I've spent a good hour this evening reading other blogs by, and about, lone parents in order to get a handle on how they describe the experience.

I've ended up feeling thoroughly demoralised and ashamed as, on the whole, they are very upbeat and positive. I'm neither of those things so am obviously doing something wrong.

Lots of them talk brightly about Christmas on a shoestring, buying stuff on ebay, sewing and how writing lists stops you making spontaneous purchases which blow the budget.  They have links to recipes for slow-cooked mutton and making a carrot last four years.

My problems is, I don't want to make four different curries that will feed two for a generation out of one aubergine, half an onion and leftover tofu. I want to go wild in New York, do a cookery course in the South of France and see the Taj Mahal. I want my son to have a massive horse, a Steinway and piano lessons with Jarrod Radnich.

I need to revise my dreams in a vertical trajectory downwards and get a slow-cooker. This does NOT make me feel upbeat and positive. It makes me want to kick the dog.







 


 

Hello

So this is my first blog post.

The blog has taken me all of 13 minutes to set up.

A spare 13 minutes in between chasing away the cold from the kitchen (drawing the curtains and putting on extra socks) and wondering when hashtag will come back through the gate hungry.