Why do you want to divorce me?

There is a review of marriage and divorce in the

Sunday Times

It purports to analyse why people get divorced and what attributes they value in a marriage. Unsurprisingly, marriage is rated as of higher value than cohabitation, but they state that an estimated 2 million couples cohabit in the UK. Why? Probably because most people still consider that marriage is for life and a substantial minority don't want to make that lifelong commitment.

What I found amusing was the 36% of men who started an affair accidentally. How does that happen? When you are parallel parking?

EXAMPLE OF AN ACCIDENTAL AFFAIR

I then remembered a tale of friend of mine related about a male work colleague. They were both social workers and so worked in an empathetic environment. One day she noticed that her work colleague was looking dishevelled and distressed. Being nosey, as well as empathetic, she asked him what was wrong. He confided that his wife's friend had recently divorced and was now living on her own, two doors away from them. The previous evening, his wife had asked him to go round to her friend's house after his evening meal and fix a dripping tap in her bathroom. He duly obliged. Her friend answered the door and asked him to wait downstairs whilst she cleared some mess out of the bathroom. She then called him to follow her. When he entered the bathroom she was standing in front of him completely naked. No doubt he would list that as an affair that started accidentally!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Affairs do not start by accident. Even getting totally drunk so that you are unable to resist temptation is a conscious act at the root. Whether the affair, is a symptom, or the cause of a marriage breakdown is the subject of another blog!!!