Ball rolling

Alcan empowered me, the office atmosphere was very good and as you may have guessed I had found a good friend in Sue and also a chap called Peter Leece (but not in the same way).

I had no one, besides my HNC classmates (which was coming to an end) to discuss things with and I recall that Peter was a great support during those last few months of my marriage and my budding affair.

I had applied for a council flat the day after I attended a party with my wife, it all seemed quite innocent until the fireman arrived and it was just the same old thing. I think I was expected to accept it all, as they say nowadays, "to suck it up", and it just had the opposite effect on me.

It was the position of the council office however, that, as I was still married that they could not progress the application. I contacted a solicitor and she told me that I had grounds for divorce, something I already knew.

I was not flippant about this action, in my mind the relationship was gone, the glass was broken and I needed to escape for my life, so we filed. It seemed straight forward and yet, a few weeks later, when a second solicitor became involved, it all changed.

It became about me, about my irrational behaviour, my anger and mental and even physical abuse.

However, the lady solicitor that I obtained via legal aid, smiled at me from behind her desk and advised that, regardless of who wins the battle of words, the end result would be the same.

I agreed, so we allowed the ball to start rolling on what would be an uncontested divorce action against me.

I just had to act the bad guy to win.