Commuterdom

It still runs across the chalk hump from north-east to south-west, from Leatherhead to Guildford, but now it's the A246, a prosaic enough name for what is now a prosaic enough artery that has done its part to bring commuterdom to the old villages of the northern edge of the chalk, where a narrow strip of more fertile soil links the chalk with the London clay.

In fact, the importance of this line, built in an arc from Broad Street at the eastern end of the city, via Hampstead and Finchley , to Richmond, lies in the creation of commuterdom.

The creation of a pare naturel regional in 1970 did something to promote the area as a place for outdoor activities and refuge from commuterdom, but more than anything it was the election of Francois Mitterrand, local politician and mayor of Chateau-Chinon for years, as president of the Republic that rescued the Morvan from oblivion.

we shook hands, like business colleagues, and within moments the human swell of commuterdom had funnelled him away into the depths of the Central Line, leaving me alone.