Clarins and colds

Bloody hell - the first cold of 2007! It's all downhill from here, folks. Have spent a lot of today sighing artistically and snorting like an old horse. (So no change there then.) Oh and doing a lot of drooping of course. It's one of my great skills. However, the good news is that a whole two days have passed without receiving any rejections, so obviously the Great Literary Tycoons have chosen to take pity on me. For the moment. However, I fear they are biding their time, knowing there are still a whole glorious twelve months left of the year in which to tighten the screws. What joy awaits me indeed.

Still, I bravely squeezed out precisely 150 words of "The Gifting", most of which seemed to involve Simon beating out a fire. Well, it was a small fire. And he's not a macho man and derring-do really isn't his style. So any more than that and he might have been overwhelmed by it all, poor thing. And then where would I be? Twiddling my thumbs until he chose to recover, that's where. Ye gods, but this is a strange pastime. Somebody pass me a normality pill.

The afternoon has been spent getting my monthly fix of Clarins treatments. Nothing like a massage to make me feel like a real woman again. Maybe I'll have one delivered ... So, much to Lord H's relief, I will be all floaty and calm for a while - until the next crisis arrives. Much like Simon really - but without the Clarins fix.

Lord H and I were supposed to show willing in the normal couple stakes and go out for a pub meal tonight. But frankly, it's raining, we're tired and we can't be arsed. So it's a Chinese from Waitrose, beer and ice cream as usual. Ah, the bliss of a tried and trusted routine - you can't beat it. Anyone mention the Young Fogeys Society ...? Hmm, sounds like a match to me, guv'nor.

Today's nice things:

1. Clarins
2. Chinese
3. No rejections today!

Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk

Ascot

Lord H and I decided to end the year in style and get ourselves to Ascot for a day. We haven't been since the new grandstand was opened, and it certainly makes a hell of a difference. Ye gods, it's almost plush. And nice to be back at the horses once more - we don't seem to have been for a lifetime. Mind you, we're not the people the bookies want to see, as we don't spend more than four pounds a race and, besides, I always tend to go for the second favourite. Or maybe the pretty one. Ah choices, choices.

Mind you, we decided on a different system this year - which, for me, involved staring at the horses in the paddock as they stretched their fetlocks and also seeing (much more importantly) which owner had invited his cousins and sisters and aunts, thus showing a large amount of confidence in the outcome. Lord H's new system, on the other hand, consisted of working out which jockey had invited his girlfriend and was therefore hoping to impress her, with a consequently higher likelihood of a victory bonk later on. Results: two winners for me; one for Lord H. Which just goes to show that family triumphs over sex every time. Sad to say ...

We also attempted to circumnavigate the utterly peculiar arrangements for ordering afternoon tea in the new facilities. The waitresses were adept at lying and blaming the management, but not so hot on bringing us scones and jam. So we failed. Gloom indeed. Which just goes to show the power and speed of communication of the UK waitressing network: I'm sure that if I hadn't fought with yesterday's waitress over my clotted cream allowance, we would have been fine for tea today. I see that I will never be able to eat out in public again.

By the time we left - the last race being at 3.35pm - the torrential rain was making the car park (aka a field) into a veritable mire. Lucky we'd brought my Fiesta (called Rupert, by the way) and not Lord H's car - with a little care and only one moment of panic we managed to reach the tarmac unscathed. Though I have to admit that when the large car in front of us did get stuck, I fought a brief battle with my sense of civic duty and ... um ... lost, instead manoeuvring round it and abandoning it to its fate. Yes, I know - I'm an appalling person. But I wasn't the only one. And it was raining. Excuses, excuses, eh? ... The next time I break down in traffic, you have every right to drive past me sneering. I probably deserve it.

Tonight, I'm doing sod all. And proud of it. And we're having a Chinese takeaway from Waitrose - hurrah!

Today's nice things:

1. Ascot
2. Winning
3. Chinese food.

Anne Brooke
http://www.annebrooke.com
http://www.goldenford.co.uk