Now that I'm working full time, I must report, that although I don't care for getting up so early, the commute is moderately better. By taking trains during peak hours, they are more frequent and marginally faster. I have a couple of time options of taking a train that goes directly from my village station straight into London. Not needing to change trains at Maidenhead leaves the potential of missing my connecting train out of the equation. Now to find the right balance, the "core hours" are easy enough, where I need to be at work between ten a.m. and four p.m., the rest of the hours to be pieced in as I see fit. This week has been this strategy: go in earlier so I can leave in time to catch that ideal evening train. So far it is working out beautifully, but a morning person I am not, and certainly not a very early person. At least the sun is up at 4:30 and sets around 10, I don't feel as if I'm losing too much valuable daylight. I may be singing a different tune come autumn and winter though :)