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Make mine a muffin
I remember thinking, when we returned to the UK six years ago (gosh, that long already!), what a rich country it seemed to be. For me, the change seemed to be summed up by the coffee bars that had sprung up everywhere – even in Sainsbury’s. When I’d left the country, in 1989, there had [...]
Continue reading...What’s going on in Girl Land?
31. January 2012
There’s a huge hoo-ha coming our way about girls and the internet. It’s generated by an American writer and journalist called Caitlin Flanagan who, I’m sure, is utterly delightful, but comes over like someone who is never happier than when stirring up tornados in teacups. One of her previous books was subtitled Loving and Loathing [...]
Continue reading...Swedes not so sweet
27. January 2012
I’m a bit shocked this morning. I’m having an ongoing cyber-row with a Swedish lady I’ve never even met. And it’s getting quite nasty. It’s all because I’ve developed a new hobby, buying our favourite china, Ostindia by Rorstrand, on eBay. Ostindia is a pretty Swedish blue and white floral patterned dinner service, with a [...]
Continue reading...This doesn’t happen on Masterchef ….
25. January 2012
So those lovely folk at Anchor asked me to make something yummy to celebrate their 125th birthday. And, better yet, they asked for an elevenses treat. So far, so excellent. As a child, I loved Winnie the Pooh, mostly because he was always ready for a little snackerel round about this time of day. Some [...]
Continue reading...Everything must go
23. January 2012
I’ve got that restless, rootless feeling. There are loads of things that need doing in the house – including a major revamp of the central heating – but I can’t muster up the botheration to get it all moving, even though the bathwater is tepid every morning and the girls’ radiators are covered with ice. [...]
Continue reading...Car trouble?
19. January 2012
And another in my series of dodgy car number plates snapped badly with my iPhone while I’m on the school run. I wonder what this lady driver’s friends say to her when she asks:”does my bum look fat in this?”
Continue reading...Fringe benefits?
18. January 2012
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For as long as I can remember, I’ve had a fringe. And it’s always been a pain. Every time I see a photo of myself, I grind my teeth thinking, ‘that fringe is too long/short/tufty/a total mess.’ I’ve tried different partings, made trickier by the fact that I have a double crown so that my [...]
Continue reading...Never knowingly overpraised
17. January 2012
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I couldn’t quite believe it when I heard Nick Clegg, or ‘the Cleggster’ as I now think of him after reading the Guardian’s Westminster Digested column, beseeching British business to copy John Lewis. Is there anyone out there who doesn’t just adore John Lewis? First it was the huggable Christmas ad, flying in the face [...]
Continue reading...Dreamy?
16. January 2012
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I had a dream ….. unfortunately it wasn’t about racial harmony, a solution to the economic crisis, world peace, or, well, anything remotely serious at all. Of course not. I’m deeply shallow. It was about pets. The star of my subconscious show was a rabbit. Well, two rabbits, actually. Child Two, who has always been mad [...]
Continue reading...Shoplifters of the world unite
12. January 2012
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The first thing I thought when I heard about Anthony Worrall Thompson’s shoplifting spree was how odd it was that middle-aged women no longer seem to be doing this. It used to be all the rage among the hot-flushers – the papers used to be full of women of a certain age saying they ‘didn’t [...]
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2. February 2012
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