Divorce

So this is Christmas

Christmas isn’t an easy time for any woman. You see us, battling around the shops, shoulders hunched, faces grim, as we do our best to grab the stuff that will, like magic pixie dust, transform our grumpy family (and isn’t every family grumpy in this cold, dark, wet, grey December?) into a Norman Rockwell festival …

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Blending in?

So, we’ve been a so-called blended family now for several years – first unofficially, then officially and now with our status sanctified by marriage. Does it get  any easier? I don’t think it does. To be fair, normal parenthood can be pretty damn stretching. Many is the time I’ve hit the bottle after a day …

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Detangling

My girls don’t usually ask me to write about anything. Normally, they’re begging me not to mention them, their friends, the strange ways of teenagers …. anything, basically, which even touches vaguely on their lives is strictly off-limits. Until I bought them new brushes the other day. One of the awful things for divorced children …

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How honest should you be with children about divorce?

How honest should you be with children about divorce?   As if divorce itself is not hard enough, parents also have to worry about the impact it is going to have on their children’s lives. It’s impossible not to feel guilty about inflicting this huge upheaval on your little ones. But how much do they …

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Storm in a teapot

For all those of you sweet enough to worry long into the night (don’t deny it, I know you have) over my Swedish Teapot Situation, here’s an update. Tradera, the Swedish version of eBay, sent me a very pleasant email, sympathising with my situation and suggesting that I contact the seller. Doh! As I had …

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Boxes within boxes

Well, I’ve spent most of this week in the garage, delving into boxes. Boxes which I brought with me when I moved back to the UK five years ago, and which I have been rigorously avoiding opening ever since. I do rather wish I’d left them closed. Among the sad discoveries were all the cards from …

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Speeding to divorce

I’m afraid I am utterly gripped by the Chris Huhne affair. Having missed it completely – I must have been on Mars – I got a crash course a couple of days ago when I picked up a copy of the Daily Telegraph. What a switchback ride the whole thing is. First we have the classic wriggly …

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