This is a picture of the (self-proclaimed) Northern Love Machine and I, approximately two weeks before I gave birth to our daughter, four years ago. What you can’t see in this picture is my massive pregnant belly, slightly swollen feet and big under-eye bags. It was taken in the garden of our former local pub, where we used to live in Berkshire.

This picture makes me smile, not because it’s an example of amazing photography (it isn’t), or because it was a lovely sunny day, or even because it captures a special memory of a rose-tinted time pre-parenthood.

No, it makes me smile because it shows in all its badly-photographed glory how I win Partner Points (or “PPs”) in our marriage.  Continue reading »