The delights of divorce

Looking around at my immediate group of female friends I notice a marked difference between the seven or so of us who are married with kids, and the three who have left their husbands and are going it alone. Guess which group appears to be more content? Yes, it’s the divorcees. I have been a long term, close up observer of the lives that my newly single friends carve out for themselves and I have to say, I’m envious. The Sunday Times finds that 53 per cent of women report that they are “much happier” post-divorce. This does not surprise me.

Once the initial split has occurred (interestingly in my circle, the divorce was initiated by the woman simply because the relationship was not working well enough for them to stay), and the painful process has been endured of deciding who will live where and which possessions will go to whom, the period from actual separation onwards has been plain sailing.