Good Old Marks & Sparks

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Marks & Spencer

Another blow to the retail industry.  That Great British bastion of the high street, Marks & Spencer, has already closed 21 stores with 14 more in the pipeline, and there will also be another 65 stores closing where sales are down and charges are high, causing a reduced profit.

Marks & Spencer was formed in 1884 when Michael Marks, a Polish refugee opened a market stall in Leeds, with the slogan ‘Don’t ask the price, it’s a penny’.   In 1894 Marks went into partnership with Thomas Spencer, a former cashier from the wholesale company, Dewhirst.   In 1904 Marks & Spencer opened their first shop in Leeds.

However, times have changed, and the majority of us are now shopping online.  The big M&S shop windows stretching a good length down the high street will rapidly become a thing of the past, as now less space is needed.

But what of the mainly middle-aged shoppers thronging the famous M&S food halls and trying on good quality M&S clothing in the fitting rooms?  I am one of those middle-agers, and love a trip to M&S on a Saturday.  Most of my clothes are bought there; they last many years.  We go up to the café on the third floor for a green tea every week, and Sam might buy a pair of jeans as we walk through the Menswear Department towards the café.  My sons know to buy me a M&S voucher for birthdays or Christmas if they are stuck for ideas.

There are not many shops left in Bury St. Edmunds that cater for ladies of a certain age who do not want to visit stores for teenagers and end up looking like mutton dressed as lamb.  I suppose shoppers have been cutting back on spending for some time now, and this is reflected in not only M&S’ dwindling profits, but also in the closure of Maplins Electronics (Sam’s favourite shop, now no more), New Look, Mothercare, and Toys R Us amongst others who have already gone down that sad, slippery slope.  The death knell has tolled for retail.

M&S is an institution – it cannot die!  My cousin who lives out in the Middle East has an M&S in Riyadh.  He tells me that sometimes on family shopping nights, single men are not allowed in, and so he gives money to one of his girlfriends who buys what he needs!

Message to my US friends – has M&S made it across the pond?

Sam says that perhaps the age of the shoppers at M&S has something to do with failing profits, but I don’t agree.  What is wrong with a shop catering for people over the age of 45?  We’re entitled to buy clothing just as younger people do.  Sam in his wisdom also says that these older people are dying off, and that the younger ones are shopping online, but there are always new middle-agers ‘coming of age’ every day.  I suppose they have already been conditioned to shop online though…

The featured free image here that I found on Pixabay is of Exeter High Street in Devon.  It’s typical of any UK shopping centre, but if this retail calamity continues, will we have a high street just full of cafes and phone shops? I fear this will be our destiny before too long.

 

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Busting Out All Over

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wedding dresses

Following on from yesterday’s post on the Royal Wedding, I’ve noticed over the years how wedding dresses have changed from modest creations such as the one I wore on my wedding day back in October 1980.  The top half of my dress finished at the neck, and there was not a heaving cleavage in sight (not that I’ve got one anyway, thankfully).  The dress itself has been sitting gathering dust in my loft for nearly 38 years and it’s a bit yellowed, but here it is:

The last time I wore this was when it was pristine white and I was 22.  It’s a bit sad to see it in this kind of ‘Miss Havisham’ state, but needs must for this blog…

Anyway, to get back to the point, nowadays I never see any wedding dresses that finish at the neck.  Quite a lot of today’s brides seem to have mounds of wobbling flesh busting out over ‘dresses’ with bodice tops that would be better served as an undergarment.  Is this kind of dress suitable for a church wedding, or am I just old-fashioned?  In some foreign countries I’ve been to, all shoulders must be covered if you enter a church.

I’ve seen people’s wedding photos where the bride and bridesmaids are all well-rounded (to put it mildly) and I’ve had to nod and smile and make the right comments while inwardly feeling quite revolted by the sight of all the flesh on display.  I would love to know what vicars think when they’re trying to do their job and there’s a pair of huge bazoomas in front of them!

The wedding dress I did like at the time was Kate Middleton’s, now the Duchess of Cambridge, whose modest V neckline and simple style was so elegant.  Meghan too had a very stunning dress, although as I said previously I didn’t think much of the ‘boat’ shaped neckline.

When did this horrible fashion for wedding dresses with no proper tops to them begin?  If you look at photos of Grace Kelly’s wedding dress in the 1950s or as I stated above – Kate Middleton’s more recently, there’s no dresses these days to compare with them.  I know they cost a fortune, but their style could be copied quite cheaply.  They both had lovely lacy sleeves, no bare shoulders, and they were MODEST!!  Everything was covered up, just as it should be.

What do you think?  Should wedding dresses reveal acres of female flesh, or should modesty prevail?

 

Thoughts on ‘That’ Wedding and The Royal Family

The Paparazzi and Press ensure that the Royal Family are never very far from our TV screens or the front page of our newspapers.  Harry and Meghan would have probably preferred a no-fuss quiet wedding in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor, but as well as the hundred thousand people outside in the streets, the whole world was watching them via the wonders of satellite TV.

No, I wasn’t one of the hundred thousand in the streets of Windsor, but I did manage to watch the wedding on TV and enjoyed it very much.  It was a welcome break from the traditional service, and more modern and multi-cultural to reflect Meghan’s mixed-race ancestry I expect.  I particularly liked the gospel choir’s rendition of ‘Stand By Me’.  I was quite surprised at Meghan’s dress – stunning but quite plain and free from adornments, not even a necklace.  I didn’t like the ‘boat’ neckline design at all, but it was so much better and more elegant than that huge creased meringue of a dress that poor Princess Diana had to wear on her wedding day.

I do tend to follow the Royal Family’s escapades on news bulletins, although I don’t read newspapers.  Sam and I were in The Mall for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations.  I’ve always had much respect for the Queen, who has remained scandal-free and has never failed to carry out her royal duties to the best of her ability. Even now she is over 90 years of age she is still a working royal.

Some of the other younger members of her family have not quite managed to live up to my expectations, and seem to take advantage of their wealth and power.  However, I must say that Princes William and Harry have tried really hard to rectify the general public’s opinion of the Royal Family; also Princess Anne is another one who carries out her duties with minimal fuss.  Had Princess Diana lived, she would have been proud of her sons.

Which family we are born into is a lottery we have no control over.  The two young princes are doing a sterling job, whether they had wanted to do it or not.  Yes, they have been born into privilege but have both enjoyed careers in the Services before being called on to perform their royal duties.  One of those duties of course is to produce an heir.  Whether the now Duchess of Sussex at 36 decides to have children is not too much of an issue, as her sister-in-law the Duchess of Cambridge has kindly produced three.

Prince Harry is fortunate to have been allowed to marry the woman he obviously adores, even though she was previously married to a film producer and divorced in 2013.  Had his father been allowed to do the same thing back in the 1970s, Joe Public could have been spared years of scandal and misery.  Still, it kept the Paparazzi in business…

 

Senior Salon Roundup Post: May 14 – 18, 2018

An Unexpected Visit to A&E

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Bloggers Bash

Well, last night wasn’t really what I’d had planned.  Let me fill you in on the background a little bit:

Since the age of about 15 I’ve had glossopharyngeal neuralgia, which usually I can cope with.  The symptoms come and go; sometimes they’re present for weeks at a time, and sometimes they disappear. However the 30 sessions of radiotherapy have made them much worse, and I saw a neurologist recently who prescribed me a low dose of Carbamazepine (Tegretol).

I took the first tablet last night before going to bed when the symptoms returned.  The tablet worked very well at controlling the symptoms almost straight away, but around 2am this morning, I woke up with a pounding heart and felt my throat swelling up on the inside.  I’ve never had this symptom before, and it was horrible.

I didn’t want to wait for an ambulance, so Sam drove me at breakneck speed to A&E, where they kept me in until 10am this morning.  I was given IV steroids and anti-histamine, which reduced the swelling.  I think I’m back to my old self, but unfortunately too late to attend the Bloggers’ Bash, as it’s a 2 hour + drive to Chiswick from our home in Suffolk.

So, sorry Sacha and Hugh, but I’ll definitely be there next year.  If anybody else suffers from glossopharyngeal neuralgia and takes anything other than Carbamazepine for it, please let me know.

 

Are you Stressed?

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mental health, stress

Thanks to Clive at Take it Easy for the information that this week is Mental Health Awareness Week.  I hopped over to their website to have a look, and found this test below to gauge stress levels.  Maybe have a go and check your own level?

https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/your-mental-health/stress-test

My stress score came out ‘low’ at 11.  I must admit I’m quite lucky in that I don’t have much stress in my life.  I only feel nervous and stressed just before check-up scans and before any visits to my dentist, who I think is the grumpiest dentist in the world (well you would be, wouldn’t you, if you had to look in people’s mouths all day!).

I think my most stressful days were the first 5 years of my eldest son’s life, when I was trying to deal with his hyperactivity and then look after a newborn baby as well.  Fortunately that was over 30 years ago, and now my days are relatively stress-free.

Stress does impact on our lives, interfering with our ability to maybe do our jobs properly or even care for our families.  If we haven’t got our minds right, then we are not in a good place.

Thanks again, Clive, for the information on Mental Health Awareness Week.

 

Inside My Head

Thanks to SELRES_a4c1df2e-a803-4ae9-ad55-4fec2c8515cbSELRES_031ea956-33cc-4644-a1e1-cdbeb7377369The Militant NegroSELRES_031ea956-33cc-4644-a1e1-cdbeb7377369SELRES_a4c1df2e-a803-4ae9-ad55-4fec2c8515cb for tagging ‘everyone’ at the end of his ‘Inside My Head’ blog.  I have decided to answer all the questions, and like Mr MN, I also tag ‘everybody’ who would like to take part.  The rules are as follows:

RULES:

• Thank & tag the person that has tagged you (that’s me, folks!).
• Attach the tag photo
• Answer the questions
• Tag 10-20 friends.

THE QUESTIONS:

1.  How do I feel at the moment?

Great!  I’ve just had my hair cut and styled, and last week I had another clear scan (the third in a row).

2.  What do I need more in my life?

More time.  The days are going by so quickly, and sometimes it’s a rush to get everything done.  We’re already nearly halfway through the year.

3.  What would make me happy right now?

If my mum could walk through my front door again.  She died a year ago, and I miss her.

4.  What is going right in my life?

My health has improved dramatically since last year.  My new novel is complete (just awaiting ARC readers’ comments), and all my family are healthy and happy.

5.  List 10 things I am grateful for:

• Being cancer free.
• The love of my husband and sons.
• My family.
• To be able to publish my stories.
• My part-time job.
• To be able to drive a car.
• My holiday home.
• Good mobility.
• Sunshine.
• Living in the countryside.

6.  When did I experience joy this week?

Today, when my hairdresser told me that my hair at the back of my head (after radiotherapy) has grown back thicker than ever!

7.  List a small victory:

My book ‘A House Without Windows’ was considered for filming by a New York media production company.  Okay, it wasn’t picked at the end of the day, but they sought me out because they liked the story.  I didn’t have to contact them to start with.

8.  What is bothering me, and why?

Having to undergo an anaesthetic in a month or so for some dental work.  I can’t get out of it, and I’ll be glad when it’s over.

9.  What are my priorities at the moment?

To get my latest book published on 6th July.

10.  What do I love about myself?

The fact that I can eat quite a lot and not put on any weight because of the amount of thyroxine I have to take!  Also that I never have to pay out any money to have my hair permed – it’s naturally curly.

11.  Who means the world to me, and why?

My husband.  We have shared so much joy and sorrow in the last 39 years.  Nobody knows me like he does, and vice versa.

12.  If I could share one message with the world, what would it be?

This is only my opinion and I’m entitled to it, so here goes… it’s time to ban all religions!  No amount of praying can do for you what you can achieve yourself with a bit of will-power, stubbornness, and motivation.

13.  What advice would I give to my younger self?

Follow your heart and go and get that English degree.  You were never meant to do the job you started off doing when you left school.

14.  What lesson did I learn this week?

After its first rejection, that maybe my latest book is still not good enough to secure an agent (wipes brow in frustration – what the bloody hell will ever please them?).

15.  If I had all the time in the world, what would I do first?

Go and get that bloody English degree.

16.  What is draining my energy?

A watery and sore right eye from all that radiotherapy.  It makes me feel tired even if I’m not.

17.  What does my ideal morning look like?

Get up at 06:15 and be out walking in the sunshine by 08:00 for 45 minutes.  Then 15 minutes on the Bosu ball when I get back, and then 3 hours working on my latest book.

18.  What does my ideal day look like?

That would be a Saturday or a Sunday when I can do my walking and writing in the morning, and then see all the family in the afternoon for a get-together or BBQ in our garden.

19.  What makes me come alive?

Dancing to my favourite songs with good friends, or laughing to something my husband has said (he has a very dry sense of humour).  Being amongst my extended family.

20.  What/who inspires me most?

It’s got to be my little granddaughter.  She is autistic and very loving and kind.  She has had to overcome many hurdles in her young life, but is full of the joys of youth.  It’s lovely to see.  She is very musical, and when I watch her singing in her school choir it makes me cry.

21. Where does my pain originate?

In my neck after extensive treatment for thyroid cancer.  I shall have various pains and a strange altered sensation in my neck for the rest of my life.  But hey, I’m still alive!

22.  What are my strengths?

Fiercely loyal.  Reliable.  Punctual.  Conscientious.

23.  What is something I’ve always wanted but am too scared to get?

To be a doctor, but alas I’m too old and do not have a mathematical brain.

24.  What is something I would love to learn?

To learn French from a native speaker.  I was taught French at school by a Londoner, and when I met an actual French person I couldn’t understand a word they said!

25.  Where would I want to live my ideal life?

On the Isle of Wight -‘The Bright Side‘ where I have a holiday home.  Alas we’re not allowed to stay there all year round, and Sam and I also have to work over here on ‘The Dark Side’!

26.  Where would I like to travel in the next 5 years?

Nowhere.  I prefer to be either at my main home or my holiday home.  I’ve done enough travelling over the last 50 years, and it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.  I hate sitting in cramped aeroplanes breathing in everybody’s germs.  Wherever I travel to tends to be too hot, and unfortunately foreign food is generally too spicy for me, hurts my irradiated throat, and is not to my taste (which is very plain, and I’m dairy intolerant).  I don’t plan to leave the UK at all in the next 5 years – don’t really want to and that’s a fact Jack.

27.  What can I do to take better care of myself?

I’m doing as much as I can.  There’s nothing left to do that I’m not already doing.

28.  What hobbies would I like to try?

Learning to play the saxophone, but I haven’t got enough puff now…

29.  When have I done something that I thought I couldn’t do?

A year ago, when I endured 30 sessions of radiotherapy to the neck.  I have never felt as bad before or since.  After 15 sessions I was ready to give up, but my husband and family encouraged me to continue.  Now I am cancer-free.

30.  At the end of my life, what do I want my legacy to be?

That readers enjoy my books for years to come.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anyone Want a Burger?

Tags

Food hygiene

I stood in the queue to buy my grandsons a beefburger at the BBQ we attended on Saturday evening as part of their village celebrations for the Royal wedding.  There were several people in front of me, and I could see that the burgers being offered were not quite cooked.  Somebody was biting into one next to me and to my horror the inside of it was pink.

In order for my son and his wife not to be up all night with a double whammy of Rameses Revenge, I plumped for sausages instead, which were the right colour and looked the safer option.

It occurred to me that the men cooking the burgers might have no idea of good food hygiene or practise, and there and then I thought of a question:

Why is it that only men cook the food on outside barbeques? 

These men may have never even seen the inside of a kitchen at home, but there they are serving up undercooked burgers to the best of their ‘ability’.

A friend of ours is one of those men who never cook at home, but is always in front of the BBQ in his garden.  His wife will take out a packet of frozen sausages from the freezer and chuck them on the BBQ.  He will ‘cook’ one side of the sausage until it’s covered in black charcoal, before turning it over.

Fortunately I’ve always managed to avoid eating anything he has ever cooked.  He and his wife have no idea that frozen sausages are not a good idea to place on a BBQ, and also that blackened food is carcinogenic.  Any food they cook is always left uncovered on a table for hours.

Perhaps I’m over-cautious, but first of all I will always keep any raw food at the bottom of the fridge so that it doesn’t drip on anything else.  Then I will smell any food I am going to cook – this is a sure-fire way of keeping Rameses Revenge at bay for starters, and then give it the nose test again when it is cooked. I also ensure nothing is ever blackened, as too much blackened food is inviting bowel cancer, and I’ve already had one dose of cancer and do not want a second! I also never leave any food uncovered.  If I’m visiting my youngest son and daughter-in-law, she will not cook anything without asking me if it’s ‘done’, and I have to laugh when I see both of them now smelling any food to be cooked.

Of course I learned it all from Dot, who also smelt any food she cooked.  She also told me never to cook with solid fat such as lard, and to keep off the cakes and biscuits (I never buy biscuits, but sorry Dot, I do like a piece of cake now and then.

Sam once bought a dodgy sandwich from a supermarket and was ill for a week.  Subsequently he always shoves any shop-bought sandwich under my nose before he eats it. According to my sons (and Sam), Mum’s nose test is the best!  But I still want to know…

Why is it that only men cook on outside barbeques?

Can you answer my question?

What Young Eyes Should Not See

Across from our house is a field where horses graze.  The people who own the land have quite a few horses, and it’s always nice to take our grandsons out for a walk and up to the gate.  The horses will see us and amble over, so it gives the boys an idea of how big the real animals are compared to those in their picture books.  Sometimes the horses can also be seen from our front bedroom windows.

Our grandsons were due to visit later in the day, and as I was vacuuming the front bedroom on Saturday morning I idly looked out of the window. There were the usual two horses in the field, but there was also a man striding over towards them.  Without further ado he produced a gun and shot one horse dead and then the other one.

I felt quite sick at the sight of it.  The people who own the field move in the higher echelons of society, live behind 10ft walls, and do not mix with the villagers.  Therefore I cannot really ask them why the horses were shot.  I’m assuming the man must have been a vet and that both animals were terminally sick in some way.  I’m just glad that my grandsons were not looking out of the window with me, as they often do. Seeing something like that at such a young age could have had a profound effect on them.

This reminds me of something my mother once said to me.  Dot would have been about 5 or 6 years of age when her mother took her to a neighbour’s house to say goodbye to her friend. Dot assumed her friend was moving away, but when she walked into the front room the little girl was laid out in a coffin in her best party dress.  Dot never forgot the sight of her dead friend, even 85 years’ later.

My dad once saw a horrific accident from the top deck of a London bus where a motorcyclist was decapitated on the road in front of him.  He came home and relayed the story as he ate his dinner.  If it had been me who had seen it, I don’t think I would have eaten for a week.

I suppose I was lucky and was shielded as a child from any sights that might have upset me.  I have nothing but good memories up until the age of 19.  However, some children (and some adults too) are not so fortunate.

 

 

 

Galvanised

This writing books malarkey is okay, but then you have to market the buggers.

That said, I’m going to give Phil Huston a shout-out, because he has galvanised me into action regarding taking my books off KDP Select.  When I recently advertised a KDP Select book for free,  I didn’t realise (until Phil told me) that only KDP Select members could receive free copies.  Also, in these money-saving times, it has caused me to wonder how many people might have cancelled their KDP Select subscription.

Sales of my books are half of what they were a couple of years’ ago before I joined KDP Select.  It’s not working for me, and so I’ve decided it’s time to add them to more outlets and not just the ‘Zon.

I’ve been getting my books professionally formatted by Caleb’s Book Formatting Service  Caleb is doing a sterling job, and suggested Draft2Digital as a way of selling my books on several other channels.  D2D is incredibly easy to use, even for a technophobe like myself.

Thanks to Phil and Caleb there are 8 other sales channels that my books will soon be on: Tolino, Kobo, 24 Symbols, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Overdrive, Playster, and Scribd.

Is KDP Select working for you?  I’d be interested to hear your viewpoints.  Here’s a couple of links for my books to their new digital sites.  Many more to follow!

https://www.books2read.com/u/4XKgML  (No Sex Please, I’m Menopausal!)

https://www.books2read.com/u/4jDKjk   (For the Sake of a Child)