Judith Proctor's Journal

Yes! We went for the hat trick - my eldest son forgot as well!

Still, at least he and the daughter outlaw came round for the evening and we had a game of Monopoly and a good laugh. We took some moderately silly pictures which I may upload at some point.

It wasn't too bad a day overall. I decided mid-morning that I was going to celebrate the day by dressing up, so I got the black leather trousers I bought yesterday in a very nice local charity shop, added a purple silk shirt and velvet waistcoat from Oxfam and a silk scarf and felt like a million dollars.

Then kerravonsen rang from Australia and we had a great chat for about an hour. All I can remember of it now is that they do some fantastic dried fruit in Australia. That lifted the morning even higher, so I went down the library and sorted out some LJ problems (the library has broadband and PCs and free daytime access as well as friendly staff).

It may not sound it, but it was actually a good day!

Incidentally, I totally agree with those who said they hate perfumed gifts. Many scents are disagreeable to me. Some affect my asthma and I've found it a convenient excuse to ask people not to give me anything scented at all. I now go out of my way to avoid scent in everything from washing powder to bleach. It's getting harder and harder to find unscented products.

The only exception I make is for Pears soap. I do love the smell of that.

There's only two things to do if you get given scented gifts. Either bite the bullet and tell people that you don't want them (which I now do) or else give them to someone else for their birthday (or donate them to a good charity shop a month before Xmas)

My dad gives me a subscription to New Scientist every Xmas. Wonderful. It gives me something I enjoy a lot but might not get for myself and it gives him a gift that he can repeat every year.