you listen to anything in the car?
Yeah, it's generally podcasts or on-demand radio shows. Tech's Message is one of my favourite podcasts, it's all about technology. Scroobius Pip is really good as well, I love listening to his podcast.
As for radio shows, I love Phil Taggart's [BBC Radio 1] show on Sunday nights and Lauren Laverne in the morning [on BBC 6 Music]. The BBC radio app is brilliant, but we're currently trying to redevelop our own RTÉ Radio app at the moment to make it a bit easier to use.
Do you ever use public transport?
Yeah, I'm on the DART line so I'm quite lucky. You can cycle to the station and lock your bike in a huge locker, but if I was to walk it takes about 20 minutes to either Howth or Sutton. Then it's another 10 or 15-minute walk from Sydney Parade to RTÉ. It's really handy, but I can't do it that often unfortunately because of my hours.
Do you watch or read anything on the train?
I might watch YouTube sometimes if I'm on the train. I wouldn't generally tend to read because of motion sickness. Otherwise, the same - podcasts and radio.
My Commute: AA Ireland's Conor Faughnan on his daily routine
Do you eat or drink during the commute?
If I have a few minutes in the morning I might make a cup of tea and bring it in the car, otherwise I just get a coffee when I get in. I wouldn't tend to eat during the commute - I just wait until I get to my desk.
Do you work on the way to work?
I read my emails if I’m on the train, or I may have to answer messages. We have a WhatsApp group, and if I can't WhatsApp I'll ring the person. But I wouldn't be doing a lot of work.
How does this commute compare to your previous ones?
I've actually done a pretty similar commute since I finished college. I was offered a job in Clonskeagh straight away so it was pretty similar, and again I was lucky to have a car park. It was flexible working hours, so I asked if I could start earlier and leave earlier so I wouldn't be spending an hour or an hour-and-a-half in traffic. As long as you got the work done, everybody was very happy.
