At the moment there's an awful lot of bad feeling in this household.

There's nothing new in the fact that Bear hates Whale and is always muttering under his breath or even audibly about how he should be somewhere else - dead preferably - rather than blighting Bear's life.

But now there is an extra factor in that CC is here to stay and Jay no longer has his bolthole in London for when the pressure builds to meltdown point so he, too, is feeling moody and his dislike of the Bear is coming to the surface. He and CC spend an awful lot of their time out or upstairs to keep out of Bear's way as he does manage to spread an atmosphere of misery downstairs.

When we came back from appointments with the dentist and anaesthetist yesterday CC was in the kitchen making soup and listening to a CD. Bear immediately switched on the TV, turned up the volume and channel hopped until he found one of his awful American cops and robbers programmes. That's the problem with an open-plan house.

On Sunday, as it was a pleasant day, Jay and CC took the Whale out and the Bear and I went for a drive as well. I asked if he'd like to go and see one of the houses I'd seen last week and he agreed, but on the way there he started moaning about how we never go out together and all the usual complaints that always blight our outings together. By the time we reached the village in question he was of a mind to dislike everything about it so we drove back to the annoying accompaniment of his humming the theme tune to Crown Court - non-stop.

Later, while he snored in front of the telly, CC, Jay and I had a conference upstairs. Their nerves were stretched to breaking point. They had had enough of Bear's bad manners, nasty remarks about them and their dad (the Whale) and the way he takes over the living room so that they feel too uncomfortable to relax there.

A move is essential - preferably without the Bear, but what do I do with an ageing, badtempered husband who is not really capable of looking after himself properly?

No-one else would have him and I've left it too late to leave him yet again or 'throw him out'. But how much longer can we let him ruin everyone else's happiness?

It's a rather pessimistic start to 2007. Dare I hope that things can only get better?