Whether you view living alone as the ultimate compromise or the ultimate luxury, it presents daily challenges, such as cooking for one, organising holidays, juggling finances, and avoiding the siren call of wine, Ugg boots and Netflix.

Year after year, on the 14th February, regular as clockwork, I would jokingly ask my husband if I’d need to arrange for a semi trailer or maybe a road train to come to my office to help me transport home all those flowers that he would undoubtedly be sending me.

I blame the fridge magnet. In my forties I bought this very fridge magnet. It unsettled me more than I cared to admit, and the three little words “Is this it?” kept swirling around my head.