One of the great things I find about being married to the same man for seventeen years is that we can say almost anything to each other in the knowledge that it will be understood and taken in the right way (well mostly – we did have some weird conversations prior to Chris finally agreeing to wear his hearing aids). But you know what I mean – you get so used to your beloved’s line of thought that you know instantly what they are going on about.

Chris and I often have funny chats while we’re having our morning cups of tea in bed but this time the conversation I’m about to relate to you took place as I was cooking cauliflower cheese for our dinner tonight. Now for some reason the conversation had turned to a film, “The Great Magnolia Hotel” (or something like that).

“I didn’t like that “Magnolia Hotel” film,” I said to Chris who knew which film I meant because he knows I can never remember the actual title (owing to the fact that I never watched the whole movie).

“That’s just because you don’t like those actors,” Chris said sniffily (he had finished watching the rest of the film when I was away and enjoyed it).

“True,” I agreed, “and why do they always cast Celia Imprie as a sexy man-eater?”

“Celia Imrie,” Chris corrected.

“I always thought she must be French,” I pondered as I stirred the cheese sauce, “bet it’s a fake name anyway.”

“No, I don’t think so,” Chris clicked away on his laptop. “Oh yes it is her name – her father was Scottish – and she was born in England in nineteen fifty-two.”

“Do you find her sexy? And what other films was she in?” I asked.

“No, she’s a bit too hard-faced for me,” Chris said diplomatically, “now let me see… I didn’t know she was in ‘Highlander’…”

“She was the nasty one,” I elucidated.

“Oh yes, then there were the two – best and second best –  Exotic Marigold Hotel films” – (I knew it was a flower beginning with M) – “and loads of other films” said Chris.

“‘Calendar Girls'” I chirped in.

“Colander Girls?” Chris laughed as he popped his head around the kitchen doorway and eyed the boiled cauliflower in the colander on the cooker.

“That must have been a strain,” I replied.

“Saucy girl,” he quipped.

“Not a saucepany girl then?”

“Maybe I was frying too hard…”

We still laugh a lot – it’s another of the great things about being married to Chris for over seventeen years.