You can call it what you like, but certain people definitely seem to loose the plot, and often between 40 and 60 years of age.

My ex-wife was an infant school teacher and went to Malaysia for three years with me. She hated it there: the smells, the heat, the food, the native customs etc, etc.

Years later she was teaching English in a prison near Weymouth, Dorset. She met & fell in love with a gentleman, twenty years younger and originally from Jamaica, who was staying there for ten years. He was later deported, and she managed to be on the same plane with him. She went to Jamaica and lived there for three months: she hated the smells, the heat, the food, the native customs etc, etc, and then she went back to Dorset.

He later travelled to France, and she met him in Calais and then tried to smuggle him into Britain...

She has now calmed down, and met and married a nice man from Northern Ireland.

Does anyone else have a colourful story of human frailty ?

My sister-in-law; married and already a mother at 20 spent the next 30 years as a typical, overwieight hausfrau, loved cooking and baking and the family etc.

Suddenly, last year she lost a lot of weight, started going to the gym, wearing leather trousers, high heel boots, see through blouses, heavy make-up etc.broke off contact with "the family". She has decided that her future lies in the "sado-maso" (sado-masochism) scene and she has finally found her "master".

Am waiting for the next installment.

I guess a model railway in an attic doesn't sound quite as drastic..

I worked with a guy who suddenly left his wife and kids, shacked up with a girl 20 years his junior and bought (at the time) the worlds most powerful production motorbike, having not ridden a bike for well over 20 years, the first time he rode again was bringing the bike from up north of the uk, to zurich, in the middle of winter, at night

how he survived that trip I'll never know

of course it all went titsup, now he's left with nothing

I quit my job, left my cat, my SO, and moved to CH to start a brand new education on something I never studied before.

Could be considered a mid life crisis depending on how much longer I last

She'll hate the smells, the heat, the food, the native customs, etc., etc.

LOL.... Old people....

And I thought my dad wanting a Harley during his mid-life crisis was bad!

Ouchie.. you'll be "mid-life" one day too .. assuming that Tijuana cartel hasnt tracked you down first.

In my mid-30's, I gave up the proverbial Peter Pan bachelor existence. A while later, gave up smoking (amongst other things), all night raving and then got married, had kids and a mortgage.

Now that was a crisis.

When he starts posting lolkittens we'll know it's hit.

Hey! I sent you that photo of me and Adrian in confidence.

Anyone wanting a Harley at ANY time is bad!

Tom

You're The Local's b***ch now

Here is something that I found in BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017chqj

As I am not near that age bracket yet, therefore I could not comment further however the above site is quite interesting. I must admit that I have not seen this crisis with my dad... so I am pretty lucky to have an intact family.

I know someone here who spent years trying for a baby with their wife with IVF and when she finally got pregnant, he left her within 3 months of the baby being born as he didn't get all her attention any more.

His new girl friend bled him dry (there was no other reason to be with him).
He stole from his company to keep her happy and when the money was gone, she left him.

He then disappeared, heavily in debt, and much to the pleasure of those around him.

The first part of the story sounds brilliant, shame it had such a tragic end.

My husband was a goody two shoes, insecure engineer who never imagined ever getting married or having kids but was contented with his dream job and hobby. In his mid 30s he got his first tattoo, his entire back, upper arm, chest, and buttocks. Then he married a girl 10 yrs younger, a destructive college drop-out brat who has a love child, and with 100+ hrs of ink. He managed to save her from her captors (her loving christian family) in exchange for a large flat screen tv. Well that last part would be how my daughter would tell it.