The whole freakin' system's out of order

I just don't get it. In fact, I haven't gotten it for a long time.

You work to set up a nice home, complete with wife, offspring, domestic pets, flora of your choosing and all manner of other material possesions that you think you need to be comfortable.

THEN, you spend ten hours a day somewhere else in order to be able to afford it all.

I just don't see the point. What happened to the good old days (I'm thinking Europe a few hundred years ago - but I'm no historian) where many people had family businesses that ran from the lower floor of the family home? And everyone else in your street had their family business under their homes, so most of the goods and products you would need for day-to-day living where just down the block.

I already work all but two days a week from home, and still my twice weekly commute feels like a waste of four hours a week of my time. (I try to maximise time by reading on the train, but it's not always the easiest place to concentrate.)

The major businesses in Australia have committees drawing up plans to deal with the bird-flu pandemic should it arrive. Part of that plan is to have employees work from home. Why wait for the bird-flu?

I am aware of the many impracticalities of the decentralised workplace, particularly when your work is anything outside an office environment. I didn't say it was perfect, or even based in this reality...