On my flight home from Spain last week I couldn’t help but notice how a young man in front of me took great care of his girlfriend whilst she was repeatedly travel sick.

“I mean, he even held the sick bag for her,” I informed my friends.

“Now there’s not many men that would do that for you.”

And then my friends and I started chatting about the occasions when we were ill and how well our other halves looked after us (or not in some cases).

“Just after Christmas I fell really ill with a bout of flu,” Sharon declared.

“I could barely lift my head from the pillow.”

As we had all been there at some time or another, we understood where Sharon was coming from.

According to Sharon the minute he realised how ill she was, Harry, her boyfriend of many years, dashed to the shops and bought her Lucozade, a large box of soft tissues, paracetamol, throat sweets and a variety of magazines.

“Oh, that was very thoughtful,” I said.

“It’s not every man that would do that.”

“Thoughtful?”

Sharon repeated.

“Thoughtful?”

“I’ll tell you how thoughtful he was Janice.”

Sharon now seemed a little over excited.

“He came into the bedroom looking like the Lone Ranger with a large tea towel masking his face.”

I rolled my eyes at my pals as we wondered what was coming next.

“One by one he placed all the items he bought me on my bedside table before announcing that he was going to stay at his mums for a couple of days because he was terrified he would catch MY flu bug.”

Sharon was now on a rant.

“And he was quick to add that there was no point in both of us being ill over the New Year.”

We couldn’t help but laugh, but imagined how miserable Sharon must have felt been left on her own over the festive period.

“When did he come back then?” I dared to ask.

“Two days later I heard a car door slam and with water dripping off me I dragged myself to the bedroom window to see him walking up the driveway with a carrier bag full of shopping.”

We said nothing at this point as we gathered Sharon was still an angry woman over the incident.

“I was so excited to see him as I hadn’t seen a soul for days.”

“But do you know what?”

No one dare guess at what happened next.

“As I slowly hauled myself towards the front door my mobile rang.”

“Hi Sharon,” the bold Harry apparently announced as he sat back behind his steering wheel.

“I’ve left some shopping for you at the front door, but I won’t come in as I don’t want to risk catching your germs.”

Seemingly his last comment only added insult to injury.

“Especially as I’ve got John and Margaret’s New Year party later and I’ll be out all night, but if you need anything just call my mum.”

“I mean he could at least have popped his head in the door for a few minutes,” sighed a rather dejected Sharon.

“So when did he come back?” Mae enquired.

“Four days later when his party nights were over and I was back up on my feet.”

I followed this up by telling the girls about the day I got sent home from work because I couldn’t stop being sick.

In fact, I was still being sick in the evening so my then husband called the doctor who came out and administered a dose of pethidine to help put me to sleep and stop the cycle of sickness.

However, not long after the doctor left I needed to go to the toilet, and as I was now unstable on my feet I had to crawl along the floor to reach the bathroom.

“You OK hen?” My other half asked as I passed the living room door whilst he flicked the remote control and sat motionless on the couch.

Crawling on all fours I nodded like one of those nodding dogs you see in the back of the car window, and still he didn’t move a muscle to help!

So basically we all had a right good moan and groan about our partner’s unhelpful reaction when we were ill until my daughter Jenna got her bit in about her husband.

“Tony’s great.”

“When I was ill he jumped right out of bed and held my hair back whilst I was sick.”

“Then he insisted I swish my mouth out with Listerine, sprayed my hands with Mr Muscle and wiped them dry before he would let me back into bed.”

And somehow Jenna actually thought he was being helpful!