I’m delighted to say that it’s finally hot and sunny in our part of the North West. I suspect it’s down to me and the fact that I’d given up on the sun ever appearing so I’d started ordering clothes for the chilly days we’ve been having. And have you noticed how many brands are fast-tracking into autumn (or Pre-Fall as the Americanisation creeps in) with their latest drops? The heatwave’s given faster sell-through on summer ranges than there’s been for a long time. Boden usually leave their early autumn drop until August but it came out in the first week of July… Me+Em and Cos are at it too – so many places.
A quick try-on
We’re going to be in Newcastle this weekend and it hasn’t been warm and sunny there so I’m preparing myself. I always have my eye open for the perfect summer blouse that isn’t stiff cotton or linen, I need to have some drape otherwise my broad frame looks mannish. However I do want it to be breathable and have enough interesting texture to stand out. My buy last year was this one and I’m still wearing it a lot.
The year before was this one and I wear it most weeks too at the moment.
I’ve ordered quite a few this year but ended up returning them because they have to be absolutely perfect – and this is the one I’ve finally settled on as my 2026 aquistion. It’s one of those perfect blouses that has a zip front, allowing you to adjust the neckline to sit exactly where you want it without any gape. It’s made from soft cotton voile so it drapes without stiffness and it has texture that isn’t girly or frilly. Plus it’s a soft shade of off-white so it’s kind to the skintone and the cuffs are shirred so they’ll stay where you style them. Anyway I just thought I’d show you because it’s rare to find a blouse that ticks so many boxes and it’s low in stock at the moment (and as I go to link it I see the darned thing’s just gone into the sale – just as I’ve paid full price!).
And if it’s still very warm when you’re reading this you probably won’t want to see this but it’s one of those nifty little jackets that’s as comfortable to wear as a cardigan but looks so much smarter. And it’s washable. It’s the sort of thing I’ll be wearing constantly between October and April so as they’d introduced a colourway with a bit of red for a change, I snapped it up.
AG1 review – a rare supplement recommendation
I don’t usually write about supplements because I’ve trialled a lot of them over the years and rarely felt that anything was worth reporting. Being neither a nutritionist nor especially evangelical about wellness I’ve never felt I was in a position to start telling you what to take with your breakfast. But I’ve been testing a gifted subscription of AG1 for six months now and I’m carrying on with it because I feel it’s behind some distinct differences that I’m noticing. So this is an AG1 review from the specific perspective of a midlife woman.
I’ve waited until now to tell you about it because I wanted to be sure that I wasn’t imagining things. However it’s seen me through a punishing few months that have had more than usual going on in them so I feel as though it’s worth talking about. I know you trust me to tell you when something’s worth trying and I take that seriously.
The first change I noticed was a cognitive one. My thinking started to feel clearer and quicker which surprised me because I’d assumed there wasn’t much more headspace left to find in my midlife brain. My menopausal mind sharpened a few years ago when I started taking testosterone as part of my HRT package and that made a real difference for me so I wasn’t expecting anything more. The best word I can think of for what’s come back with AG1 is capacity, the ability to hold lots of things in my head at the same time without dropping them.
You can see it in what I’ve managed to keep going since January despite a challenging retail environment, travelling a lot and the personal factor of losing mum-in-law. Despite that I’ve held down my consultancy work, kept this blog running, launched a series of reader events and returned to Instagram after a long time away. A year ago I’d have said that was more than my midlife brain could ever handle again.
I’m not claiming that it’s all been down to a daily health drink but what I can say is that I think it must have helped to bring back the headspace as well as more energy* to keep all of those plates spinning came back at the same time. I’ve also stopped feeling that I’m running out of brain power by lunchtime.
My sleep has improved too and of course that will have benefitted my increased mental capacity. I used to get around seven hours on a good night but it’s often closer to nine now. Better sleep adds to the clearer head with extra capacity that seems to be helping my all round energy levels and so I’m doing better at the gym as well.
On the ‘glamour’ front, the bloating* that for me came with menopause has more or less gone. After an ordinary meal I was often swelling up as though I was four months pregnant and having to undo buttons or switch into pyjamas soon after I’d eaten. I only noticed that it had stopped when I could spend the rest of my evening without changing out of (or undoing) my jeans.
With so many vitamins, minerals, probiotics and plant extracts in one tin it’s made life simpler because I don’t need to take any other supplements**. I’ve cleared out the graveyard of half-used bottles that I’d accrued over the years with good intentions so now it’s just one scoop and a dropper instead of a hand full of supplements that I never remembered to take.
And it’s pleasant to drink which helps me to remember to take it. Although it looks green and therefore as if it’s going to taste of bitter iron, it’s actually a natural pineapple flavour and I drink it each morning while I’m waiting for the kettle to boil. I get the tin out of the fridge, fill the marked bottle with cold water, add a scoop of powder and a pipette of the vitamin drops and shake. It takes less than a minute and I look forward to drinking it which isn’t something I’ve been able to say about anything else I’ve ever swallowed for my health.
AG1 (gifted for review)
As always this is just something that’s worked for me and the fairly ordinary life I lead. I’m not a doctor and I’m not going to suggest a single drink fixes everything or that your results are guaranteed to be the same as mine. Every body is different and mine is fifty-nine, supported by HRT including testosterone and decent sleep with exercise and eating good food on top – so this has slotted into my existing relatively healthy routine rather than performing miracles on its own.
A lot of people have asked me on Instagram whether it has genuinely seemed to make a difference and so this is my expanded answer. For me it’s been worth it and I don’t say that very often. If you’re already taking AG1 I’d be really interested to know whether your experience matches mine or not and if you have any more questions about it, I’m happy to answer them in the comments as always.
If you’d like to try AG1, click here to get it for £59 instead of £79 for the first month, plus 5x AG1 travel packs and Vitamin D3+K2 and a free Welcome Kit.
AG1 (gifted for AG1 review)
*Energy: Vitamins C, B12 and more contribute to normal energy-yielding metabolism. Immune system: Vitamins A, C and more contribute to the normal function of the immune system. Digestion: Calcium contributes to the normal function of digestive enzymes.
**AG1 combines up to 15 individual supplements that are typically sold at retail in comparable amounts. More info on drinkag1.com
Style and comfort (great for dancing)
I’ve had a few conversations recently with people who can’t stand sandals for various reasons. So when I was invited to choose a pair of shoes from a range that promises footbed comfort, I thought I’d try this sandal alternative. At the back of my mind I had the fact that they looked to be so secure on the foot that they would make good dancing shoes too. You see it’s hard to do turns and spins in trainers but proper dance shoes tend to have a suede sole so you can’t wear them on your way to an event which is a nuisance.
When I first started writing this blog I remember so many of you exclaiming over the high heels I used to wear and not quite understanding why. I thought nothing of whizzing around in a 3-inch stiletto and that was only twelve years ago. I can’t imagine it now and it isn’t that my leg muscles have gone, I work those hard at the gym. It’s because the fat pads under our feet thin after menopause and so pressure on the ball of the foot becomes really uncomfortable.
These shoes have layers of cushioning, including memory foam, in the sole. They don’t have arch support but the padding makes a flat shoe more comfortable to walk in. They look very pointed but the toe box is actually quite wide so you have the elegance without the squished toes. The only thing I’d say is that I wish they didn’t have the cap across the toe, I’m not sure why it’s there. It doesn’t bother me too much but without it they’d be absolutely perfect. I see that there’s a low heeled version of this style coming in soon and it has my favourite shape of heel – wide but not deep so it’s stable but still has the elegant profile that you lose with a block heel.
They come from a company founded by a midlife woman who was sick of shoes that hurt her feet and I’m always keen to support anybody who’s making life better for her midlife sisterhood. If you’re coming to Colombia in September these will be great for the social nights out where we go to the bars and clubs to dance – the T-bar holds them more securely onto the foot than any other type of slingback and there are lots of different colours available.
Silver t-bar flat with air cushioned sole (gifted for review)
Good reads – I’ve had more time for them than usual
Mal’s been up on our roof in every spare minute over the last few weeks – it’s been a massive project and I’ve felt pretty tense the whole time as I’ve watched him zipping above me like Spiderman. He’s learned a lot from a neighbour who used to be a builder and taught himself the rest from watching hours of YouTube videos. We’ve been all over Cumbria hunting for reclaimed slates of the right age, size and colour for the listed building that we love but which comes with so many prima donna requirements. And he bought a complete roofers’ kit from a lady on Ebay who was keenly selling her husband’s equipment before he changed his mind about retirement (I so understood her urgency to offload it!).
And this week (praise be) he finally completed it – safely – and also saving us the £20,000 bill that we’d been quoted. It’s been a bit of a worry knowing that he was up there, especially in the very hot weather but he’s worked until he’s finished it – and he has an impressive t-shirt tan.
We were talking about it and the great differences between the way we like to spend our time while we were away last weekend. I was saying that I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who takes such pleasure in restoring and fixing quite difficult things. He explained that when he was at uni, a whole module of his product design course consisted of them being given something different each week that they had to completely dismantle (computers, washing machines, power drills…) and then rebuild perfectly. He said it taught him that with research and effort most things are fixable and something like a 300 year old roof is precarious but actually incredibly simple. I suppose we’ll know for certain when we have the next heavy rainfall but I’m proud of him.
It struck me what a good idea that module was – wouldn’t it be great to introduce that in schools, starting with simple Lego in reception and going through to complex electricals but also needlework for everyone later on – as a compulsory subject. I would have used that so much more in life than the stupid maths I had to sweat over – I’ve never once had to apply differentiation or integration formulae (or geometry or trigonometry) but they’re still lodged in my brain like a painful splinter from an old injury – taking up valuable space.
Anyway I digress. Mal being on high has given me lots of time to catch up with friends and I’ve also had a string of quite good reads while I’ve been watching anxiously from the garden. I know a few of you are heading off on holiday so here are some recommendations.
Strangers
This is the true story of a high-flying New York marriage that disintegrated very suddenly over lockdown (told from the wife’s perspective). It’s very much a journey into midlife distress and confusion. I don’t think I enjoyed it as much as a lot of people have but perhaps that’s because it was too close to my own experience. It reminded me how it feels to be in a marriage that seems perfect from the outside when from the inside you’re subject to somebody calculating and knowingly cruel (and of course I’m talking about my first marriage here). There are no conclusions in this book but there is an impressive story of survival and the rebuild of a woman who has had a lot taken away from her.
Read it if: you find yourself wondering over other people’s relationships and what the inner machinations are really like. If you’re in or have had a happy relationship it will really underscore how fortunate you are. If you’ve ever suffered in a marriage, it might make you feel less alone with the madness you endured that only a person who’s been through it will ever understand.
Twice
You’ll either like Mitch Albom or you won’t. I turn to him in the same way that I turn to chocolate, when I need something that feels comforting and restorative, so this was the right thing for me to pick up while we were in the first days following Delia’s death. It has a simple concept. As a child, Alfie discovers that some members of his family have the option to live any life event twice. The only problem is that they have to accept the outcome of the second attempt. It’s one of those books that you breeze through and it’s full of reassuring truisms that sometimes strike you more meaningfully when they’re illustrated by somebody else.
Read if: you want to be gently reassured and uplifted
The Things We Never Say
I’m not an all-out Elizabeth Strout fan, I like some of her books but not others. This one though was very good. As always she’s preoccupied with themes of midlife loneliness, hindsight and nostalgia but they come across a little less tartly in this book than some of her others. The story is about Artie Dam, a teacher who has always loved what he does and the life he leads – but who is feeling increasingly lost and finds himself wondering, as I think a lot of us are at the moment, if the world is going mad. As an extra layer it gives some insight into what it must be like to live in a divided US at the moment but it also touches on the universal themes of ageing, a life reaching its third stage and love.
Read if: you want to feel less alone as you move forward in this fast-changing world
Heart The Lover
Oh my word, this book. I was on a train recently and three completely different women were reading it around me. I’d just finished it and so I said to the young woman opposite me that I’d really enjoyed it. She told me that she’d just finished her masters and had deliberately missed the train she was due to travel on with her boyfriend so that she’d be able to immerse herself into it. Of course that made the other two look up, one was a PA who’d been hiding away during her lunch breaks to read it at work, the other was a teacher who’d saved it until she broke up and it was her first summer indulgence. Everybody was savouring it.
It’s about first love but seen mostly through the rearview mirror of midlife. That makes it sound like chick-lit but it’s filled with intelligence and with touches of academia so it’s intellectually satisfying too. For me, it helped me to see that the young woman I once was still lives inside me. She isn’t my past, she’s still part of me and her experiences continue to impact my judgements and feelings every day. I’m not going to say any more because I think everybody reads it differently and you will have your own interpretation but if you pick one of my recommendations, make it this.
And that’s it from me today because we’re heading over to Newcastle now. It will be the first time we’ve been back since the funeral and it’s going to feel very strange driving straight to the flat without stopping off to see Delia and take her a bag of treats from M&S. There’s a lot for Mal to sort out there so we’re staying for over a week and it will be a mixed-up time. However we have the release of a Horse Meat Disco DJ set on Saturday and then an Italodisco night the following Friday to lift things up a bit.
I’ll be back next Friday and I think we’ll have a proper midlife lately catch-up. It’s been an odd time but I have nice things to tell you about too – so enjoy the last of the sunshine for a while… and see you next week.
