Love is friendship set on fire

The whole friends after a relationship thing often doesn't work out, but it's not a clear cut thing. It's an issue of unrequited feelings from one party for the other that causes trouble.

If Fred and Sally are friends, then go out for a while. But then Fred fancies someone else, and Sally continues to harbour feelings for Fred, it's a painful situation for Sally if they do remain friends. She may eventually get over it, and things will be fine again, but in the meantime she is hurt.

What often happens is that the party which no longer has feelings for the other doesn't notice (intentionally or not) that the other still likes them. This can go on for years, all the while the one who was 'dumped' is hurt. This explains why many are of the opinion "Oh, it's great. We're are friends just like nothing ever happened."

The other common thing to happen is that the person who still harbours feelings, and feels hurt and rejected when the two hang out. But they'll deny this to themselves and others, and pretend that they are satisfied with the state of their relationship.

Then of course, there are situations which work out great, and no one likes the other romantically after they are done. But really, what are the odds that over night, magically both people will decide that they didn't really like each other afterall? It must happen, but to believe that it's anywhere near the norm sounds delusional to me.

Jam it back in, in the dark.