I’m pretty glad to see the back of this year – going over my pictures is helpful to see that although life was severely restricted there were some very happy times made even more precious by their rarity. The first picture is the beginning, when I turned my content around to older beauty products that I’d saved over the years. Next on is our very forbearing friends Sian and Paul who came round for tea and crossword (we were allowed to meet in gardens) and we all sat in the rain because it had been so long. I started my tooth straightening journey. We went to a socially distanced Andy Warhol exhibition, the prototype Clouds began to emerge. I had another wet cup of tea in Trafalgar Square when a few work meetings started to happen again, I had my first hair cut in months and managed to get over to Paris for 24 hours to see Max before being recalled to the UK to avoid quarantine leaving him in the lap of luxury in our lovely hotel and me dismal on the last Eurostar. We later managed a weekend break to Florence and I’m grateful to have seen it when it was quiet because there were no queues anywhere and sanitizer units everywhere. The hotel, in order to keep everyone distanced, served our breakfast on our patio every morning which is really something I could get used to.
I’m not sure I’ve got everything in exactly the right order, but I discovered the delights of the pelicans at St James’ park thanks to my friend Shimon so Lucy and I went for feeding time and it was brilliant! They’re such curious creatures and huge! I gave my garden more love and attention than its ever had before and when we were finally allowed to garden centres it was like going to Disney land (queues and novelty). Out for a glass of rose with Gen (@this_is_fifty) who of all my beauty friends, I’ve seen most of… we definitely said we wouldn’t have wine and lunch and yet, there we are ;-). I trimmed my fringe and it went wrong so I had to have an emergency rectification at 8.30 am with Honey – I was lucky to find one of the salons in the village open at that time. The Cloud appeared – it’s currently sold out – I hadn’t anticipated that it would sell out so quickly .. I ordered another, larger run and then that sold out too. Because of ingredient sourcing and other issues, I don’t think it will be back til February but hopefully by then I’ll have a shiny new one to show. I actually cannot believe how lucky I’ve been with this – to find a great retailer and to get support from all corners of the internet. I managed to do a Crow pose in yoga which I never in a month of Sundays thought I would be able to do. When it got a bit colder, I was one of ‘those’ who bought a outdoor heater, gathered up all our blankets and turned the tiny space into a candle lit dining spot. I’ve done a bit of work behind the scenes with brands this year on how best to speak to older women in their marketing materials and on their web sites but it’s still like pushing water uphill. I do not understand why brands find it hard to get their heads round the fact that older isn’t uglier – beauty changes through the decades all stages of beauty are valid. Finally, finished my teeth!
So, I hope everything is better next year for literally everyone and I cannot thank you enough for your comments, kindness and all round wonderfulness – I never don’t feel lucky for the audience I have. Nobody is untouched by the virus in one form or another – the repercussions for some have been dreadful and it’s even painful to watch for those more unaffected because you can’t help absorbing some of the sadness. These are hard times, they really are. On the other hand, we have vaccines ahead and we have come a long, long way from those first strange days and we have Easter in our sights. I feel we are in the eye of the storm, and all storms pass eventually. I don’t know exactly what content I can bring through January – it really depends upon what brand activity is but of course, I will do my best to bring something! I got the Kim Joy baking book for Christmas so you may see cute cakes :-).
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