I WISH HE’D HELP OUT A BIT MORE

EvElEEn HatcH, 54, a PR consultant and Open University student, and Michael Hatch, 63, an accountant, have been married for 28 years. they have four grown-up children and live in Henley-onthames, Oxfordshire. EVELEEN: Cleaning, cooking, laundry, shopping AVERAGE A DAY: 3 hours MICHAEL: Gardening, ironing, making tea, emptying dishwasher AVERAGE A DAY: 30 minutes EVELEEN SAYS: I’ve just waved our last child off to university, so we’re empty-nesters now. I work about five hours a day from home, but I’m also studying for a degree and yet still most of the chores. We have a cleaner once a week, but I’ll do the tidying, online shopping, most of the cooking and all the washing. Michael just doesn’t see mess like I do — and when the kids were here I’d ask him to do something and he’d simply delegate it to them!

Another bone of contention is food shopping — he sometimes criticises me, saying I buy and waste too much but, of course, he never offers to do the shop himself. MICHAEL SAYS: When I looked at the log of things I did, I did feel a little guilty. I emptied the dishwasher twice, ironed my shirt every day, cooked dinner twice and made tea every day — but Eveleen did everything else.

I’m good at pottering in the garden, but I don’t see what needs doing as much as Eveleen does.

I really can’t bear the food waste, but I probably do need to do more myself instead of complaining about things. Eveleen works hard, so I need to start pulling my weight.