Cobblers Children

There is an old saying that cobblers children have no shoes. This holds equally true in business today. For example a marketing company will take five years to produce a simple brochure that says nothing about the company. An IT company will have a forty year old steam powered internal network that can't handle e-mail or any other information. Banks and financial institutions are forever going under because of financial difficulties.

This rule applies to every single business and organisation in the country. You try finding a first aid tin in a hospital or a torch in a lighthouse. The one weapon the Swiss army don't have? You've guessed it.

When you're thinking of marrying someone it's always a good idea to bear this rule in mind. Don't get excited if you're going out with a masseur. The last thing they want to do after a hard day pounding flesh is to start again with you. Similarly if your dad's an accountant don't ask for help with your maths homework (especially if one of the problems is 2 + 2). Or if your husband works on North Sea oil rigs, don't ask him to get busy with the 3-in-1 as soon as comes through the door. If your mother's a management consultant, don't expect a sympathetic hearing about pocket money when she's been slashing costs all day.

It's advisable to work with this unbending rule. The best people to marry therefore are official receivers who off-duty are very generous givers or scientists investigating chaos theory at work who are obsessive about the housework at home.