This week our columnist Mike Edwards looks at whether working from home has had its day – and says it's time for us to get back to the office and breathe life back into our towns and cities.

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The novelty wore off very quickly for me – did it for you?

I work from home anyway and only rarely venture into town or further away to the big city. Sitting in front of my PC in my wee study, with a certain commercial classical music radio station dialled-up constantly, was nothing new and certainly no hardship.

But for millions of others, it represented a step change in the way life was lived and jobs were rejigged.

Now, it’s time, in my view, to get back to normal jogging and revisit our old lives. More importantly, it’s vital we get our towns and cities back online, restore communities and revive business.

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The iconic Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow is now an eyesore as business after business has closed down and moved out as a result of two major fires and of course the pandemic.

In Helensburgh we have been fortunate and our town centre has not been trammelled beyond the point of no return.

But enough is enough. We have largely all endured more than two years of working from home. We have lived through creeping into the kitchen to silently snaffle a snack while somebody is on Teams.

We have learned to have a kettle and toaster in the garage. We have too often proclaimed in the immortal argot of WFH, “you’re on mute”, or “I like your background”.

Our shelves have been rearranged too frequently. Our dogs have been over-exercised. We have taken too many long lies and knocked off early too often. Our work clothes have for too long been joggers, jammies and jumpers.

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And as far as I am concerned, the heating has been on too long and high when bills are rocketing and in truth the problem could be solved by putting on a fleece. Or two.

Admittedly our railways are in a bit of a state just now but hopefully that is a temporary issue. Carrying countless thousands of people into our towns and cities, all with cash in their pockets, will kick-start the economy.

Lunch here, a coffee there, after-work dinner and drinks somewhere else – they all mount up. Our towns and cities need that money again.

Jags and boosters applied, with more possibly on the way, means the bug is no longer the threat to our wellbeing it once was. It was hard to adapt but we largely did.

Working from home was part of it. Now, it’s time to put the laptop back in its bag, the kettle back in the kitchen, and get back to the office.