The Thing of Day Dreams

So I was in bed reading Guards! Guards!, by Terry Pratchett and came across this passage that struck me. It made me smile, and also made me a bit lonely.

She smiled at him.
And then it arose and struck Vimes that, in her own and very special category, she was quite beautiful;this was the category of all the women, in his entire life, who had ever thought he was worth smiling at.She couldn't do worse, but then, he couldn't do better. So maybe it balanced out. She wasn't getting any younger, but then, who was? And she had style and money and common-sense and self-assurance and all the things that he didn't, and she had opened her heart, and if you let her she could engulf you; the woman was a city.
And eventually, under siege, you did what Ankh-Morpork (the city) had always done - unbar the gates, let the conquerers in, and make them your own.