Well I’m sure there must be more handsome men in the world than Brad Pitt but he entered my mind first when the subject arose at bookclub last Sunday. We were having afternoon tea under the gazebo in Mary’s garden at the time; the other bookworms were tucking into scones with jam and cream or cheese scones with butter whilst I dipped carrot sticks into just a smidgen of humus (which must be fattening because it tastes nice!). I’m not sure who began the conversation on male attractiveness but I do recall Diana, who was sat next to me, pausing to bite into a lovely looking buttery scone while considering her answer. Unfortunately, I couldn’t comment on Diana’s favourite handsome hero because I didn’t recognise the name, but I’m sure she has good taste (judging by that delicious-looking scone she was eating).

“Who do you think is the most handsome man Sally?” our gorgeous bookclub leader leaned back to look me square in the face.

Now Reuben isn’t exactly a plain man himself; in fact, had I been in flirty mode I might have hinted that his poetic good looks were in the running, but I held back.

“Brad Pitt,” I answered without hesitation.

The gasps of agreement amongst the females assembled around the table possibly drowned out any rumble of dissent from the males.

“Harrison Ford is attractive, and Clint Eastwood is handsome despite his age,” I continued, still trying to think of all my favourites in the handsome stakes.

“I bet you like manly men,” suggested Reuben who is tall and muscular yet refined and long-haired.

“Oh, like Arnold Schwarzenegger? Yes, he’s alright and quite a good actor these days,” I responded (Chris and I watched “Terminator 3” last week and very much enjoyed it).

Reuben nodded his handsome head and smiled.

“Did you know that Arnold Schwarzenegger is only about five feet two inches tall?” Robin (maximum 5’9″) piped up from the other side of the table.

“Nonsense,” I said, “he’s over six feet tall – probably around six feet two.” (I have a good eye for things like that.)

“I agree with Sally,” Reuben said in his delightful voice.

“But he’s shorter than Kate Bush (Robin loves Kate Bush)!” Robin stuck to his guns.

“He’s one hundred and eighty-eight centimetres – that’s over six feet”, concluded Reuben, after checking on his iphone.

“My hero is Nicholas Cage,” said Robin.

“But he’s not handsome, and he’s a bit wooden,” I argued.

“I loved ‘Captain Corelli’s Mandolin’, but he was a bit wooden,” conceded Diana.

“He may be a bit wooden in some films – depending on the length of his hair – but, as a general rule, when his hair is short he is brilliant and manly,” Robin contended.

“I expect he’s a very nice person,” I added, not wishing to hurt the feelings of either Robin or Nicolas Cage.

That was last Sunday. Oh, and we also discussed “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes – a wonderful and thought provoking book in the Science Fiction genre.

This morning I awoke earlier than usual and ran upstairs to the bathroom to check my weight on the scales (5 pounds lost over all but no change this morning, in case you’re interested). I was rather surprised to find Chris shaving his face in the bath.

“You are up nice and early,” his face lit up.

“What’s nice about that?” I answered grumpily (never too keen on talking first thing – besides there seemed to me to be an inference that I usually get up too late).

Chris got the hint and kept quiet.

“I wonder if Brad Pitt shaves in the bath?” I asked a tad sneeringly.

Then I remembered that Brad now sports a beard (a slightly grey one at that). I’m not too keen on beards… But I’ll have to let him off – he is handsome. I’m still having a chuckle to myself.