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.

The Sopranos - end of an era

Am a bit shell-shocked having watched the final two episodes of The Sopranos on Saturday. Wow. Great ending. Amazing final series: script, acting, lighting, design.

The Sopranos has been around for the past seven years, most of my thirties... now I'm 40 and the finale has come and gone.

What next? What TV series can fill the void? Currently love Californication, Men In Trees. But there's not even a SATC... next series of Desperate Housewives can't come close even.

Sniff.

my-wardrobe.com

Talking of www.my-wardrobe.com, I, ahem, failed to mention that I had also got my hands on a stunning teal and gold bead jersey dress by Antik Batik. Looking forward to wearing on the beach in South Africa at Christmas; and with a pair of heels or boots for chillier meetings for work in Blighty.

Those Cacharel birds...

There's another Cacharel dress out there from a couple of seasons ago which had a tropical bird print which I wish I'd bought, but for now, until I can find that on ebay or somewhere, for a lovely price in the www.my-wardrobe.com sale, this gorgeous number will more than do. Will see me through a sea of black sequinned prom dresses this season, eh.

I love Cacharel designs, but I still hear ringing in my head a Dawn French/Jennifer Saunders sketch based in a department store's make up floor "Wel-come to the world of Cash-a-relle."

Celtic Sheepskin Company

Been a fan of the Celtic Sheepskin Company since I bought my first pair, the Celt knee boot seven winters ago. Not cheap, but a dependable classic for every winter. I also have the Celt ankle boot and have just taken delivery of my new mocha popper boots. SO warm, so brilliant, it is like putting on a pair of radiators. They will last forever...

Three Horseshoes

Also know to local as 'The 'Shoes' or Nell's Bar, (it's run by the charming landlady, Nell...), this is a great local country pub in the village of Cheddington, Bucks. Nell serves smashing home cooked food in massive portions. Nell changes the specials every day, but favourites are rack of lamb, spicy chicken wraps, mushroom risotto. My other half zooms in for steak and guinness pie or steak and kidney pudding all served as fresh as can be. I've eaten there many times and have never been disappointed. Good pub grub at very reasonable prices. There is a large garden with kiddy-entertainment stuff and an outdoor patio with heating. Two rooms inside, one which used to be the non-smoking bar and another one to watch the sport in. The 'Shoes succeeds for me where so many country pubs serving food fail - I look forward to eating there rather than being sorely disappointed, yet again, at inedible pub food. It's a 10 minute stroll from Cheddington Station, 40 mins from Euston, so worth a visit if you fancy escaping the big smoke for lunch. And the locals are very friendly.

Noooooo! Just say no to Crocs!

WHY? Just say no to Crocs. Especially people over 55 with varicose veins wearing bright pink or yellow ones. Stop it. Now.

Weekend in Norfolk

Now we've got the Landy we're planning a series of minis - checking out the weather and traffic and heading where it's best. This weekend we went to the north Norfolk coast - really beautiful. I had been there once before years ago with my mate Robin. We stayed in a good hotel called Roman Camp Inn which had lovely garden space and really good food. But we are fed up with shelling out loads of money for hotels that are nice, OK or crap - would rather stay in a top dollar place once in a while and camp the rest of the time, which is just what we're going to do from now on. So we're on a mission to buy a new tent and some camping cooking gear and next weekend we'll be off! Really looking forward to it. Great way to discover the country.

Today for instance, we drove through Melton Mowbray, which looked really lovely.

Anyway, we were up early Saturday, out before 6, arrived to look around the Cley nature reserve, then a pub called the Kings Head for a drink then back to the hotel to check in. Lunch, nooze, dinner.

Yesterday we were up and at 'em to walk from Cley to Blakeney Point, which was lovely but a bit of hard work in the blazing sun. Would have been stuck without a hat.

Randomly we met someone we knew on the beach, which was fun.

I loved getting back to the Landy, sitting swinging my legs on the tailgate in the breeze. Lunch in the Dun Cow, where we had a great crab salad. Being near Cromer and all.

Back to the hotel for a shower and some wine and early dinner in the garden, reading the Sunday papers. Very civilized. Getting up at half hour this morning to drive Paul to a meeting in Leicestershire before heading home wasn't so, but it was fun to drive the Landy.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Really liked it, several unexpected twists and turns. Back to War & Peace....