Thinking back, I can’t remember a girlfriend being there when I really needed her; someone who, in the right place at the right time, came to my rescue in a crisis. I feel that had a woman ever done that it may have made a difference; a bond might have been made to be cherished and a connection to be built upon. But that was never to be my experience.

When I was on the crest there was usually a number of willing partners offering themselves up. Success and the confidence that comes from it seem to have that effect. Many are drawn to it. Perhaps they want to partake in it and its benefits. Perhaps it has some kind of visceral pull.

But I would like to think something more essential might be engendered in the woman during an hour of need; that her generosity of spirit could rise to the occasion and deal with me in the trough as well as the peak. That possibility is attractive to me but doesn’t seems to happen. Just another of life’s many ironies that things can be plentiful when you don’t especially need them and so hard to come by when you do.