To be an older sister is to be immeasurably proud and unspeakably irritated at once. It is to throw yourself in the path of anything that could cause your sister pain but to hold back in the knowledge that your intervention is never welcome until it is asked for.
In 1976, nine in 10 women married before they hit 30. Today, if you're straight and married by the age of 30 in the UK, you're officially in the minority.