It’s February or ‘Dead Feb’ as it’s known in our house, nothing really happens, no trips, no sunshine no leaves on trees. So I am doing a crazy declutter- it is positively forensic and after the bin liners have left for the local charity shop, I will clean like a woman possessed by the e-cloth devil. The good thing about February is, with no distractions we can nest, sort, fix and do all the jobs we put off because of…
How often have you said, “What I need is a holiday” And by this you mean packing a bag, leaving the country and preferably heading to the sun for two weeks, returning restored with all your weary woes gone like magic? But the truth is, sometimes these ‘quick fix’ breaks don’t actually fix anything. You merely take your problems with you and return with most of them but you are poorer and have a load of dirty washing! The tan…
I’m loving the theme of this week’s bumper copy of My Weekly because in the melee of consumerism, plain, simple, sensible messages about health and wellbeing get buried. Why is this? My theory is because sound, practical advice isn’t headline grabbing, it doesn’t sell books, DVD’s, promote YouTube sites or have scroll stopping Instagram seduction. Yet the sage advice steeped in science and social studies if followed by all would go some way to ‘Saving’ the NHS. About a year…
‘Be Me in 23’ – Well it sort of rhymes!! In the chaos of life while busy wearing different hats the person who often puts themselves to the bottom of the ‘To Do List ‘is us, it’s a female thing and largely our fault but definitely comes from our natural nurturing, home making, instincts. I once fought them but realised very early on they were part of me, my modus operandi and without creating,with the tools at my disposal, a…
So, we’re marching forward into the new year, some of us have specific resolutions others (me) just give it a broad- brush stroke to try and find as much good in the complications of life as we can. Since entering my 60’s health has gone from somewhere near the bottom of my ‘To Do List’ to the top, if not the very top. I’m literally frightened to death of becoming inactive by my own lack of effort, this doesn’t’ mean…
Happy New year, I’m not going to say “Did you have a good Christmas” because the answerer will always be “Yes thank you very much did you?” I’ve had the best Christmases and the worst Christmases, but my answerer is always the same on the bases that if it’s been the later this person doesn’t want to hear my drivel, the season is now behind me, and the magic ‘yes’ is the easy answer which allows us all to move…
I was asked this week to contribute to an article written by Actress Julie Peasgood about favourite toys you had as a child. While chatting I realised that imagination played a great part in our childhood entertainment ‘Let’s Pretend’ was the prefix to a whole host of games. Mine included playing ‘Police’ Mum’s mini was our Panda Car the dog was recruited, and we’d take turns playing the burglar complete with swag bag, comedy stripy t-shirt and mask. Then there…
I read a headline in a newspaper I love and hate in the same sentence. It asked the question ‘Is it possible to have a greener Christmas?’ well if being ‘Green’ is about using less energy and recycling we’re probably doing that already with little room for improvement, so is there anything else we can really do? Even during times of plenty, food waste has always appalled me. I’ve never been one to squander this vital resource and am the…
I was half listening to BBC Breakfast News this morning, this is something apparently, we all do according to research when it comes to breakfast television. When I presented GMTV with Eamonn Holmes we were constantly aware that our audience was transient because unlike other ‘destination to view’ programmes, breakfast TV fits around our morning routine which includes shower, choosing clothes, breakfast, making beds, getting others up. There’s no other time of the day where, generally speaking, as a nation…