I've always wondered if it is possible to form new platonic relationships with the opposite sex once you are married, mused a colleague as we mulled over the story, 'Honey, she's just a friend'.

The article talks about how people could get suspicious about a spouse's relationship with an attractive colleague of the opposite sex.

We've all sniggered over office romances at some time or other, some of which take a serious turn when one party is married.

An affair can start anywhere, as the article says, and the workplace - where most of us spend the greater part of the day - is fertile ground for it.

After all, as the piece also suggests, we are attracted to people who are similar to us. That means the friends we choose are likely to have more or less the same characteristics as the people we marry.

But back to my colleague's question - can married folks strike up new friendships with the opposite sex? My answer is a definite yes. And yes, too, to whether they can maintain the old platonic relationships they had enjoyed before they got married.

I would say that the litmus test as to whether you are going to have a successful marriage - with respect for each other's space - is whether you can accept each other's friends.

That means pals of the opposite sex with whom you have a history from long before the two of you met, and new friends you will make in the course of your life.

I've kept several of my nearest and dearest kakis of the opposite sex from singlehood to this day. I've also gathered a few new ones along the way. So has my husband. And we are both comfortable with that.

Work situations can make enemies of some of your co-workers, but you are also bound to meet colleagues who are like-minded and with whom you want to spend time outside the workplace.

There's nothing illicit in that, because time outside work with your mate and drinks after work with colleagues you value as friends are completely different types of social events.

I concede that you might feel a tinge of jealousy if your spouse's colleague is attractive, but you can't waste time worrying about things that only maybe, might, happen.

For professional reasons and because of family commitments, my husband and I have had to live in different countries - and even on different continents - for a while.

We always talk about work when we are on the phone and he often mentions women he's met in business whom I know he also considers good friends. I've never met some of them.

I imagine that a couple of attractive ones whom I have met must have looked at me and thought: 'I wonder if she's possessive and jealous that he's my friend...'

At those times, I've made it a point to behave real cool, making sure that my body language didn't answer their unspoken questions in the affirmative.

Maybe it is easy for me to talk, married as I am to an inveterate workaholic whose goals leave little time for anything else - even family vacations. But I'd say to my colleague: Yes, warm platonic relationships with the opposite sex are possible. If you and your partner are comfortable with each other and confident of your relationship, they should be.