Speed Dating Events

Western women tend to be more unrealistic about marriage than their sisters around the world. Films and television have made them feel that romantic excitement is not only a birthright, but it is elevated to the most important aspect of marriage. Read the rest of this entry »

If you are following your heart religiously, there is no reason to call him. He should be calling you, and calling you again and again until he pins you down for a date.

To call men is to pursue them, which is totally against your heart. They will immediately know that you like them and possibly lose interest! Another reason not to call men is so you don’t catch them in the middle of something—watching a football game, paying bills, entertaining a friend, or even sleeping— when they may not be in the mood to talk to you. Why take a chance? Read the rest of this entry »

In case you skipped this bit, it is worth repeating here. Jealousy within a relationship is not only allowed, it is healthy and even mandatory. The Tenth Commandment prohibits coveting another man’s wife. But it allows you to covet your own wife. Read the rest of this entry »

Rabbi Yonah says that even if you are honest and open about coveting something, this will still have destructive consequences. For example if you desire to buy an object that belongs to your friend, and you know that once you ask him for it he will find it difficult to say no, it is forbidden to make the request. Your covetousness has become coercive and therefore very unfair. Read the rest of this entry »

A lover who is more than ready for the strike is Andrew Marvell. One of the most famous propositions of all time is the poetical reproach he addressed To His Coy Mistress some time in the swinging seventeenth century. The time and effort he’s invested in the seduction has led him to feel he’s overdue for his reward. Why doesn’t she come through?

This witty poem has had a comical history. It always appears in anthologies under ‘Love Poems‘, whereas in reality it’s a sparkling piece of aggro, obviously written in a fit of teeth-grinding frustration. Read the rest of this entry »

The average Englishwoman, reared on nothing more erotic in the way of masculine perfume than Imperial Leather and Coal Tar soap, could go limp just reading this. But Rodolphe does not rely on copious sloshes of the old Eau Sauvage alone. He proves to have a superb turn of phrase, plus a terrific romantic dash and assurance. ‘You cannot fight with fate!’ he declares, ‘or resist when the angels smile.’ Read the rest of this entry »

Girls spend years building up the know-how necessary to handle this monstrous regiment of men on the make. Luckily most of them turn out to be squaddies from the Brigade of Gunners — they’re gonna do this and they’re gonna do that, but they’re all flash and no bang because there’s not enough lead in their pellets to make the stub of a blunt pencil. But that still leaves enough men who are licensed to injure if not kill a lady, and a girl’s education in self-defence against these 003¹/2s starts at an early age. There used to be a skipping game at my school of Mixed Infants which built up to the triumphant rhythmic climax of little females chanting in unison:

I WOULD if I COULD

But I WANT to be GOOD

And I’m NOT that KIND of a GIRL! Read the rest of this entry »

Now boys, three cheers for Venus, hip hip hip hooray. Oh how I enjoy sex and oh how I enjoy it. There have been many funny things about sex in my life that have made me laugh and so now I will tell you

`Will you be mine?’ This question which enshrines the classic marriage proposal can and does carry another meaning. Not all love encounters are fated to end in marriage. Ardent suitors frequently have something more immediate in view. Read the rest of this entry »

Fitzgerald first created this situation in This Side Of Paradise, a book to fall in love by, if ever there was one. As Rosalind and Amory fall in love . . .

. . . they were together constantly, for lunch, for dinner, and nearly every evening — always in a sort of breathless hush, as if they feared that any minute the spell would break and drop them out of this paradise of rose and flame. But the spell became a trance, seemed to increase from day to day; they began to talk of marrying in July — in June. All life was transmitted into terms of their love, all experience, all desires, all ambitions were nullified: ‘She’s life and hope and happiness, my whole world now.’ Read the rest of this entry »

In this sad moment, the fate of the couple is sealed. We can see ahead for them vistas of a lifetime of nappies, bills and rows, first the overcrowded house and then the empty nest. But Vic can think only of himself, and Ingrid’s tears provoke him to another spasm of disgust:

She’s sobbing away like billy-ho now. The hanky’s out and the waterworks are turned on good and proper. Read the rest of this entry »