BRYONY LANGTON, 57, is unhappy in her 28-year marriage . . .
and tells Mel Fallowfield why she saved up to escape. Sitting at my computer, I weigh up the pros and cons of the flats I’ve earmarked..
This isn’t idle browsing. Soon I’ll have a shortlist to view. I’m leaving my husband Pete* only he doesn’t know yet.
I suspect when I tell him, he will say it came out of the blue — after all it’s not as if we’re at each other’s throats all the time. He’s so caught up in his own world that he’s oblivious to my misery. READ MORE ON RELATIONSHIPS He will probably protest that we’ve got a good marriage .
He might insist that I’ve got someone else as otherwise I’d never leave. He’s wrong. I’m leaving because I’m unhappy.
And I’m not alone. Divorces in the over-50s have doubled since 1990 and are expected to triple by 2030 and the vast majority — 66 per cent — are instigated by wives. Most read in Fabulous Women today are not willing to accept a substandard life in our later years and as we have worked hard and many earn our own money we are more financially free than previous generations.
I think he’s happy, or at least content with his lot. Generally, everything goes his way as otherwise he sulks. Even little things like me drinking the last of the orange juice or playing my music loudly will trigger a mood.
And I’ve lost the will to try to make him compromise — the first sign he should have picked up on is my surrendering on every issue. .