I was having lunch in a nice cafe today with both my daughters – a rare pleasure these days since Child 1 is at uni and Child 2 is *supposed* to be too busy with revision to leave her desk for an instant – when a man on the next door table leant over and …
Sponsored post My inbox is full of oddities – people urge me every day to buy everything from coffins to extra large water butts – and I’m sure yours is the same. But when I saw an email saying ‘Buy a Lady a Drink,’ of course I had to linger. One never knows where one’s …
I have a confession to make. In the last year I have fallen in and out of love. And this time, it was completely deliberate. You see, I decided that I would become an Archers fan. The Archers, for those enjoying a peaceful existence on Mars, is a soap opera which has been running on …
Child Two and I were in Covent Garden yesterday and found ourselves passing the new Charlotte Tilbury shop, all done out in her signature smouldering wine and gold colours. Charlotte Tilbury is the British make-up artist responsible for Keira Knightley’s smokey eyes (98 per cent of her acting talent, some would say) as well as …
Ugh, it’s that time again. Blimmin blimmin blimmin summer holiday planning. I feel as though I’ve only just got over last year’s jaunt and yet we are already way behind everyone we know on sorting out joyful summer romps for the whole family. As if. What on earth do you do with an age range …
I’ve had a lot of fun this week with socks. That’s not a misspelling. It’s been really cold in London, and I am now established in a pretty good writing routine, sitting in the kitchen every morning typing away for two hours. Unfortunately, I am sitting in a howling draught. To make this a little …
Sponsored post How do you plan your interiors? I’m not sure I’ve ever sat down and really worked out what a room should look like from top to bottom, and I say that as someone who *loves* interiors and design. It’s never an entirely blank canvas, is it? There are things you have to take …
I rather love the idea of marrying yourself, which was all over the Guardian magazine on Saturday. There was a lovely glossy spread on a forty-something journalist getting all done up in a white dress and posing pensively amid gorgeous Japanese cherry blossoms (the company offering ‘me-weddings’ is Japanese), with no groom in sight. When …
Another day, and another person I know finds out they have cancer. It’s not surprising, I suppose – the statistics say that fifty per cent of us will now get it at some point during our lives. We’re living longer, we’re sedentary, we do all the wrong things for years and we’re fine and then …
There was a great long article in the Guardian’s G2 section today about how we’re all buying less stuff. As a decluttering enthusiast (my nearest and dearest would say deranged fanatic) this sounded like terrific news. If it were true, then I would no longer be the only person I know who gets a thrill …