Have you been should on recently? Most of us males blessed with living in close proximity to another who professes to care about our deportment and life expectancy receive about 10 to 20 “shoulds” every day, carping at posture, dress, eating habits or nose hair which I’m sure is where the expression “carpe diem” comes from. I expected that once I had reached retirement age and was out of the public gaze I could enjoy a “should” remission, but not so. 

The closer the proximity in the space-time continuum of wife and political parties, the greater the occasion for “shoulding” by those whose seemingly unassailable position was simply a concern about my health and appearance or a commitment to their re-election. 

Then we took to travelling and there was a decided diminishment in the “should” department. With far more attention-grabbing elements in our environment than the wine stain on my shirt front, I found that for the first time in a long while I was footloose and shouldless. These anecdotes are culled from letters home from some of those far places.

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