Passing thoughts

I’m reading a charming (so far) book just now.  Not on kindle –it was a birthday present from our French son: Agatha Christie – An Autobiography.

One day her mother was reading Dickens to her and kept falling asleep.
She said the following which resonated with me and I thought I would share it:

I remember how ridiculous she looked with her spectacles slipping off her nose and how much I loved her at that moment.
It is a curious thought but it is only when you see people looking ridiculous that you realise just how much you love them!  Anyone can admire somebody for being handsome or amusing or charming, but that bubble is soon pricked when a trace of ridicule comes in.  I should give as my advice to any girl about to get married:
‘Well now, just imagine he had a terrible cold in his head, speaking through his nose all full of b’s and d’s, sneezing, eyes watering.  What would you feel about him?’
It’s a good test really.  What one needs to feel for a husband, I think is the love that is tenderness, that comprises affection, that will take colds in the head and little mannerisms in its stride.  Passion one can take for granted.
 

But marriage means more than a lover- I take an old-fashioned view that respect is necessary.  Respect- which is not to be confused with admiration.  To feel admiration for a man all through one’s married life, would, I think, be excessively tedious.  You would get, as it were, a mental crick in the neck.

But respect is a thing you don’t have to think about, that thankfully is there.  As the old Irish woman said of her husband, “Himself is a good head to me.”
That I think is what a woman needs.  She wants to feel that in her mate there is integrity, that she can depend on him and respect his judgement, and that when there is a difficult decision to be made it can safely lie in his hands.

I googled Greenway – Agatha’s Devon Home and there are some lovely videos.  I tried to download one to show you but it wouldn’t work.  For anyone contemplating a trip to Devon I should think

Greenway would be a must to visit.