Getting ill

Thursday 25th Nov 2010.

Yvonne had asked me to go to a shopping night at ACNE on Dover Street in London to do some pre Christmas shopping. My idea of hell but the thought of spending time with her and taking full advantage of the champagne that was being supplied by the canny hosts tipped it into a yes please sort of an evening. We met at the store which was suitably festive with just the right amount of bunting to keep you aware that Christmas was looming.

Not being in a mood to shop I went upstairs with Yvonne to watch her parade some of the sexiest clothes I have seen for an age. So sexy that all the other people there were telling her that no matter what she did she HAD to buy the little black number that she paraded up and down the floor for all to see. The champagne was flowing along with the hems of all the other clothes she tried on, all of which I have to say looked amazing on her. The shop assistants were all lovely and the evening was turning into more fun than I thought it might, nothing like egging on whilst not buying anything yourself. Choices made, tissue wrapping completed and thoughts came to dinner.

A friend of mine had just taken over the running of Embassy the night club on Old Burlington Street, so off we trotted with the swag.It used to be Legends, which used to be a favourite of the jet set, how times have changed. John was in the midst of service but was still able to get us a table in the restaurant and we settled down for dinner. Luke, the barman kept sending me over vodkas and lemonade just in case the wine wasn't enough. So after having about a bottle or so of champagne at ACNE we then had a pre dinner drink and then a bottle of wine with dinner. By this time John was able to come and have a chat with us so we had a good catch up and another couple of glasses of wine each.

( Hope you are counting the drinks) by this stage I was feeling a little blotto, so on leaving, when I was putting Yvonne in a taxi she suggested I come with her for a night cap.

So on the way to her place I had no clue where she lived we had the usual breakdown of the evening and how much fun we had had and how amazing her new clothes were and where she would be wearing them. The wine came out and more glasses drunk before finally calling it a night. Up until this point apart from the alcohol I was feeling fine, really fine so snugggled down in the spare room for a good nights sleep.................

Cold?

This morning the 16th Nov 2010 really hit home how things have changed in my lifetime, this mainly to do with the weather and how we adapt to it. I was born in 1962 which according to records was the coldest winter since 1740 up until that point. With that as my introduction to the winters in Britain you might think that I have a pre disposition to expecting cold snaps that dont really infringe on my day to day life. This was rudely put to test this morning when I opened the front door, coming from a reasonably warm flat to the bitter cold brought back so many memories of childhood.

Growing up in the south of Scotland and later going to school in Perthshire the extremes of winter weather have had a rather strong impact on my life.

The house I grew up in was a typical south Scottish farm house on the top of what is best discribed a s a hillock, thankfully surrounded by a lot of trees, otherwise would have been laid bare to all sorts of exposure to winds and snows coming down from the hills surrounding it. My parents never known for spending money wisely, did not see the need for central heating and relied on the aga and a collection of night storage heaters to keep the place warm along with open fires that threw out such a heat that doors and occasionally windows had to be opened to disperse the intense heat. This combination kept the place as warm as necessary during the day, it was only after the fire guard had been placed in front of the fire at the end of the night that things became much more Dickensian.

Having gone to bed with hot water bottles to take the chill off the sheets and to give a semblance of heat, that unfortunately would not last until the morning, it must have been in the early hours of the day that it was just you and a few blankets that were against the vagaries of the winter. upon waking you knew how cold it was when you breathed and the plume of smoke that came out of your mouth indicated that it might be a good idea to get dressed whilst still in the bed, to this end, the night before you had laid out at the bottom of the bed all the clothes you would need in the morning. Pulling the curtains back you saw that Jack Frost had paid a visit with the intricate frost patterns around the panes of glass making up the windows, which were usually attacked with a finger nail to write your name in it just to see how thick the ice really was, so before you ventured outside you knew exactly how cold it was outside.

I cant say iI miss those days too much but at least you knew from the word go what the weather would be like for the rest of the day, unlike now when with central heating, you wake up pad around the flat and then get ready to go, inner door open, slightly colder than the flat and then hey presto the full blast winter hits you in the face and forces you back in to add extra items of clothing and trying to find the gloves you havent warn since last winter and hopeing you finf them as a pair and not just one of them and then back out fully kitted out to get you through the day.

At least tomorrow I will know to venture out fully loaded......................

Caroline

Well she has gone and done it, was so glad I saw her before she left. Our loss is South Americas gain. God help them!!