<p>My mother used to go for extended visits to see my sister abroad, and she’d leave a list of “approved” women for my father to hang out with while she was gone. Can you believe it? They were madly in love for forty years until he died, and there was no hanky panky with these women as far as I know, but he was very social and couldn’t stand being alone. He’d socialise with men friends, too, but there was this list! The women on it weren’t the ones who were the flirting ones at dinner parties, more like pals that my parents have known since basically childhood.</p>