My New Seven Year Itch

Relationships…dontcha love ’em??  However, the relationship I’m about to ponder isn’t one with a guy…it’s with a country: India.  I first travelled to India at the end of 2006 and it’s been a rough and ready ride.  I travel there for my business and it just doesn’t seem to be getting easier or more pleasant even though I’ve had the most amazing time there.  How does that contradiction work? Well….

I’ve travelled and explored India and my interests have take me to wonderful cities and villages where I have met weavers and wonderful organisations helping creative artisans.  I base myself in Delhi and have an apartment there in  a lush, quiet, tropical paradise and have created a lovely bubble around myself and yet I am often incredibly lonely there while I get on with my incredibly stressful work.

I hate moaners and expats that arrive in Delhi wanting it to have the

Sex Crimes

It will come as no surprise to you to hear that “Sex Law & Crimes” was the most popular module during my law degree. I love studying the subject, the academic analysis and historical analysis of sex law in England.

There was a case heard this month by the Canadian Supreme Court that literally sent shivers down my body. It is so shocking that it deserves analysis, and for once, don’t panic reading ahead because the court made the right decision.

Spread It Thick: Cheesy Love!

Well just like that it’s The Most Romantic Day of The Year again.   And of course, I’m here to the rescue for what to write in your message to your loved one(s ;-))

And still, after all this time, the Sun has never said to the Earth,
“You owe me.”
Look what happens with love like that.
It lights up the sky.
― Rumi

Dear Diary

Not another one!!

Dear Diary

I’m in my 30s and single.  Yeah, I’m ‘looking for lurve’ but I’m not in the slightest desperate and I’m happy enjoying my life with my friends and family.

Recently, in Delhi,  I have been approached by so many married men, one married to a very dear friend of mine, that have tried to kiss me and one even propose to me! Despite being already married.  Another married man thought nothing of sharing his sick fantasy – he wanted another two children with me besides his others.  Not with me mate!

High Pryce To Pay

Am I alone in feeling sorry for Vicky Pryce? She was sitting next to her husband whom she loved for almost 30 years and he turned to her and said it was over, he was with a younger woman, he wanted a divorce. And then he went to the gym.

Then the press find the whole thing hilarious because the younger woman had been in a relationship with another woman.

An Age-Old Question

A rumour on the entertainment circuit is that 26 year-old Mary-Kate Olsen is dating 42 year-old Olivier Sarkozy a relation of the former pint-sized French president.  Is this too big a gap or does the gap depend on the decades in question?

When I was 18 I dated a tall, blonde and handsome 25 year-old Norwegian.   Although

Love, Marriage and Tales of Regret

We’re often told by wiser and successful people to never regret anything.  However, do our regrets make us human?  Does living by someone else’s mantra damage us psychologically?  Whilst I can’t think of any regrets in my life so far I often do wonder at the life I might have had if I had gone down a certain path…If I hadn’t ended a relationship, if I had studied another subject at university and so on.

Ya Ya Sisterhood

My best friend and I describe our relationship as sisters but recently, I have wondered whether this truly describes how close we are. We seem to have placed a higher value on the relationship between sisters  and yet, I only hear sisters describe their closeness, should they so close,  as best friends. This role reversal seems to happen all around me.

 

The Valentine’s Come Down

There were flowers, chocolates, a gorgeous card, a romantic meal…even great sex…..

and then ……..

Daughtergate Diary

Dear Diary

I’ve ticked all the boxes on what makes success but now I’m being pressured to bow out.  I graduated with a 2.1 in law, got a great job in a practice and married the love of my life a year ago.  We dated for 3 years and I was so happy to marry such an ambitious guy who cared about me and my family too.  The thing is, now my husband is really pressuring me

Not The Nanad!

What is it about nanads, (husbands sister), that makes them so devious? Some of the stories I am hearing at the moment are beyond childish and insecure to really psychologically disturbed.

A friend of mine has had a torrid relationship with her nanad from the beginning. At first it was bitchy things like ignoring her at family events, or revealing private conversations at inappropriate times.

Erotica

Last weekend Olympia played host the hottest fair in town, Erotica. It was like a masquerade burlesque funfair with every form of sexual pleasure on display.

A friend was launching her new range of Pleasure Pillows and I went along for support.

Queen Victoria and Prince Abdul?

As you all know, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert made a fine couple and named a thousand pubs along the way, but did you know she had a strong “friendship” with an Indian man 40 years her junior and who was her servant called Abdul Karim?  Queen Vic took a liking to her cute servant

First Wives Club

The Guardian reported a new craze of divorce parties taking place in the States to help women get rid of their possessions, make some cash and give to charity – turning a negative into a positive and so on.  It’s sort of the theme that runs through a movie I watched over the weekend, First Wives Club.

This movie is on constant repeat on Sky and Freeview but it’s such a gem of a movie I love it every time (such as last Sunday).  It’s a hilarious movie starring Diane Keaton, Goldie Hawn and Bette Midler

JLo’s Back!

Our generation’s Elizabeth Taylor, the most fabulous Jennifer Lopez announced she is divorcing her manorexic husband.

Fuelling The Fire

Dear Diary,

Sometimes I just need to be listened to and empathised with. I don’t always want solutions or judgements on how I could do things better. All I want is an ear to hear me rant.

Love Letters

Alison Moyet’s Love Letters was ringing in my ear as I listened to my friend tell me about the love letter she received today from her new beau.

I get all excited and tingly when I find love notes in obscure places left by my husband. I can only imaging the gooey lovey thing she was feeling at receiving this letter.

But wait there is more….

Clash of the Titans

Recently, I have been listening to peers talk about their ill fated relationships with their mother-in-laws. In each circumstance, I am speaking to modern, educated brides who have quite traditional mother-in-laws. Their worlds are clashing and they are struggling to keep hold of and impart their values.

How It Used to Be

Dear Diary,

As I sat down to a fabulous meal cooked by my husband on Mother’s Day, I remembered how it used to be….before we had children.

Private: No Entry

In the 90s my sister and I were singing along to a very popular song on MTV with lyrics along the lines of ‘it’s my life, my problem’ to which my mum responded in jest but with a hint of truth: it’s not YOUR life and it’s MY problem!

Middlemarch

I am currently reading George Eliot’s Middlemarch. It was originally published as a serial, how people must have thirsted for the next installment with the same eagerness as many of our parents do for the crazy dramas on TV.

George Eliot has wonderfully witty commentary