empty nest

Well, we're alone - that is my husband and I, with the dogs and of course the budgie. The last child has gone off to university and the house feels like a house does when the party's over. I don't mind admitting, I've got empty nest syndrome pretty badly, though I do comfort myself with the hoover. Those dust-bunnies must think the end of the world has come. Well, it has, for them.

For us, it's the end of a certain world too: the world of multitudinous socks and 'are you up yet?', the world of mountains of Shreddies and 'is the heating really on?' So, I'm in mourning. Why does the university term have to start when the light is vanishing as fast as the children? Now I must go and cook the dinner and after that, to cheer myself up, I'm going to watch Six Feet Under.