BreakingOut.NET

On my trip to London recently one thing I noticed is how many people you see everywhere working on their laptops in public. In coffee shops, bars, cafes, all over the place. 

Since starting my own online business, I’ve found that the worst thing about working from home is working from home. Your workplace is the same as your home place.

So you need to get out regularly and experience different surroundings.

Back here in Antwerp I notice it’s different to London in this sense. I like to go to a coffee shop or cafe to work for a while, also to get a break from the home office. I do this pretty well every day, it’s part of my routine.  But I very rarely see anyone working on a laptop in a public place.

That kind of puts me off bringing my laptop with me. I feel you would stick out too much. Maybe people would think of you as a bit of a prat for doing so. Apart from the fact that not everywhere has wi-fi here, although it seems to be gradually spreading. But you just don’t see people working on laptops.

Instead I take a notebook, pen and paper and sit there scribbling away. Yet even this is a bit of a rarity. You tend to stick out even when you do this. Antwerpenaars, as they’re called, and probably Belgians in general it seems, just don’t go to cafes or bars to do work.

Belgians are into the “good life”, eating well, drinking well, taking it easy and relaxing after work. They do their work and then it’s finished for the day, or for the weekend. Work and free-time are clearly demarcated. That’s fine in a way, but I kind of miss that London-style intensity of purpose and industriousness that you encounter everywhere.

What I maybe need is a hot-desking facility here in Antwerp, a desk-sharing centre. I found one in the city centre, and it looks like it could be a good place. Only thing though it’s a bit pricey. But maybe something for later on when funds permit.

In the meantime I’ll stick to using my notebook for my daily cafe visit. The paper notebook variety that is.

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