Saul couple have settled into commuting lifestyle

Saul couple have settled into commuting lifestyle

15 June 2016

COMMUNITY support is vital for families left behind by commuters for the working week.

That is the advice of Saul mother-of-two Catherine Curran, who credits her support network for helping her maintain a quality family life while husband Barry works in London.

While blue collar workers are a new addition to Monday’s red-eye flights, professionals like Barry have paved their way.

A learning and development consultant, Barry was partly based in London for over a decade until he decided to establish his own company 500 miles from home in 2014.

Now a fully fledged super commuter, he and Catherine are experts of the challenges a weekly commute poses to families.

While Barry uses exercise to stave off mid-week boredom, Catherine says grandparents and friends help her maintain her working and family life, particularly the usual club-runs associated with two children.

She said the growing number of women in the same circumstances means community support has really “kicked in” over the past year.

“I never realised until Barry started working away full-time how many peoples’ partners also travel over the water,” she said.

“There are so many more families affected now than in the early days but the community spirit has kicked in.

“I am used to it now but it definitely had an impact at the start. It was the shock of suddenly becoming a single parent on weekdays.

“I am very lucky that we have grandparents who can do our school runs so that is not a problem, but the children have evening activities, such as swimming lessons or football training, that can be difficult with only one parent at home.

“There are quite a few mothers now in the same boat who club together to take the kids to their activities.

“I am now used to getting babysitters on different evenings and the community fathers who are at home also play a role. 

“I get out for a run with a friend every Monday because her husband minds the kids, and again on a Wednesday I get to an exercise class thanks to another dad.

“You need a good support network for this lifestyle and I am very fortunate that I have that.

“I would be run off my feet without the community and more families are the same as this trend gets bigger.

“While it was an adjustment at first we have all got used to it and we all look forward to Barry returning on a Thursday.”

Barry, too, looks forward to his Thursday evening return to rural Saul, following a busy week spent working in Canary Wharf.

Describing London as “its own principality” during the recession, he said the opportunities in the city made it very appealing in comparison to the local economy, which he said hit “doomsday.”

Travelling alongside tradesmen and quantity surveyors on the early Monday flights, he said their increasing presence over the past year was striking.

But the travel, he warns, takes its toll, and is not “as dressed up as it used to be.”

“It is the same regular faces on the red eye flight. You wonder why they are going to London when there is apparently work at home,” he said.

“It is not an easy working life. When I am in London I get the shopping in and exercise every night to pass the time. It is not something I could see myself doing until I am 60, maybe 50 at a push.”