The Cost Of Living?

Just spent a delightful half day doing gorgeous things browsing and a bit of coffee sipping & lovely lunching at the Design Centre in Chelsea. It was a mission of sorts as a friend had spied some wallpaper she really wanted & a web search had shown it was American but available in Chelsea. Web search had also shown it was US$41 a yard - about UK£30 a metre (give or take). Fine & dandy thought friend. If with shipping & VAT etc the price was around £50 a metre (a v generous mark up indeed) she'd go for it. So off we went - amazingly easy to get there by public transport (despite cancelled train on the way out) and we soon found ourselves in taste heaven. Gorgeous. Sumptuous. Restrained. Delicious. Amazing. I wanted everything & my excitement at my utilitatrian utility faded. I discovered an unnatural desire for copper baths & marble floors & naked men floor lamps & walnut hall tables and for all the cracks in the FauxSurreyDesRes to disappear .... and when I looked at the prices I realised I would have to pretty much sell the des res to afford any of it!

Anyhow, after coffee we wandered into the wallpaper shop - sorry fabric & wallcoverings shop - and cooed over book after book of amazing wallpapers - made out of cork, jute, mica (yes tiny bits of glass on wallpaper) and found friends' hearts desire. After mistaking me for an interior designer (HOW flattered was I??) the lovely assistant ordered some samples for us & then worked out the price. £85 (inc VAT)  a meter. Minimum of 25 metres to be ordered. WHAT? How? How can they virtually triple the price?? And then insist you buy a heap of it? That's simply insane.

Picking my jaw off the floor for me, friend ushered me out of the shop as I was spluttering about the disparity. Luckily for friend she has family coming over from the US soon  - they can pay the sane price & bring the wallper in their suitcases ..... as a gift of course..!

Where have all the good men gone??

No no, before anyone gets upset or excited this is not a personal question - I am super happy thank you & grateful daily that 7 years ago I was lucky & blessed and I met the BEST man ever and smart girl that I am I married him pronto- no I am not looking I am just questioning. I look around me and I am surrounded by a virtual bevvy of true beauties, Women who are talented, exceptionally kind & caring, intelligent & drop dead gorgeous - and ubelieveably single! And then I look around at the men I know & the good ones are of course married / in a relationship, the very good ones are gay and the available ones are - well they are available as no sane self respecting woman would take them on!

I had lunch with one of my beauties today which prompted this little rant. She is divorced, but an optimist & so would quite like another partner. And she is doing everything she can bar walk about with a sandwich board saying "Hello I would like a boyfriend". She is not - repeat not - desperate & is past wanting children so those neon lights aren't flashing but she is - deep breath - just past her last birthday with a 4 in front of it

And herein it would appear lies the rub. Blokes seem to take their age & subtract the cost of a Ferrari and hey poncho a paunchy 50 year old thinks it's reasonable to expect to date 30 year olds... but my gorgeous, vibrant, young at heart mate is now going on dates with 60 year olds who are looking for companionship. Yes they are well mannered & appreciate her & old fashioned things they are are picking up the tab (which for this friend is hugely refreshing) but they are - sorry - old men & she would like to meet someone closer to her own age who makes her heart skip a beat (and not have to call an ambulance if his does.)

Where are all the sane, sensible, funny, intelligent, handsome available 50 / 52 year olds who can appreciate a woman his own age hiding? Or is every man that age who divorces automatically trading down? Do they really want sleepless nights beacause they are changing nappies rather than being kept awake by a woman who enchants him & is his equal?

OK the oldies I have chosen to make this rant more interesting are unusual but surely not completely unique? Any handsome solvent funny grown up men out there know where to apply ...

If you go down to the woods today ...

... please make sure you know where you are & which direction you are heading in! My 2 lovely but clearly dumb stepchildren decided to walk less than 1/2 a mile (about 20 minutes) to come & see me. The most obvious route is a straight line down a main road. You cannot get lost. Really you can't. But they did - they decided to go on an adventure and head off the straight simple main road into the woods. Smart you may think, get off the congested & polluted 'A' road & get some fresh air. No. Not smart with these 2. They thought they could walk across a privately owned stud farm to cut off a corner & naturally as they reached the fence of the farm they came across the farm dog. Who was very loud in his greeting!!
Cue phone call to me but as I have no idea where they are - and they cannot describe in any accurate way where they may be I cannot help them.
Then their father (FauxSurreyHubby) called. He got through to them & managed to talk them out. Where did they pop out? Exactly where they had gone in. Still 20 mins away. The scary thing is one of them has a Silver Duke of Edinburgh award!! Good grief!

The Joan Collins Fan Club

Am listening to Radio 4 Saturday Live & the wonderful, ascerbic, honest & fabulous Joan Collins is a guest being utterly - well Joan Collins like! She is a woman after my own heart - kids don't tell adults what to do, adults tell them - sing hosanna! Todays society is poorer for instant fame & the utterly crass 'celeb' culture. Restaurants serve you far too much food and much of it is wasted - couldn't agree more.


Hurrah for a dose of honesty! Oh Joan you are inside my head. Watch out Doris Day ...

Come & join us!

Surpise? Surprise!

Long-time no blog. Was exercising the grey matter at a work conference out in the countryside last week and have been recovering from the shock. FauxSurreyHubby has left the country briefly - his presence & expertise is required in the USA and as we have both been busy & knackered I thought I'd sort a surprise out in his absence! A surprise for both of us. The money pit – sorry the des res – still needs a heap of TLC and I thought I would give it some whilst he was away. So trying to work quietly behind Hubby’s back I briefed a decorator to “do” the downstairs cloakroom & our en suite.

They are both in a shocking state and I made one 100x worse by trying to paint it myself last year. I even had a bit of a plan for the downstairs loo, ‘The most sumptuous smallest room’ and I decided that I would not only bring luxury & gorgeousness I would also save money & be cunning & use the leftover wallpaper from our newly refurbed downstairs bit which is a gentle gold-y silver & cream & all la di da. And would look fab in a small cloakroom; so the decorator came ‘round when hubby was at work last week & I assured him we had all the wallpaper & the paint necessary & all is good. All I needed was his time. I couldn’t double check & search the garage however as Hubby would wonder what I was doing fossicking about.

And so this morning the decorator arrived as planned and I went to fetch the wallpaper (of which I was convinced & so assured him there was plenty) and found … disaster … I only had 2 x 2/3 rolls of the fancy stuff I wanted and the 2 wrapped rolls were nasty beige anaglypta (!!) which I had stupidly thought were the good wallpaper. Yikes. So I had to head off to B&Q and buy 2 more full rolls plus the adhesive & a new shelf & am now £100 poorer. Oops. So much for make do & mend…. But it will look amazing!

Spring is sprung

Oh what a beautiful day! The weather in Surrey has suddenly decided to go all springlike & sunny & lovely and so I took advantage of a reclaimed morning (meeting in big bad city cancelled) to do a bit of gentle gardening. FauxSurreyHubby & I had done a quick B&Q trip last weekend & bagged a bajillion cheap plants (tete a tete, pansies, bluebells & grape hyacinths, all for £1 a tray - bargain!)

So out came the gloves, the trowel and the kneeler (with my back you didn't expect me to bend?) and I planted a trough of dark red pansies, a terracotta planter full of tiny cheery tete a tete and was clearing out a space for the bluebells & hyacinths when the KC (who was prowling & mewing & snuggling)  must've become super impressed as she went off & brought me a gift - a lovely live mouse. She was playing catch with it .... Luckily I am master of catch & so I won (had trusty "KC Victim Rescue System”™ at hand) and took poor terrified Mr Mouse out to the front garden & he smartly legged it as soon as the lid of the tub was released!

Then I returned to the back garden & looked about & thought - that all looks good! And so used the rest of my reclaimed morning to do 20 mins on the Cross Trainer whilst watching comedy on the the iPlayer to try & take my mind off the searing dullness of repetitve exercise (I know I know it's good for me!!) then treated myself  to a bit of a Clarins fest and so I body scrubbed & facepacked & slathered myself in body butter & felt marvellous. Oh yes.

Love is all you need

There's nothing you can do that can't be done.

Nothing you can sing that can't be sung.

Nothing you can say but you can learn how to play the game

It's easy.

There's nothing you can make that can't be made.

No one you can save that can't be saved.

Nothing you can do but you can learn how to be you

in time - It's easy.

All you need is love, all you need is love,

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love.

All you need is love, all you need is love,

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

 

There's nothing you can know that isn't known.

Nothing you can see that isn't shown.

Nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be.

It's easy.

All you need is love, all you need is love,

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

All you need is love (all together now)

All you need is love (everybody)

All you need is love, love, love is all you need.

words & music by Lennon/ McCartney

 Wishing everyone a Happy Valentines day; whether you are single, a new couple, a comfy couple or hanging with your cat / dog / goldfish, have a great one!

S'no good ...

.. we had snow in Blighty at the weekend. It wasn't a surprise, it was forecast - amber / red warnings were everywhere. The North of the country had blizzards - proper snow, full on 7 inches of snow, I know this as FauxSurreyHubby foolishly (??!)  drove 100's of miles north Saturday to collect his mother to bring her back to southern Surrey for a short holiday. He left in the pale sunshine & there was nothing more than a bit of frost on the ground.

Coming back was a very different story - it took him 7 hours to do a 4 hour journey. Despite all the weather warnings there was no salt or grit deployed on the M6 TOLL - yes the road you pay huge amounts of money to drive on. The snow was thick & undisturbed ... not a snow plough in sight. At one point his wipers froze solid & he had to drive with his head out of the window to see where the road was ...

However he kept going and soon the really bad snow was behind him - when they got back even sunny Surrey had succumbed & had about 4 inches of snow, but the gritters were out in force and a snow plough was spotted clearing the M25 meaning driving without risking life & limb was possible.

The snow stopped falling by Sunday morning and today, Monday, it is melting fast. Yet step daughters school is closed - a burst pipe apparently - and Heathrow has cancelled a heap of flights. How much warning do we need? Why can't we deal with weather??

10!

My little company turns 10 today. Ten years ago I made the leap from safely salaried to utterly terrified & panic stricken, believing every job was my last! But I also made the leap away from the daily commute, the different panic of targets & teams, the lack of control of my life and the accountability to others.

Today as I am hugely fortunate & currently have gainful employment as a consultant, I commuted down the stairs (after a lovely wake up purr & cuddle from the KC), opened the curtains to see a pale pink dawn emerging over the stud farm, made myself a cup of strong coffee, arranged some stunning flowers I was given last night, checked my mail and looked at my fairly clear day.

No regrets. At all. Happy Tenth Birthday indeed!!

January brings the snow ...

As I was rugged up like an Eskimo whilst defrosting the car this morning, it struck me just how freezing cold it is at the moment - and I thought blimey it's like November ... then I thought again (yes head was hurting at this point far too much thinking before 7AM) hang on 'January brings the snow ..' and so I looked up the old English weather rhyme repeated here for your delectation

January brings the snow

Makes our feet and fingers glow.

February brings the rain,
Thaws the frozen lake again.

March brings breezes sharp and shrill
Shakes the dancing daffodil.

April brings the primrose sweet
Scatters daisies at our feet.

May brings flocks of pretty lambs,

Skipping by their fleecy dams.

June brings tulips, lilies, and roses
Fills the children's hands with posies

Hot July brings cooling showers,

Apricots and gillyflowers.

August brings the sheaves of corn
Then the harvest home is borne.

Warm September brings the fruit 

Sportsmen then begin to shoot

Brown October brings the pheasant;

Then to gather nuts is pleasant.

Dull November brings the blast

Then the leaves go whirling past.

Chill December brings the sleet

Blazing fire and Christmas treat.

 

 

Oh how far away Hot July feels right now ... but it will be with us before we know it and so I will enjoy todays weather as much as I can; the pale golden sunshine on the patio, the sharp bluey green of the frosted tips of the blades of grass, the perfect silence of the bitter cold, the thin layer of mist that wraps the world when it's -2 on the thermometer, and the joy of wrapping soft warm cashmere around my neck when I venture outside!