I have always eagerly looked forward to Christmas. Not for what I can get out of it, but for the juiciest events I usually find myself smack in the middle of. Take the last Christmas eve, for instance.

By Candida WHEN did that man you married with such love and hope turn into a monster who couldn’t stick to his vow to ‘protect’ you because he’s now the one actually violating you? You hear about rape cases and how victims are viciously treated without recourse to any form of redress; without giving a […]

As soon as Timi came through the door of the roaring party, all eyes were on her. Not because of her beauty of course. I’m sure if her mum were alive, she would be the last to call her pretty. But she’s always been very successful in her career and, as soon as the current managing director of the firm she’s worked with for decades retired, she was next in line. A divorced mother of two, she’d paraded a string of men of means since her divorce.

BARELY a year after she changed jobs, Abi was excited when she was picked as one of the four executives for a one-week course at a posh hotel. “The course was an intensive one,” explained Abi, 45, “privately organised and very exhaustive. Sitting in a classroom again was a bizarre feeling – I hadn’t been in school for over 20 years. And even more bizarre, I’d developed a massive crush on the course coordinator, Patrick. He was about 45, but was he handsome!?

ONE thing about sinking your teeth into the forbidden fruit is you never knew when to stop. It is a fearful prospect. You are married, probably with a few kids.