I wouldn't have it any other way....

My wife has been away this week, negotiating anschluss with a major European nation or something similar.  Meanwhile, I have been left at home attempting to keep the home fires burning.  Well, that and at least trying to tidy up a little more mess than I make over the course of the week before she gets home tomorrow night.  I've recycled a load of cardboard boxes and everything.

Anyway.

James Brown may have thought that it was a man's, man's world, but I spend my life surrounded by strong, intelligent, assertive women.  There's my wife, of course.... but my team of nine at work only has two other guys, and in addition, my boss is a woman and my closest colleague is a woman.  I spend my days walking through the building flanked by women and in meetings with women.  In fact, it's Thursday and I haven't yet had a meeting that included a single other guy all week.  This definitely never happened to me when I was in IT.  It goes without saying that all of these ladies are strong and assertive and mostly run rings around me, telling me what to do.

It's not just my colleagues, either.

My running buddy has started cycling to work this week, and because she's a little nervous about the whole thing, she's asked me if I'll cycle in with her a couple of days this week.  We started today, meeting at my house this morning.  The plan was that I would show her the way from work to the gym we both attend at the end of the day so that she could pick up something she left there.  It's not that hard, but I was planning on heading for a swim anyway, so why not?  This evening, as I was explaining how to get from the gym back to her car, the look on her face quickly told me that she was expecting a personal escort and not to find her own way back.  So what did I do?  I cycled back with her and then drove back to the gym for a swim.  Of course I did.

To top it all off, do you know what happened when I got home?  My cat emerged into the drizzle from underneath a car, ran across the street and yowled at me loudly and insistently.  She has a cat-flap and can let herself in any time she likes, but that's not the point.  Just another strident and assertive female telling me what to do.

I wouldn't have it any other way.  To misquote Marilyn Monroe, I don't mind living in a woman's world as long as I can be a man in it.