Hi Harry, All this uxurious stuff is most touching:
(HP) <<<< I too have a lovely wife and have had her for 57 years. Can you imagine the poor woman having to endure me for more than half a century? >>>> Well done! I can't hold a candle to that. I've had two wonderful relationships, one for 27 years, the other for 12 (so far). Like Disraeli, I'd far sooner spend an evening in the company of women than men. They're far nicer and wiser. Medieval marriages only lasted, on average, about 12 years, before one of them (usually the man) died. That's why the Christian marriage service -- with all its mention of worldly goods and so on -- is more in the nature of a business contract than romance. Not many married for love. Some women became amazingly rich by choosing men sensibly, one after the other. Here's an interesting quote from Anthony Giddens' book, "Runaway world" (Profile Books, 1999). (Giddens is the creator of the "third way" concept that has gripped Tony Blair, though neither can really explain quite what it means!) Anyway, here's Giddens on marriage: "If ever I am tempted to think that the traditional family might be best after all, I remember what my great aunt once said to me. She must have had one of the longest marriages of anyone, having been with her husband for over 60 years. She once confided that she had been deeply unhappy with him the whole of that time. In her day there was no escape". I am sure your wife thinks differently. Does she regard you as a "collectible"? Keith __________________________________________________________ �Writers used to write because they had something to say; now they write in order to discover if they have something to say.� John D. Barrow _________________________________________________ Keith Hudson, Bath, England; e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _________________________________________________
