Like cars, every relationship requires a bit of an occasional service, and fine-tuning should be compulsory.

As for tweeting and texting: impassioned discussions, particularly when they're intimate, don't work in abbreviated script messages. No relationship should begin or end in 140 characters.

I have a very childish attitude to books - a very non-analytic enthusiasm... like Alice falling down the chute.

Joy acts like a trampoline, everything that touches it bouncing right back off it.

It's perfectly possible to love your toddler but struggle to like them when times are hard.

Kids are like glue: they can bond together, unlikely companions, even when there is little else left to maintain the connection.