Instant attraction is magic at work, and don’t tell us lovebirds otherwise

HE showed me his vest and I gave him my heart. That was it. Love at first sight. Weeks earlier I’d barely registered his presence as the newbie in work.

It wasn’t until he dropped by my desk to borrow a book, face-to-face, that Eros revealed itself.

We exchanged remarks about the cold snap and he assured me he was well insulated, revealing a corner of his old-fashioned undergarment as proof.

You might be thinking “file a sexual harassment claim”, but different times.

I felt the point of Cupid’s arrow go deep into my chest.

Stanley from ‘A Streetcar Named Desire’ wears a vest.

My dad wears a vest. I loved his strong warmth when, as a child, I’d snuggle in for a hug as he’d arrive home from work, shirt sleeves rolled.

The vest reveal was a gauche move from a man who knew the power of allegory.

The rest is romantic history.

Yet now psychologists are telling us it doesn’t exist, that love-at-first-sight phenomenon.

They say it is more likely just “strong physical attraction”.

More lust than the promise of enduring love.

And they know this by studying the reaction of a bunch of speed daters and conducting an online questionnaire.

Try telling that to Miriam O’Callaghan who went weak at the knees for husband Steve when their eyes met over the exhibits at the Strokestown Famine Museum in 1995.

Miriam has the initials ‘ALWFS [a long way from Strokestown]’ engraved on the inside of her wedding ring.

Or try telling it to the newly engaged lovebirds settling into life in Kensington Palace. Prince Harry proudly told the public that he fell head over heels for Meghan Markle the very first time they met.

Or try telling anyone else for that matter, who fell in love with their significant other the first minute they clapped eyes on them.

Next they’ll be telling us that Santa isn’t real, or that there actually was room at the inn.

With few things left in life that truly bring us cause for wonder, do we really need a university study to come along and explain away the remarkable confluence of two people falling in love in the same magical instant?

Sure, it’s chemistry, it’s the biological imperative, it’s physical attraction.

Love at first sight is all of these things.

But anyone who has truly felt love at first sight can’t help but believe that it’s also something so remarkable that it’s also something else.