When I moved to a new town a few years ago, I was regularly chatted up by one such serial monogamist/relationshipist (good word, eh ?) Thankfully, it didn't take long for me to cotton on to this and see beyond his somewhat considerable charms. To misquote Lady Bracknell in "The Importance of Being Ernest": 'To have one ex-wife is a misfortune. To have two ex-wives starts to look like carelessness.' Once it gets to more than this...well, the clues are there, as they say.

This man had 3 ex-wives, but that wasn't the end of it. He was recommending to me various music venues and theatre companies in the area, and when I asked him "Do you go there ?", the reply about each was "Oh no, I can't go to that one any more. One of my ex-wives/girlfriends goes and we parted under traumatic circumstances."

I have nothing to add to the general discussion about "middle age dating" ( except that I also thought of Chaucer when I first read the title)- except to say that having reached a certain age when the hormones no longer hold total sway, it is lovely just to get on with living life and enjoying what life brings, free from the urgency to find a mate.

- jeanie