Shall I buy my hat?!

As if it wasn't bad enough watching your friends dropping off like flies, you also start getting 'helpful' reminders of your plight as you advance in years. The graph above shows that the number of 'subtle' digs about getting hitched that you receive is proportional to the number of older female relatives that you have. This is mainly aunts, but can also be aunt-in-laws, grandmothers and other assorted more distant relations. This is the main disadvantage to having 15 aunts (yes, 15!), I find!! To make matters worse, the friends of your parents and neighbours of a certain vintage can also row in with a "hat" enquiry!

The enquiries start when you are in your mid 20s and continue for about a decade, at which point they give up and move on to a younger cousin. The really sad thing is that it's actually worse when they stop asking. At that stage, even they realise that no one is going to be foolish enough to take you on!!! And don't think that you've escaped when finally you meet that special someone - then they move on to when your first/second/third etc. child will be arriving!