WTF? Or trying to be a single mother whilst dealing with a teen with Covid and major surgery. You know when you have those moments when you look at your life and you think; ‘it wasn’t meant to be like this? I’m meant to be on a Yacht in the Med with Bradley Cooper not picking up dog poo in my garden between seeing clients whilst a sick child yells out of her bedroom window on the top floor of the house; do you have any Tampons’?... Tampons, really? I am 56 years old, my Ovaries are drier than the Gobi Desert.

Where to start with this?…

I could literally write a tome the size of the old telephone directory, oh that ages me, okay okay, I’m fifty bloody six but I look amazing mostly due to some fantastic genes (ta Mater) and a very skilled woman called Jo who every now and then freezes my visog with Botulism.

45 fun-filled things to do

We launch this week, hopefully by Friday and it’s half term so I have a sulky 15-year-old in trackies wandering around the house constantly complaining that there is nothing to eat, even though the fridge is full

Do any of you remember that song by Michael Gray released in 2005 (for those amongst you who liked a little ‘house’ music) which went: ‘I can’t wait, for the weekend to begin….. I’ve got to get my fix, and fly tonight, and when the clock strikes six on Friday night, I need to blow it all away’? I guarantee that when lovely Michael wrote that he wasn’t a parent. Really? 6pm? I wish.

So, you’ve become a parent and on top of that you’ve either become single or you’ve decided to do it solo by choice.

Now unless you have a money tree, rich parents, a trust fund or have won the lottery the chances are you are going to have to work. News flash, children cost money and the bigger they get the bigger the bills!

Before I went back to University to re train to be a Therapist I had lots of jobs.

In my early 20’s I worked in advertising, then I spent quite a few years bumming around the world (seven years in total I think) doing all sorts of things to keep going, not all entirely legal.

It’s a tricky time of year for everyone so here are my top tips to help you get through the most wonderful time of the year. Particularly if this is your first one as a Single Mother.

Warning: explicit content

Before I qualified to be a therapist and I was still struggling financially, Christmas and birthdays were two things I most dreaded thinking that I wouldn’t be able to provide my daughter with the presents she deserved or the ‘Hallmark’ picture perfect Christmas day spread that you see on countless adverts, normally from mid October onwards.