I’d never liked gold. I think it’s totally overrated. I understand it’s value in a monetary sense, but I can’t understand why people think it’s beautiful. Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder and for me silver is a far more beautiful metal. I know it’s not as rare and a lot cheaper, but it just looks nicer.

For my wife’s birthday I chose her some silver gemstone jewellery which she really liked as it was very unusual looking and unique. I think we live in a world where everything is gradually looking more and more alike. Look at cars for instance. Compared with twenty or thirty years ago they all look the same – a standardized looking Euro-Box with four wheels, all the safety features you can think of and some you can’t and no soul whatsoever. Anyway, I digress!

I handed my wife her birthday present on a cruise I had booked to celebrate her birthday in style. We chose a very reasonably priced cruise form Silversea cruises. The cruise gave us a lot of bang for our buck and I was very surprised at the standard of luxury and comfort aboard the liner. I’d only ever been on ferries before, between England and The Continent, usually on booze cruises in my days of misspent youth. But the less said about that the better!

We were sailing across the Mediterranean Sea on our way to Corsica where we were going to stay at a friend’s villa. Although we had had many Holidays in Corsica before as part of our company’s Corporate entertainment activities, they were always in hotels which don’t have the same atmosphere as a villa. Staying at a villa belonging to a friend isn’t a pastime belonging exclusively to dodgy politicians offering favours to dodgy businessmen.

On arrival at the villa in Corsica, we were blown away by what would be our home for the next two weeks. The villa overlooked The Mediterranean Sea, had a huge garden and was in a nice, secluded, peaceful spot. It also had it’s own swimming pool which got a lot of use as my wife and I are avid swimmers and find it is the best way to keep fit and keep trim.

The town was only ten minutes walk away and as it was a small town, it was very friendly. We felt like guests of honour in their town and the way we were treated touched both our hearts. In fact the holiday and cruise together was the best time my wife and I had had together in a long time and it rekindled the spark in our marriage.