@space pyramid - but hidden annoyances are not the same as the hardest things. You can blether on about the hardest things, but what i took from hidden annoyances is the things you don't think of as hard just because of being a single parent until you are in the middle of doing these things and you just think i could use somebody's help here.
When you think of being a single parent, the big stuff like having someone else to share the burdens of things like tantrums, discipline and time are obvious. So obvious they are all unsaid in a thread like this where we can discuss the unforeseen smaller things that don't occur in big picture conversations.
My little thing is someone to help put things up, like a post box or a shelf, someone who holds it while someone else puts screws in, and while i can do some myself, if i truly can't do it myself i have to wait for a time when a member of my family has the time to come over specifically to do it rather than doing it on a whim with dh or dp when we are in together.
Christmas is that i and dm are the only 2 that will be buying presents for 3yo dd as my other siblings don't do christmas for various reasons (1 muslim, 1 too selfish, 1 too broke/busy and 1 too far away) and we have no contact with dd's father or any member of his family and chrismas is a time when you thinknabout and miss extended family.