“Of course, you know that my husband and I couldn’t possibly separate until January 2015 at the very earliest?” asked a friend while we were in the process of discussing the divorce of another.

“Why’s that?” I enquired.

“In the January sales we bought our daughter a stuffed Tomsk Womble. We plan to give it to her together for Christmas next year. If we split up before December 2014, whatever will become of the poor Womble?” she replied.

I agreed that this was a very good point. You shouldn’t leave stray Wombles lying around the place, even if this gets in the way of your future long-term happiness.