So, picture this! I was sitting over a glass of wine with a friend a couple of weeks ago. We were both lamenting the fact that she hasn't yet fallen pregnant, something which she and her husband have been wanting to do for some years now.

"The thing is Lou!" she said, with the usual straight-forward approach, which always makes me grin. "To fall pregnant, you have to have sex!"

"Hmm," I said in agreement. "Damn! I take it you and Jack are not?"

"No!" she said, sounding at once sad and disappointed. "No, we're not! I'd be lucky if it happened every few months, and even then I feel like it's a duty for him!"

Well as a woman many years her senior, I found myself wanting to give her a huge hug.