The domestic lives of constables and their families, the dynamics of their marriages, and their interactions with neighbours followed common working-class patterns. Couples came from similar backgrounds, often from families in similar professions, and tended to be close in age. They met through family and friends, at work and at dances. Most married when they were in their early to mid-twenties and had two or three children. Wives expected their husbands to hand over their wages, and husbands expected their wives to run the household. They fought if expectations were not met, if the husband did not earn enough or spent too much on beer or gambling, or if the wife did not save, did not provide meals, or did not present a neat family appearance. Unhappy spouses might look for satisfaction elsewhere, sometimes ending in affairs, separations and unofficial cohabitation. Since divorce was expensive, the working class could tolerate a fair amount of marital irregularity. Mostly, families got along with neighbours and, when they did not, quarrels were often sparked by feuding wives, quarrelling children and noise. Neighbours asked favours of neighbours with skills such as plumbing or carpentry, including treating constables living on the street as local police stations, making it difficult for constables to be off duty and annoying their wives.