Today is our 8th wedding anniversary. I first met Ann some two years earlier when I spied a cute bespectacled woman in a photo taken at Bondi Beach, Very few of us know the outcome of first meetings (ours was near the fountain in Hyde Park), whether love will bloom, or not.

I do think its harder for younger people, not because they don't have a huge array of dating apps at their disposal, but because many of the rules of social engagement have changed or fallen into disuse. The rush to the bedroom is one such fraught development, allowing no chance for the gradual unfolding that a romantic relationship should take, if it is to have any chance or working.

I am lucky to have my wife. She has been a most devoted companion. You can never rush into that.