Early in my career I worked at House Design magazine, which was very entertaining when introducing myself over the phone … “Hi there, it’s Alana House from House Design magazine …”
Mind you, my sister was a property journalist, which was also very entertaining for someone whose last name was House.
I now have a physio whose last name is Payne … and his sessions most definitely are.
His specialty is grinding his elbow into sensitive places.
That sounds bad.
But you know what I mean.
I winced a lot at yesterday’s appointment, gasping “that’s my tendonitis” at regular intervals as he put his full body weight into my hip joints.
Remarkably the pain from my disc injury has returned to business-as-usual levels very quickly after immobilising me last Thursday.
I limped around for a few days and now I’m back to struggling to bend down in the mornings but pretty good for the rest of the day.
It may be due recovery … or extensive use of anti-inflammatories.
I’m just hoping it never happens again … or at least not until I have a lock box with spare keys in it, as DD is off to China on a business trip on Thursday … which I’ve just realised means he is dodging Valentine’s Day.
No. That’s not right.
He’s in China next weekend.
But we still won’t be celebrating on Friday.
I don’t actually mind, as Valentine’s Day isn’t really my thing.
I enjoy retelling all the stories about why … so here goes again …
I’ve had some shocker Valentine’s Days in my time.
There was the date at the French restaurant where the woman at the next table kept screeching with outrage about the food being “f@#king raw’ all the way through dinner. So romantic.
Then there was Valentine’s Day 2014, when my husband got the keys to his bachelor pad after announcing three days earlier that he was leaving me. Break out the violins and long-stemmed roses.
Oh, and then there was the Valentine’s Day when I miscarried my Mirena. I possibly didn’t make it clear enough in the post that a Mirena is a birth control device, leading some sheltered readers to think I’d been with child. A Mirena is a plastic anchor-shaped thing that was in my uterus to mitigate my lady plumbing problems. My uterus was having none of it and ejected it in scenes that wouldn’t have been out of place in Carrie.)
DD was overseas on business for Valentine’s Day 2018. He sent a text that said “Happy VD” … which sounded like he was wishing a sexually transmitted disease upon me. Then he headed out to a bar, where he ordered a blueberry and raspberry mojito because it was a “VD coloured”.
Very romantic.
For Valentine’s Day 2022 I focused on self care. I went to the beautician and requested red shellac on my toenails, plus a brow shape and lash tint.
Everything was going well until the beautician suggested I dye my eyebrows, which are getting a little on the grey side.
I flinched and said no, as a friend had done hers for the first time the previous week – at home, with mustache dye – and botched it, blackening half her face as well.
That should have been enough of a warning sign. However, while disaster often seeks me out, I sometimes go looking for it.
So I changed my mind and agreed to get them dyed, emphasising that I wanted them to be LIGHT brown. Very light brown.
They were VERY NOT light brown.
It looked like there were two big, black caterpillars crawling across my forehead. You probably think I’m exaggerating, but the youngest literally almost cried laughing when I picked her up from work.
I forget what happened for Valentine’s Day 2023 and 2024.
I’m thinking I might go and see the new Bridget Jones movie with my sister to mark Valentine’s Day 2025.
The previews look fun and I love how everyone looks appropriately their age. Very refreshing.
Will advise if it lives up to the hype.
Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? Apparently the under 35s are going nuts for it.
A Roy Morgan survey found Australian shoppers are preparing to spend a record $535 million on Valentine’s Day gifts for their loved ones
People aged 18-34 make up the majority of shoppers this year (27%), with my daughter among them.
Apparently the young ones are being very traditional about it too, asking people in advance to be their Valentine.
Can’t say I’ve ever been asked that, have you?
Song of the day: Simple Minds “Love song”
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