WHEN Shakespeare observed that ‘the course of true love never did run smooth’ he clearly knew what he was talking about.

And back in the 16th century, surely they had far fewer hazards to throw true love off its path.

Television had yet to be invented, let alone remotes and channel hopping!

While theatre might have offered a range of entertainment, surely there can’t have been as many genres and sub genres to fall out over offered at your local cinema, from bloody slasher horrors to fluffy rom coms, via buddy movies and foreign language films.

Of course, ‘delights’ such as getting plastered at your local ale house were an option, though deciding whether you were going to go and throw some shapes on the dance floor of your local retro club or stand around looking vaguely aloof at a cool bar wasn’t.

My point is, with the wide range of pastimes and entertainment on offer, the potential to want to do something different with your partner, and maybe even fall out over it, is pretty big.

So how do you manage a night out if one of you thinks it’s pointless unless you’re plastered and the other thinks a couple of drinks are plenty?

How can you make sure you both have a good weekend if one of you likes to lie in until noon while the other likes to get up at dawn to embark on an outing?

My friend May and her partner have plenty of differences of taste.

She says: “He loves blood, guts and horror films but I detest them. This has led to a few minor disputes as he does the ordering of our DVDs and, despite the fact that I have made my feelings on the subject perfectly clear, the occasional ‘nasty’ DVD does plop through our letterbox. He, in turn, detests costume dramas, so I never get to watch Larkrise to Candleford. Going out brings its own set of problems as he isn’t very sociable. If we’re meeting mutual friends he’s fine but he doesn't like going to social events where he’s likely to know few people. A friend of mine had a big celebration recently and although I knew that if I piled on the pressure he would accompany me, it seemed pointless as he wouldn’t have enjoyed it and, therefore, neither would I. The most sensible arrangement was for me to go on my own. I think it’s inevitable that when you live with another person there will be occasions when your interests clash. It’s all part of the ‘contract’ to take each other's needs into account and, where possible, adopt a pragmatic view or compromise.”

For my own part, I don’t share my boyfriend’s interest in watching 22 men run around after a ball for an hour and a half.

He, on the other hand, likes to inflict TV football coverage on me at regular intervals.

We haven’t come to blows about it, though once he’s moved in I suppose it could become more of an issue. I did subconsciously fire a warning shot to him about it the other night though.

Having been made to watch highlights on TV shortly before going to bed, I wound up dreaming that I was playing footie. As I lined myself up for a shot at goal I fired my leg out at top speed – giving him an almighty kick which woke both of us up.

He had to agree that watching football immediately before bedtime might not be such a good idea in future.”

Kicking aside, compromise is obviously part of the way forward, as is doing things apart if you don’t both enjoy them. It’s easy to let little things bother you but it would be a shame to fall out over what you’re going to watch on TV or something equally trivial. And who knows, if you give one of your partner’s interests a go, you might find that they actually appeal to you too.