Time zones away

It's 7.30pm as I type this, and my 'working' day is over. Lady P is in bed, I've had a lovely early evening run, and am sitting with a G&T enjoying the aroma of roasting chicken fill the kitchen.

TLOML, by contrast, is just hitting his stride. He's been at his desk for three or four hours, has cleared his inbox and placed a few calls, and is getting into the real 'meat' of the working day. He works California hours, you see. From Yorkshire. That's an 8 hour time difference he's spanning.

Time for tea, say I. Time to log on, says TLOML.

TLOML's ability to run his US business from the UK is what makes it possible for us to live here. And there are some advantages to the strange hours he keeps. When Lady P needed frequent attention overnight, TLOML could take a late shift in caring for her, safe in the knowledge he could sleep in the next day. And I often have some company for my morning nap (now Lady P is on a schedule and has a nice sleep after breakfast). We can wander out to grab a coffee or lunch together too, which is lovely. I haven't had to join any of those unappealing 'mum and baby' groups just to get some grown up company in the day time.

On the whole, it's very nice to have a husband who not only works from home, but is totally up for distractions for much of the day.

There are, however, significant drawbacks. Despite his best intentions, TLOML often has to take a call or respond to emails when we should, by all normal standards of civilised behaviour, be enjoying G&Ts together. Or when we could be preparing dinner - which I have to do solo more often than either of us would like. He'd love to do Lady P's bath every night but sometimes it just isn't possible because it hits the middle of his 'morning'. It's frustrating for him to have his nose to the grindstone just when those around him are heading for leisure. While I'm ready to crawl into bed by about 10pm most nights, he's still scanning emails, his brain fully engaged - and would gladly be up for another couple of hours.

When we started dating we used to have Skype lunch/ dinner dates. I'd eat my dinner, usually in a boring Big Corp-funded hotel somewhere in Europe, and chat to him as he ate his lunch, in sunny California.Though we live together now, it seems we're still spanning time zones.