Those going through divorce are equally susceptible to media hype and the impact of political decisions as the rest of us. Indeed this week reminded me of the occasion when, once upon a time, I found myself acting for let’s call her Francis’ wife, as her husband stockpiled petrol in jerry cans whilst urging others to do likewise. We insisted on having the fuel valued as part of the settlement negotiations; it was a nigh on impossible task as its price seemed to rise by the hour, or certainly that was the case at the local petrol station.
Next I was instructed by let’s call her David’s wife. She disclosed that her husband had been fibbing about liking her home cooking whilst, it transpired, dashing into pasty shops on stations to guzzle on their wares. On further probing, however, he might just have been saying that to keep up with the guys across the way who’d been filmed coming out of Greggs laden with sausage rolls.
Oh dear with the temperature rising outside and everyone strolling through town and into the office in flip-flops, vests and shorts, it was all getting very hard to deal with. Then suddenly, just to add to the pressure, a man in a pink leotard waltzed into reception, claiming to have won an election for a seat in Parliament.
Talk about being stressed out. The following week we all brought our dogs into work citing research from the Virginia Commonwealth University. It was the only way we could cope.
It would never happen in real life, would it?