I think a better analogy is that your mum and dad split up and with undue haste she takes up with a new fella who barely speaks English. He makes her happy, the household's running more smoothly and the rows have stopped, but still and all he's not your dad, is he? He's just some cvnt who's turned up and is knobbing your mum. Your dad, meanwhile, is in Totteridge, alone and staring out the window.