Once costars Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are no longer conjugal. “Too bad,” Jett wrote an hour ago. “Not that I’m surprised. Age difference killed it.” Hansard is 38, Irglova is 20. 18 years can seem like a fairly big gap from the vantage point of the younger person. Gaps diminish once you get older, of course. A 30 year woman with a 48 year-old guy is a bit strange, but only a bit. A 40 year-old woman and a 58 year-old guy…who cares?

When I was in my early 20s I used to regard people who were 30-plus as somehow soiled and lacking in spiritual buoyancy. On the other hand I used to worship the idea of women in their mid 30s, and I finally got down with one — a 37 year-old divorcee — when I was 22 or 23. It was heavenly in a sensual milkshake sense, but she wasn’t as interested in the present and future tense as I was — she was settled into her child-less suburban home, drank too much scotch, thought too much about her lost youth and opportunities. She was Maggie May.