Paul Ansell says he was was 'looking forward to an hour of peace' after his children headed off to school as he noted a change of routine on the day Nicola Bulley disappeared.
The worried dad has spoken in an interview with Dan Walker on Channel 5 tonight.
He said on 'Vanished: Where is Nicola Bulley?' that the missing mum's family are going though 'unprecedented hell' as 'nothing seems real'.
Distress Mr Ansell says that they haven’t given up on her as she wouldn't give up on anyone else.
But he noticed a difference on the morning of the day she went missing - not much rushing to get out the door.
The mum-of-two, 45, was last seen walking her dog Willow after dropping her daughters off at school in the small village of St Michaels on Wyre, Lancashire on January 27.
The dad explained: "The only difference that morning was, you know usually, when you’ve got children, getting up on a school day. You probably know yourself is just mayhem isn’t it.
"We're always up a little bit too late sometimes and trying to get them to have their breakfast and sort all that out and then do their hair.
"Usually it's just an absolute manic rush and everybody out the door and off you go.
"The only difference on that morning two weeks ago was that there wasn't a lot of rushing. I came down and a lot of stuff was already done. The girls were having their breakfast and everything was pretty much ready to go.
"I came down, Nikki went upstairs to get ready. The routine is basically if Nikki is taking the girls and Willow, when I hear her come down, I'll get them in the car. Get them strapped in and get Willow in the boot and all that and Nikki comes down, give her the keys and off they go.
"It’s a well-oiled machine normally. And sometimes you walk the dog and take the kids to school and on that morning it was Nikki’s job.
"And if it's my job usually the roles were reversed. So again nothing was out of the ordinary, everything was normal. You know. Because my working hours because I work for a US firm so my hours are like six hours behind UK time. So I usually start a little bit later in the morning.
"So when Nikki takes the girls to school, I then know that I've got like an hour to myself on that morning when she takes them.
"So I always quite looking forward to that, you know, I wave them off and then I go in the house, I put the kettle on and make a cup of tea, and I think right I’ve got an hour.
"You know any parent, no matter who you are, you do look forward to that little bit of peace don’t you.
"I just went in the house, put the kettle on, made a cup of tea, went into the living room, and thought I’ve got on an hour now to sort of chill and get myself ready for the day."
He says he '100% knows' the missing mum is not in river as the two-week search to find the dog walker continues.
He told the presenter: "Personally, I am 100 per cent convinced it’s not the river, that’s my opinion.
"Because people don't just vanish into thin air, it's absolutely impossible. So something has happened.
"Something has happened. Find out what it is. Find out what it is."
