Geography

"The world must have got smaller for you Jules."

A friend said that to me when I got back from Asia last summer. I nodded and agreed with every ounce of my being. Despite the carbon footprint, you can get pretty far in a day above the clouds. Distance had become my friend, I'd overcome it if you like... with a bit of will, some money and a passport people seem closer, places aren't so exotic any more.

Recently that view has changed a little. People are still far away... time zones are man's foe. It's all very well having friends around the world, but the ache for them is stronger when I realise they're asleep when they enter my thoughts. They start their days when I'm bidding adieu to their yesterday. They eat dinner as my stomach rumbles for lunch. At four o'clock the light outside the window beckons me, not them, they're well in the dark. Sigh.

For all our advances in technology, high-speed air travel, free skype calls, we're still far away. I can't share the pensive hours before bed with you, for time is our enemy, friendship clipped short.