Having the house to myself, I’m tending to finishing jobs, repairing things, and tidying stuff. I’m enjoying the calmness and freedom that is brought me.

The lounge still needs a few little things doing to fully repair the damage from last year’s flood. The bathroom needs a new floor (and a bath!), and the kitchen needs something doing to it – it’s looking quite scrappy now.

A lot of these jobs mean that I have stuff to take to the recycling centre rather than throw out. Including “small electricals”.

The small electricals that I’m recycling include a PlayStation with a dodgy disc drive … and the SingStar microphones that went with it.

And that’s what upset me and made me cry.

SingStar! So many wonderful evenings with friends, or just my husband and me.

My husband doesn’t do computers and I never planned to get a games console because I’m more of a PC dude.

Then, at a friend’s house, we played Guitar Hero one night. It was awesome! I found out that there was a singing version, and I thought that my husband would enjoy it.

And he did.

After an initial “what do we want that for?” We had the most amazing Christmas playing ABBA and Take That SingStar.

His granddaughters loved it, and we spent a wonderful evening with them. The youngest and shyest performed a duet with my husband Magic Moments by Perry Como – I can still remember the way she emphasised the Ms when she sang it with him.

There was my fortieth birthday – a surprise party arranged by my husband with the cooperation of my mum. She took me to Glastonbury for the day while he prepared the house.

When we got to the house, it was full of family and friends. Everyone was dressed in 1970s costumes. They’d prepared one for me, although I think that I looked like one of the Mario Brothers!

That night I opened the singing with the song that was number one on my birthday. Fortunately it wasn’t Making Plans For Nigel but Waterloo by ABBA. Really, the writing was on the wall: I was destined to be gay!

Those microphones are just some of the things that I find as I clean up that remind me of what my marriage has been.

These days it isn’t the triumphant Waterloo that I’m singing to myself, but Knowing Me, Knowing You: “Walking through an empty house // tears in my eyes // now it’s only emptiness // this is goodbye.”