Older. Not Wiser.

older. not wiserI clung on as long as I possibly could.

On my birthday last week, I loudly proclaimed that, actually, actually, I wasn’t technically 41 until 8.04pm, so basked in the fading glow of my 40th year for most of the day.

I had a leisurely morning, a leisurely lunch with my mum and a leisurely evening with a friend. Very leisurely.

Anyway, after blowing out my candle (singular – I’m now too old to merit one per year) and making a desperate wish (nope, not telling), I scribbled a list of everything I would might achieve over the next twelve months, now I was of a Grand Old Age:

  • I will create a Capsule Wardrobe. A classic trench-coat, several well-cut pairs of trousers and a few silk blouses that hang just so. Plus some select pieces of discreet, yet classy jewellery and a couple of well-chosen scarves, which I would learn how to tie in many different ways, like all the French woman do.
  • Likewise, I would ditch the student wardrobe I’ve been cultivating for the last few decades. I would consign my ‘It’s Your Round’ t-shirt to the charity shop pile, along with my Gap hoodie, washed so many times, it’s faded from bright green to vomity-puce.
  • I will begin a proper skincare regime, with different creams for different parts and different times of the day. Day cream, night cream, afternoon cream, eye cream, neck cream, ear cream and hand cream. I would be slathered.
  • I will consider a National Trust membership, which will give me unlimited access to three thousand sites, ensuring a delightful day out every weekend for the next two hundred years. I will not go straight to the gift shop/ye olde cafe; I will instead join a guided tour and follow the held-aloft umbrella with all the other tourists. However, I will still buy a jar of honey/jam from the gift shop before leaving.
  • I will learn how to cook and love risotto. And a proper Sunday lunch, rather than going for a Carvery, along with a twenty-deep queue of other people. Who nick all the roasties before my turn. And steal all the gravy, tsk.
  • I will no longer hide the fact I highlight TV programmes I want to watch in the Radio Times, with my special fluorescent pen.
  • I may invest in a foot-spa. And one of those things that makes your bath ripple like a jacuzzi.

Yup, I have a plan. I already feel older than my years with this pesky MS – the cog fog, the pavement-watching, the dozing off in front of the telly. Should I embrace it?

Thinking about it, maybe I shouldn’t. I’ve just had a letter from the university I’ll be joining in September. A lovely invitation to Fresher’s Week. Really. Should I stay or should I go?

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8 thoughts on “Older. Not Wiser.

  1. Sally says:

    Capsule wardrobe – meh! Dul, dull dull
    National Trust Membership – bloody marvellous! Bought one this year for when we were back in Scotland. Already done enough to have saved money.
    What not to love about risotto. Butternut squash and sage, mmh ultimate comfort food
    Highlighting tv programmes, nah you’re on your own.

    Foot spa……DONT DO IT! They’re right up there with excercise bikes. You think they’re a good idea but you never use them and it’ll be on ebay by Christmas.

    • stumbling in flats says:

      Meh. Put a foot-spa on my Christmas wish list. And as for risotto. We just don’t get on. I only have to turn my back for one second and it’s burning/going sticky/refusing to play ball.
      As for the National Trust – perhaps I was a wee bit hasty?
      x

  2. StarGzrBlog says:

    Happy belated birthday! All the cool people are August babies (present company included!)

  3. I love your plan. Can’t wait to check out your new wardrobe :-)))

  4. I just turned 39 a few days ago and for a moment I considered being a bit more ‘grownup’. And then I thought, ‘nah’. 🙂 BUT, I would like to tie scarves in different and cool ways.

    • stumbling in flats says:

      I’m with you on that one! I should take a lead from my mum who is enjoying growing old disgracefully 🙂
      Are French women taught how to tie scarves in school??
      x

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