54. It won’t last

When Tom and Elizabeth got together:

Jack said to his wife, Deborah, “It won’t last.”

Harriet said to her husband, Sidney, “It won’t last.”

Gavin said to his boyfriend, Michael, “It won’t last.”

Annette said to her girlfriend, Gretal, “It won’t last.”

Jasmine said to her partner, Bart, “It won’t last.”

Lester said to his partner, Samira, “There’s one thing for sure, it won’t last.”

Forty-two years later:

Jack lives with Sidney.

Deborah lives with Gavin.

Harriet’s dead.

Michael fathered Annette and Gretal’s two children, after which Annette and Gretal went their separate ways, and Michael has now moved in with Jasmine.

Bart eloped with Samira to somewhere in darkest Africa, and Lester tried out his vocation in a Trappist monastery before leaving and becoming an orderly at the local hospital where he has recently met the hitherto unmentioned Hetty.

Tom and Elizabeth (if you can remember them from way back on the list) are currently away on a camping trip with four of their eleven grandchildren.