what do you get your Dad?

Run out of ideas as to what to buy my Dad for Christmas. I've got him and mum a main present, a stereo, but what else? All the mags and papers ever run is socks, scarves, hipflasks and joke golf t-shirts. He doesn't need smellies, alcohol, mugs, books, CDs blah blah.

Redfoot Revolution

Every so often one of those things comes along that makes you wonder how you coped without it. (Sky+; iPhone; Jaeger.co.uk; ebay; those wine bottle openers..). I've just found another one, and I'm having a Redfoot Revolution. These beauties (I have two so far, the Mischa Silver and the Naomi Red) are not only gorgeous foot candy but are SO PRACTICAL I AM GOING TO HAVE TO SHOUT! Each shoe folds into two and then can be popped into a little drawstring bag and into your handbag.

Love this concept so much, and so far as a some-time commuter they've been such a god-send. I don't know about you but as much as I love heels I just can't cope rushing about from meeting to meeting on the Tube/walking around London/hot-footing it back to Euston. As soon as I get that tell-tale ache in my feet I stop, get out a pair of Redfoots, and I'm back into the land of the living.

And girls, even better, they are a mere £25 a pop! I'm going to be buying some for Xmas presents, and oh, maybe another pair for me, something to take on holiday....

And then I emailed the lovely people there and the director Steven emailed me back straight away; I had suggested that I found the website was difficult to navigate and they should do it by colour rather than occasion, and it looks like they are taking my suggestion on board.

I'm having a Redfoot Revolution...

Jaeger #2

Well I couldn't wait for a Jaeger sale - so got me the gorgeous cape (ostensibly for my birthday, like numerous other things...) but got such a good deal anyway. Had ordered the cape (and, well, a Jaeger polka sheer blouse in the sale). I'd got an email saying spend £250 and get the Mya clutch for free - worth £99.

To my horror, when my copy of Red magazine arrived, it had a £15 % off Jaeger offer.... so I emailed customer service, and told them that Red had arrived late (there had been an email from the editor apologising) and the lovely people gave me %15 off anyway even though it was strictly a different promotion. So they refunded me £42, so I got the cape, the blouse and the stunning clutch for £238 when it should have been £470 total. I love Jaeger!

iPhone glitches/issues

Had to send mine back - it didn't want to upload emails without being switched on and off. Still happens sometimes. Other thing is I though it would sync photos from the phone as well as to it - turns out you have to email your photos to your PC. Still, not a big issue. Love the fact you can set any webpage to the home screen. Overall, a big yes. Mind you 02 customer service is either rubbish or excellent - they don't keep very good track of calls and I had all sorts of issues transferring my number over with them saying there were issues when there weren't. And you can get zero to one bar coverage in the Lakes...

Rediscovered The Gap and Jaeger

Thanks to a lust for these delicious Pierre Hardy for The Gap ankle boots, which reminded me of some v similar I had about 15 years ago, I ventured to the store in Covent Garden before a meeting at The Hospital. For once, a productive shopping trip - bought these plus a dusky pink/eau de nil t-shirt and a dark petrol blue three quarter length sleeve top and cream tee - and heavens to betsy at last shops are selling longer length tees, am so fed up with a cold tummy... also swung by Massimo Dutti and scooped up a fabulously fitting denim jacket - I've been looking for one for ages that fits well - and just £50 too.

Am having a bit of a Jaeger renaissance too, randomly found on ebay a black Jaeger jacket with a butterfly silk lining which is exactly the same as the butterfly dress I bought there three years ago for my Nanny's funeral. Love it! Got it for £15! Also snaffled a vintage Jaeger striped cardy and am bidding on some other stuff.

A while back at the store in MK, got such bargains with my loyalty card in the sale - a smashing red/black silk shirt and a black maxi kaftany dress for something like £50 for the two - whereas they were both retailing at I think over £150 each. Am lusting after the cape but at £220 am going to have to hope I can get it in the sale.

Wondering how long Peaches Geldof's marriage will last

Really, I am SO sick of Peaches/Pixie/Alexa/Kate/Angelina/Katie/Jennifer blah blah but really, Peaches' whirlwind marriage in Vegas, how long will it last before an annulment?

this is blog of the day on fuel my blog!

honoured, thanks guys!

I've cut up my Debenhams card

Now apart from the fact that Debenhams isn't my kinda store anyway, I now won't shop there at all. I had a credit card as I like the vouchers and have got bargain cristal wine glasses there before, the sales being pretty good for kitchenware. Got an email this morning to view my account online. Could I sign in? No. Half an hour of stupid call centre angst (how can you spell something if the poor staff being paid one rupee a day in India can't understand you?) and I've cancelled my account, cut up my card, and will never shop there again.

Damon Albarn is a genius

For the Olympics. Genius.

George the Serial Killer # 9457

This morning, a rabbit. He's very pleased with himself and has tried to bury it to go back to later. He is currently lying flat on his back with his paws in the air.

Alford Arms, Frithesden

Disappointed with the latest visit to the Alford Arms, Frithesden. Maybe Sunday lunch wasn't the best time to go. My haddock in pea puree and gravadlax dressing lacked interest, it needed capers and lemon juice or something like that. And the dress code for blokes seems to be cropped cargo trousers, polo shirts, bald heads, sunglasses on top of bald heads, and stupid sandals PUT YOUR FEET AWAY WHEN I'M TRYING TO EAT!

George the Serial Killer #1836

Well, this week George caught and ate a squirrel. We also found a little swallow. And that's on top of the mole he brought in last week (we managed to save that. Have you ever seen a mole? They're hilarious.) and that's on top of the couple or so mice/shrews/voles he has every day. He barely eats his Felix these days..

Cancelling my Grazia subscription

OK it's all over. I have a love hate relationship with magazines, I can go for ages not reading any then go overboard and buy them all. I don't, for instance, buy food mags like Delicious, Olive and BBC Good Food anymore as I figure I have enough cookery books to last several lifetimes worth of meals.

And as for fashion mags, well, this week's Grazia calling Meg Mathews a "star" and doing a DPS on her fashion moments, well, I've just cancelled my subscription. SO BORED off Kate Moss/Doherty/Hince are they aren't they stories, ditto Jennifer Aniston, Brangelina, and Peaches/Pixie Geldof and Alexa Chung obsessions. I'M SO OVER GRAZIA.

I heart Brothers and Sisters

Love Brothers & Sisters on Channel 4, despite Calista Flockhart. Mind you, I used to love Ally McBeal, also despite Calista Flockhart.

Wedding dress #2

It fits, hoorah! Well done Whistles Oxford Branch for getting it to me the next day. I was worried that this one would be too small but spot on, it looks fabulous. A wedding dress for £72, eh. Now for the shoes...

My wedding dress...hoorah for Whistles

How gorgeous is this? Not giving anything away as him indoors has already seen it, but without even looking for it I found my wedding dress, from Whistles.

We're getting married in January, and had planned to wear a white dress with roses on it, a dress which I've loved for years and cost about £30 from Wallis way back when. But when you love a dress and it makes you feel good, why not wear it on one of the best days of your life? I figured I'd spend the money on Manolo's....

But got an email from Whistles for its summer sale and absolutely fell in love with one of their dresses, and thought it would be perfect. Then I had a bit of a 'mare as the online store wouldn't take any of my credit cards (which is most strange) and it took ages to get to the right person at customer service who could help me.

Meantime I panicked and ordered from Selfridges, but to my dismay it was too big... so I thought I'd find a local tailors for alterations nearer the wedding.

But Whistles responded when I asked if they had a smaller size, Shelley Richardson to the rescue. She sourced one from the Oxford store and the lovely Rachel is posting it to me today, without charging P&P and giving me a 10% discount.

So my wedding dress cost? Reduced from an original £165 to £80, I'm getting it for £72. Bloody bargain! (Mind you, I am buying a sari in Delhi, as we're getting blessed in a temple on our honeymoon in Rajastan, and they'd like us to wear Indian clothes.)

Hope it fits....

Quids in with Quido

Cashback sites are a no-brainer. Desperately needed a new bikini, got £12.95 money back by going through Quidco. Also use Mrs Cashback and mutual.net. Competely forgot when ordering my new laptop - ouch - would have got loads of money if I'd gone through a cashback site.

Look What We Found!

Not one for processed convenience foods, I do love the products from Look What We Found. Noshing on Herdwick Mutton Stew With Pearl Barley And Vegetables as I speak, I also love the Wild Rabbit With Leek and Elderflower Sauce and Carmargue Rice.

Coming in pouches, they about the right size portions not to feel like a glutton, these are great storecupboard (long shelf life) saviours for when I need something more substantial than a snack and can't be bothered to cook.

Waterfall D-Mannose - This really works

After weeks of frustration and several courses of antibiotics which ceased to work at all earlier this year, I was at the end of my tether suffering from recurring cystisis. After some googling I came upon various reviews of a natural remedy, D-Mannose so gave it a try. (It is not a herbal product, but a natural monosaccharide isomer of glucose, extracted from Sweet Forest Timbers mainly of the hard Fagaceae and Betulaceae families without using solvents, according to the blurb.)

Truly amazing, it really works! And when I emailed the company asking a question about dosage (they are tied up in all sorts of legal issues about recommending how to take the damn thing!) the lovely Anna rang me up and we had a long chat. These are people who really care.

Yesterday got cystitis again, took one tablespoon in a bit of water, and within half an hour I was right as rain again. Wonderful.

Dirt is good, clean is bad...

Really enjoying the new series of Courtney Cox's Dirt - with the plots not even thinly disguised real life celeb stories - current one being Britney and the paparazzi bloke and kissing Madonna (called Mia in this, played with aplomb by Rosanna Arquette, who not only is CC's sister in law, also featured with Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan- whoa great film that.)

I love Dog Borstal!

On BBC Three, all over the bloody schedule, but brilliant. I don't even have dogs and I am fascinated by this hilarious programme. Lots of talking at the TV "It's the owner, not surprised the dog won't behave!". Mic Martin is so funny, and Lynne Davis, who is local to me so happy to plug her too.

Shame Vodafone, I'm off to 02 for the iPhone

A combination of things, really, has led me down the route of going to buy the new iPhone when it's out next month. Even though it is currently only available on 02 and I'm with Vodafone, A) I want it and B) I'm a bit fed up with the hassle that Vodafone has given me by its customer service. All of a sudden I couldn't send emails from my Blackberry Pearl and it took two lengthy calls to try and get them to do something about it before I had to put the phone down in exasperation. Then I fixed the issue myself (sent a service book from the mobileemail account page since you ask). So I just called Vodafone to find out when my contract ends, which is, as luck would have it, next month, so I can move anyway. And I've been with them for how many years now? For ever!

And, get this, Vodafone immediately try and push the Samsung F90 at me and offer me £10 a month off my bill! Bit late for that, mateys! Why not offer me that as a longstanding customer with a contract about to end before now???

Cafe Zeera - curry in Wing, Bucks

Went to a great Indian restaurant in Wing, Bucks last night. Cafe Zeera is not cheap, but the food is really good. I had an unusual mango & prawn starter, then Lamb Chot Boti, which is is chickpea orientated. The layout of the place is a bit strange, you either eat in the main room which is narrow and long, or in the other room which has no windows and feels a bit odd. But good.

New Bond book - Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks writing at Ian Fleming

I wanted to really like this, and I did, but not as much as I thought I would. Really quick, easy, likeable read, ticks off most of the boxes, but having read all the Fleming Bond novels in the correct order one listless summer when I was about 14 or 15, Devil May Care doesn't quite do it for me. Attention to detail perhaps, almost certainly desciptive powers of sentence construction. It read more like a novel of a film. But do read it, perfect to get back into the habit of reading.

Devil May Care is set in the 1960s, just after Bond's wife Tracy has died. So between OHMSS and something else I'll look up at a later date!

Ma-Dahna

Listening to Madonna's new album, Hard Candy. Like it, but apart from a couple of tracks doesn't get to me the way that any of her albums have since the majestic Ray of Light. And the DREADFUL track, Incredible, surely a pacifier for husband Guy Ritchie.

Belated review of Sex and the City the movie

Went with stepdaughter Clare for the first showing last Wednesday - oh so fabulous. Just what I expected and hoped for - frills, fashion, frivolity and Manolos. So enjoyable I wanted to watch it all over again straight away. Will be watched many, many times in the future. But.... HATED Carrie's Vivienne Westwood wedding dress ensemble with her Cruella de Ville make up and that bird thing in her hair. I know it was meant to be extreme, but...

Giving Boden another try

Having bought some rather rubbish shapeless jumpers from Boden a couple of years ago, I gave up on the brand. But I kept getting the catalogues and flicked through. Some things took my fancy but I've been dubious about quality for the price.

But, this amazing looking skirt has taken my fancy, so I've placed an order, for a couple of tees and a pair of sale espadrilles too. Will keep you posted...

Fit Flops Cool AND comfy...

I've had red FitFlop's (the ones below) for a while now, bought online from John Lewis but the first I heard about them was when I was in South Africa over Christmas reading one of their glossy mags. So comfy and they give you a bit of height too with nearly two inches boost. But, not very glam. Until now. Was alerted by Grazia this week that there are more glam styles coming out looking less like trainer flip flops (or Flypes as me and him indoors call them) and more like Shoes you would Choose.









So I've just ordered the Electra, with a bit of gold sequin action going on, from Victoria's Health where you can pre-order all the new range. Debated about the snakeskin but can reasonably only order one new pair in these tightening belt times.



Might even get my Mum a pair for her 75th birthday...

DVF to the rescue

Another what to wear dilemma solved - this time for M&D's joint birthday party, celebrating 75 and 70 respectively.

About 80 or 90 seniors littered with a bare minimum of the youngsters, i.e. 40/50 year olds. How to feel pretty old... But M&D both look 10 years younger so there's hope for us all.

What to wear, nothing too bold, eh. So DVF to the rescue via Matches Fashion
And, in the sale, so knocked down from nearly £300 to £158 so a bargain to boot. Well, a bargain for a classic dress anyway.

Disappointed with Matches packaging, all for being green but it was in crappy paper, not even tissue paper, and rammed into a DHL bag. Nothing floaty or glam the way that, say my-wardrobe does. Sort of resent spending that much money and not having the full-on luxe experience.

Boo to British Airways Customer Relations

What a rubbish response from British Airways via Trailfinders to my letter alerting them that my suitcase had been broken into (nothing at all stolen, most strange) somewhere between George Airport, Johannesburg Airport and Heathrow.

Chetan Lagad, customer relations at BA wants me to send my baggage claim tag, a property irregularity report and a copy of a lost baggage questionnaire.

Does BA really think that after their customers have been flying for 15 hours they are going to faff about at the landing airport filling out forms? And I hadn't lost my suitcase it was just broken into! What a waste of everyone's time. Boo.

I fly BA as it tends to be the best option. But the flight from Joburg was rubbish too, and the flight attendants treat everyone in economy with disdain. I might rethink Virgin... and I already like SAA.

Trailfinders customer service, on the other hand, I find to be superb. Hooray!

Love Lush! B Never 2 Busy 2 Be Beautiful!

Have fallen head over heels with Lush and B Never 2 Busy 2 Be Beautiful products. I've always liked Lush stuff but it didn't feature heavily on my radar even when I worked a few doors down from the store that was then in Kensington High Street. (That was probably more to do with my job at the time, which was so soul destroying I couldn't think about fun stuff. Maybe Lush would've helped cheer me up but that's moons ago.)

I'm mad for the Karma fragrance; I only ever really wore No.5, Prada and Gucci (darling) before, but I'm obsessed. Have the soap, body cream, bath stuff. Yum. Went in the store heaven in Covent Garden yesterday and lushed out on loads of goodies. Also popped into sister store B, and came out with new foundation and a gorgeous new cream blusher in a shade I'd never have tried - peach - not to be said in a Brummie accent - until the groovy gay guy put some on me. All the jars are hand made sparkly things in different colours, and you can buy some glorious powdered lip stain which comes in a little tagine. There are boy products called Dirty too.

Heaven to betsy - this is serious pamper time. I never used to be that bothered but lotions and potions are so mood enhancing.