More of us are living on our own...

In a recent report, the Office for National Statistics said the number of people living alone has risen by nearly 10 per cent in the last decade:

• Half of people over 50 live alone.
• The proportion of people living alone increases with age.
• Between the ages of 35 and 49 men were more likely than women to live alone - possibly because any children tend to live with their mother after a separation.
• After the age of 65 the majority of those on their own were women - we do tend to outlive men, even in this day and age!
• The figures don’t necessarily mean all these people are single - just unwilling to move in with a new partner after perhaps already going through a divorce.

Which gets me thinking about the advantages of living alone….

• Eat what you want when you want.  Ice-cream for breakfast?  There’s no-one to tell you it’s wrong.  Is it wrong?
• No need to wash your hair/put your make-up on if you’re not going out.  Although, of course, that will guarantee it’s the day the gorgeous neighbour will pop round.
• Watch what you want on the telly.  No more football!
• Shopping for food is simpler - you just buy what you like.
• No more smelly socks on the floor.  Unless their yours, and that’s different.
• Paint everything pink.  Or blue.  Or green.  You get to choose!

And if you’re living alone this Christmas you can decorate the tree your way, you won’t have those family arguments, tussles over the remote control or turkey until Twelfth Night, and you can stay in your pyjamas all day.  Enjoy!

Bang bang!

What goes on in Vegas used to stay in Vegas, but not now that the boom in divorce weekends is hotting up.  Whilst wild post-divorce weekends are now as commonplace as three-day stag and hen parties, one enterprising Vegas event planner has come up with a novel twist.

Why not machine-gun your wedding dress?

Apparently you pitch up at a shooting range, hang the dress, load your machine gun (under careful guidance of the range experts) and … just let loose!

If you’re not quite feeling that violent, other popular options are sky-diving, golf, gambling nights, restaurants, strip clubs and of course a divorce cake.

Chocolate cake or machine gun?  Now there’s a question…

Feeling itchy? That’ll be after 10 years then...

Marilyn Monroe immortalised the ‘Seven Year Itch’ in her 1955 romantic comedy, yet a new study from Brigham Young University in the USA suggests that it is actually after 10 years that spouses should start to worry…

The researchers spoke to over 2000 women aged over 35 and, rather depressingly, found that most said that happiness and communication decline soon after marriage and never get any better.

The problems reach their peak after 10 years, possibly due to increasing household chores and childcare issues, but if you can hang on for another 5 years, things get slightly better.

It seems that after 15 years of marriage the feelings of restlessness begin to wane, continuing to decrease until the couple have been together for 35 years, when nearly a third of couples reported that things began to get better.

Maybe they just can’t be bothered to argue any more!

What's a wife worth?

Last week saw the UK's highest divorce settlement to date when £337m was awarded to Jamie Cooper-Hohn.  Whilst her former husband, Sir Chris Hohn had claimed, modestly, that she was not entitled to more than 25% of his fortune because he was the "unbelievable money-maker", Mrs Justice Roberts clearly thought differently and awarded Jamie Cooper-Hohn around 40% of the assets.

We can gasp at the figures involved, but the principle that there is more to a marriage than just earning money is key - the acknowledgement of the fact that the husband cannot go and earn that money unless there is a support system (i.e. a wife) behind him who organises the house, fills the fridge, picks the kids up from school and generally does 'all the other stuff' that goes on behind any great businessman.

The saying in a wedding of 'for richer, for poorer' can't just be measured in terms of money alone - and that's a good thing.