My father, who is in his 60s and not well, has always been irresponsible with money. He has been bankrupt twice and I have bailed him out in the past. My parents divorced five years ago after 36 years of marriage, when he ran off with a woman half his age. They married, but are now also divorced. He committed adultery many times while married to my mother. They are still good friends, but she does want him back. He lives comfortably on his pension and disability benefits, squandering his money as soon as he receives it.

All couples argue from time to time. As a matter of fact, the idea of people being permanently sweet-tempered, never displaying any irrational behaviour smacks of unrealistic happy-ever-after romantic stories. Of course, the degree of dissent varies from couple to couple—some show only occasional, short-lived hostility, while others live in a world of constant bickering argument and retaliation. Sumbo and Ishmael are in their late 30s, and have known each other for 12 years. They went out together briefly when they first met; separated and were then reconciled six years ago. They have been married for five years and have a son. “Ishmael and I quarrelled about very minor things and the arguments always arise out of his obstinacy and my demanding nature”, Sumbo said. She is a civil servant and her husband is an accountant. “My husband says I’m spoilt and he won’t give in because he thinks it’ll make me even worse.

I am having an affair with my husband’s best friend. They met at university. My marriage is reasonably good and I like my husband, but there has never been any great passion between us. Our children have left home, as have my lover’s. I am in my 50s and think this is probably my last chance to have a romantic connection with great sex. His relationship with his wife is platonic and my husband and I don’t have sex very often. Our families are close and we see a lot of each other socially, so I feel constantly guilty. I know it’s wrong, but I can’t end the affair – I have never been happier. I know that if our spouses found out, they would be devastated. I don’t know how it’s all going to end. In tears, probably.

I am a P. A. to the Managing Director of a big company and whenever we have the Annual General Meeting, we often book rooms into the venue of such meetings for effective co-ordination. A few weeks ago, we had last year’s AGM and a few of us got a bit drunk as the meeting went rather well. You can imagine how shocked I was when I woke up the next morning to find my boss in my bed! He’d been flirting with me for months even though I told him I wasn’t interested.

It stands to reason that with the spate of divorce the society now witnesses and the number of unwanted pregnancies, single parenthood has come to stay. The sad picture is that, unlike in the old days when single parents were mostly widows who couldn’t be considered young, a lot of single parents today, male and female, are young, intelligent and eager for new relationships.