When your wife leaves you... (Part 1)

Welcome to my latest blog, in which I'm going to share with you what I got up to when my wife went on a 3-week solo trip to California and left me at home to fend for myself. 

We are both 'planners', in that we rarely do anything without a great deal of preparation having gone into it beforehand. Her flying off to America and me being left on my own were no exceptions. She'd booked her flights, retrieved her suitcase from under the bed in the guest bedroom, and laid the clothes and other essentials on the bed in the other guest bedroom. This wasn't done the day before her flight or even two or three days before, no, this was a good month before. Nothing was to be left to chance. No last minute forgetfulness. I could only watch from the sidelines as day after day she packed and unpacked wanted and unwanted items.

Amongst all this preparation, she eventually got around to asking, 'So what are you going to eat while I'm away?' Food and cooking is always at the forefront of her mind. After what seemed like an age, I replied, 'I haven't really thought about it. There are plenty of places I could eat. There's always the supermarket.' At which point she reeled off the contents of our freezer: homemade and bought-in ready meals, all for two. 'We'll have to go shopping and get you some ready meals for one. I don't have time to cook you anything for the freezer.'

Off we went shopping. I don't mind food shopping, but here was a chance for me to select the meals I wanted and not ones that had to be negotiated between us. This felt like freedom, albeit a temporary freedom.

I was already ahead of her when she asked, 'So what are you going to do while I'm away?' To which I replied, 'Oh! I thought I would take a few little day trips, maybe by train, just for a change. A few mini-adventures, I thought.'

I saw her off at the airport in the middle of the night. She had a long day of travelling ahead. In a strange way I was looking forward to having a few weeks on my own, something I hadn't had for well over 30-years. I knew I was going to miss her, though.

Back home, and the Sun was just starting to rise, I wondered what I was going to do today. I was tired from not having slept, but I didn't feel much like going back to bed. I showered and changed into more presentable clothes. I passed the next few hours doing what I do most mornings, which is read the newspapers on my tablet and catch up with my social media. I did nothing more exciting that first day than wander around my local town, taking photographs of things and places I had photographed hundreds of times before. I was missing her already.

I had another 20-days to go, almost 3-weeks, during which time I had to feed myself, look after the house, make sure I followed all the written instructions she'd left on notes and in our family calendar, and have fun on my mini-adventures.

Make sure to stop by next time to discover what I got up during my time on my own.

You can follow my micro blog and photography Threads and Instagram channels @smart_phone_photographer_53.

See you next time. 

Mike.

© Mike Young 2025.