46!

 It was my birthday on Wednesday, and in keeping with my constant tardiness nowadays I'm only now posting about it. I've had mixed feelings about turning 46, but they're not really anything to do with how I feel in myself, so much as how society perceives women of middle age and older. It wants us to go away, to retreat. Grrrrr! So here I am, being visibly 46!

Mr Robot spoiled me rotten, as always. The silent film DVD and vintage crime novel here are from my brother, but the rest is from him. I was really chuffed with the gifts from my brother. I went to see The Lodger at the cinema years ago, but fell asleep by the end (for some reason I went through a phase when I just couldn't stay awake in the warm darkness of the cinema). So now I actually get to see whether the phwoarsome Ivor Novello was indeed the Ripper-style murderer or just a misunderstood hottie loner. I've got a number of crime novels by Freeman Wills Crofts, but that one is new to me. Very much looking forward to reading it.


The polka-dot item is a new babydoll and knicker set, in plum with pink ribbon, from My Retro Closet - naturally from Mr Robot - and the print is a Ronald Searle from 1967. It's entitled 'Two Cats Discover Love Is A Many-Splendoured Thing', and he got it for me because we have two cats and he said the startled expression of the bottom cat reminds him of our Pippin!

My big physical present was this amazing cheese dish by Bordallo Pinhero, a Portuguese ceramic firm. They make such beautiful things. Perhaps it's a little ornate for modern tastes, but my style in home decor is basically 'Victorian Explorer'. I love it! Having no cheese, I bought myself an oblong birthday cake from the Polish shop and popped that inside it. Yes, this dish can hold a lot of cheese, which is the correct amount of cheese.

My biggest present of all, though, is a night in London. Mr Robot's taking me to Brasserie Zedel, the art deco brasserie. I've wanted to go there for years, and perhaps it's a bit of a cliche, given how many other vintage lovers go there, but I don't care. After that we're popping next door to the Black Cat Cabaret for some old-style sauce, but I shall tell you more about that on Sunday...