‘my husband is so busy at the weekends – he’s never around’

‘our son has got to come first’

Benita Meswaniapatel, 34, is a management consultant. She lives in London with her husband, Hitesh, 35, and their son Milan, one. My weeks are really busy. I’ve just returned to work after a year’s maternity leave. From Monday to Friday I organise meetings and conference calls around my son. In the evenings, Hitesh and I will often go out after work. I find myself at a loose end at the weekends because my husband is in the catering industry. From Friday evening until the early hours of Monday, he is never around.

Hitesh and I bought the catering business in 2016. I knew he’d be busy at weekends, but I hadn’t anticipated how much it would impact on me.

I’d love to go out with my friends, but I find that at the weekend they are busy. I’m not flexible either. Our son Milan has got to come first. When he is in bed, there is no chance I can go out so people have to come to me to catch up, which isn’t always possible.

It is hard seeing pictures online of your friends out having an amazing time when you are staring at four walls.

Since Milan was born, I’ve kept pictures, plane tickets and other memories of where we have taken him, so putting them together in a scrapbook keeps me occupied. To combat the loneliness, I shop online, spending more than I should. I drag out bath time and dinner with Milan, too. I don’t want to be one of those wives who stays in all the time at weekends but, at the moment, I don’t have much choice.

Despite her riches, Madonna, 60, found that money really can’t buy you happiness. ‘There were chunks of my life where i was so lonely i felt i didn’t have a friend in the world,’ she says.