It's just another day in Chateau Shiraz. Being a single parent isn't always easy, particularly when there's a teenager in resident, but I can recall it feeling almost the same when I was with my ex.

Today the washing machine is on its' third (of probably 4) cycles involving lot of bedding plus the "where's my xxxx?" regular question. Thank goodness she's not back at school for two weeks.

On the subject of school, my daughter is growing, in every direction. Unfortunately that means that the school skirt won't fit anymore, plus some of her blouses are a little too tight across the bust. We've already replaced two pairs of trousers (slacks) in readines. Today was a venture into the nearest large town to the jumo sized stores.

One stop was at Asda (UK wing of Walmart) for school clothes. I'm familiar with employment issues in Walmart but seldom hear of issues in Asda, plus the staff are almost always very helpful. Both her and I needed new nightwear and underwear so that was added to the basket, what's now odd is that we're both UK size 16 so there's an element of borrowing going on already.

From there to Tesco to get the bits we couldn't get in Adsa, getting £20 of clothing for £9 due to their points scheme. Add a trolly full of food, plus a bit more discount, and that's food sorted for a few days.

Now the ironing board is out and I'm tackling the huge pile that includes all her school blouses (bit lazy there as school finished mid July) plus loads of my stuff.

My bed is remade ready for tonight, daughter has her's to do when she gets in for dinner.

Oh, the washing machine has finished cycle 3 so let's get that out to dry and think about cycle 4.

Just another day.

Shiraz