You've got to love all this talk about the weather. It's so very British. This morning, as I whacked up the heating in the car on the school run, Radio 4 told me that Blacks had experienced worse sales than usual in November because of the exceptionally mild weather. Fast forward seven days and even the South of England is expected to have snow before term ends. Despite the frigid temperatures, LBG is still reluctant to wear a coat. She … [Read more...]
Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom Magic Mirror Wand
As I write, Dimples is asleep (touch wood!) clutching what is currently the most precious thing in the world to her. Thanks to a kind word from Him Up North, Entertainment One made her year by sending her a Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom Magic Mirror Wand, and since the moment I got it out of the box, it has gone everywhere with her. I even found myself putting a name label on it this morning so that she could take it with her to nursery. My … [Read more...]
How I love Hotel Chocolat
There is nothing that I wouldn't do for Chocolate. Actually that's no longer true. Because once you've tasted the delights of Hotel Chocolat, over-the-counter chocolate no longer has power over you. And when the utterly divine baubles that caress your tongue and smooth the rough edges of your soul as they melt in your mouth come beautifully presented in a teeny pink mansion bursting with pink tissue paper, I promise you that you may … [Read more...]
Handpicked Collection Decanter review
I have adored The Handpicked Collection since I found the most perfect gift for new Grandparents on their website, so when they offered me the chance to review something from their Top 25 Bestsellers list, I pretty much bit their hands off. Granted this is a little bit trickier online, but suffice to say that involved a huge number of exclamation marks and Thank Yous. Anyhoo, despite coveting pretty much everything, I generously aquiesced to … [Read more...]
Is the Petite Star Zia+ as good as the Zapp Xtra?
In a word, yes. In fact, I'd say it was better. Shortly after the end of my QuinnyCaster stint, I was lucky enough to become the owner of a Petite Star Zia+.Which, if DH is to be believed, takes me to a grand total of 12 pushchairs.... Now I have seen these around a fair amount in Bromley. I'd assumed that they were an interloper, a wannabe, a pretender. I was therefore truly surprised to find that it actually isn't. Firstly, there's the … [Read more...]
Flashing and teething
Dimples has been up during the night of late. She’s cutting teeth, poor thing. She’s done incredibly well with the two teeth she’s had up until now and although the nights are hard work, I’m really glad she’s getting more teeth so that she can enjoy gnawing on lots of the delicious fruits that will shortly be coming into season. It has reminded me that I need to take her to the dentist: absurd though it is, she can’t be registered at our … [Read more...]
Zapptastic: is the Quinny Zapp Xtra better than the Quinny Zapp Original?
The Zapp was brought to market as the smallest folded pushchair available. It’s what made me buy one. I liked the idea that you could put it in a bag and get on a plane with it. (In actual fact I’ve never been allowed to just walk it on the plane: I suspect I needed to be holding a First Class ticket to do that.) I much preferred it in terms of design to the cheaper Petit Star Zia, though an obvious shortfall was the inability of the Zapp to … [Read more...]
