Help! MY HUBBY'S HAVING A MIDLIFE CRISIS

Julie Cook's husband has gone from a calm, classically dressed gent to a leather-clad, zip wiring thrill chaser!

- JULIE COOK

The other day I was looking through my front window, which faces our garage, when I saw plumes of thick smoke emerging from under the door. I threw my magazine down, knocked my cup of tea over in the process and raced out the front door and to the garage.

‘What is going on?’ I cried, heaving the door open. I was met with a man clad from head to toe in white leather, in white chunky boots, wearing glow-in-the-dark green glasses.

‘What the…’ I stammered.

For a split second, I wondered if an alien had landed in my garage. The man, eyes glowing, was surrounded by smoke and strange green light. Then I realised. 

It was my husband, Cornel.

‘What on earth are you doing?’ I cried.

‘I thought the garage was on fire!’

‘Calm down!’ he said, through thesmoke, before explaining everything.

The green lights were lasers, he said and the ‘smoke’ was coming from a dry-ice machine.

‘Have you gone mad?’ I asked.

‘No, I’m the Laser Pianist,’ he replied.

You’re probably wondering what exactly this means and, believe me, I was baffled, too.

A BIT OF BACKGROUND 

Cornel, 43, is a classically trained pianist. He plays at events like Royal Ascot, Wimbledon and private parties, and was the pianist on the Orient Express. He wears a top hat and tails to these seasonal events and spends the rest of the time at home in a woolly jumper and jeans. So why was he now standing here in white leather?