Conversational loop
Her: "I've decided that I'm going to stop working in a couple of years time once I've paid off my loans"
Me: "Oh that's nice, what will you do instead?"
Her: "I want to start a family"
Me: "Oh. Two years you say?"
Her: "Yes, I don't want to work in London any longer than I need to"
Me: "So, assuming you manage to work of your debts and settle down with kiddo, we're going to be down to one income, a screaming baby, a new house to pay for and lots of overtime for me".
Her: "Every woman has that right!"
Me: "I hate to be selfish and all, but what's in it for me? Eighteen years of poverty? I can't stand children. You knew this when we got together".
Her: "But it means so much to me, besides it would make me very happy and it's different when you have your own".
Me: "So how will we cope both financially and as a couple?"
Her: "People manage. They just find a way."
Me: "But I don't want to just manage for the next eighteen years!"
Her: "But you'll find it so rewarding!"
Me: "Look, it's never going to work. The sums don't add up and we obviously want different things from life"
Her: "But I love you so much, I can't face being without you!"

And loop that conversation ad infinitum, virtually every week for eighteen months. Hints were dropped to friends and family that she might 'forget' to take her pill and how did they think I would react? I had to put a stop to things when she started pouring her heart out to my friends, who promptly started sitting me down and telling me to have babies ASAP.

I finished the relationship just in time, any longer and I'd have had myself vasectomized.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Tue 24 Apr 2007, 13:15, Reply)