Finding five positives not always easy

Instead of sitting in front of a warm TV and a cold drink to watch the rugby game against Italy from Dublin last Saturday afternoon, myself and 20-odd others facing similar prospects in the medium- to short-term sat in plastic chairs in a counselling centre.

There we were to talk about our feelings, fill in workbooks in red ink, drink orange juice through a straw and listen as we were told the five early indicators of a relationship break up (going in from the side at the breakdown or spear tackling are not two. I asked). Welcome to the pre-marriage course.

After what was a low-key version of the Mr and Mrs game you’re familiar with from the TV, our respective answers were fed into a computer and the machine then coughed up various graphs and charts. We sat in another room a couple of nights later to discuss the results. The conversation centred on me for some reason, as the counsellor pressed various leaflets into my fiancée’s hand.