After the divorce: I found my prince at the bus stop!
Two years ago my life did a proper somersault. My dad died, and after twenty years of marriage I walked out of the house with a divorce decree in my hand.
I moved back into my old mans cottage in a tiny Derbyshire village because the company had made me redundant. I was pushing forty and thought my chances of landing a decent jobor a new romancewere as thin as the winter sun.
Bad luck seemed to be my neighbour. The thatch roof, patched up by a local jackofalltrades, started leaking. I didnt have the strength to haul timber up the ladder.
The carpenters who fitted the new windows never finished the job, so gusts slipped through the gaps like nosy neighbours.
To keep warm I gathered pine cones and used the mountain of books Id hoarded as kindling for the old woodburner.
Then the electricity flickered out, and I had to switch the heating off.
The landlord of the pub across the road kept sliding me tempting offers, like a cat offering fish.
I couldnt decide whether to laugh or weep
I thought things couldnt possibly get any worse, and thenmiracle of miracleseverything turned round.
My prince turned up at the village bus stop, a minibus rolling to a halt beside me. He had tousled hair, wore work overalls, and spent his days fixing roofs. He asked if I needed a hand. I admitted I did, but I had nothing to pay him with.
He smiled and said, When youve got a few quid, well settle up.
He patched the roof, fixed the tap, the water meter, the fence, the stairs and the windows.
One bitterly cold evening I got home to a cosy fire crackling in the hearth and, on the mantelpiece, a steaming mug of herbal tea.
It was as if a miracle had brought exactly what my frozen throat and chilly toes required.
I knew who my hero was and wondered how on earth to thank him. Hes handy, yet modest as a church mouse.
So I wont mention his namedont want him to get cross, and in our closeknit village everyone already knows who he is.
Now my house and garden look like theyve had a mans touch; theres a sturdy, masculine feel to everything.
With my prince I feel warm, happy, and my biggest fear is losing him.
