High heels in London

I brought three pairs with me and wore two. The rest of the time I had to wear a pair of hideous short boots I had bought in Walmart last year. It really changes one's outlook when sporting a pair of ugly shoe/boots. So much so that I didn't wear makeup much while there. I mean, when your shoes are that ugly, a made-up face doesn't match. So, I bowed to ugly most days. Except when we visited B's mother for the day at the care home she is in north of London. Having seen many pictures of her over the years, I knew this was a lady with style. Even at 92, she commented on my high heels. She wore very cute sparkly flats and the staff had dressed her up a bit for our surprise visit. When we arrived, the head of the home said, "I guess you decided to tell Diamond you were coming afterall." "No," we replied. "We didn't say a word." Apparently that morning while dressing, she told the nurse that her son was coming today for her birthday. How's that for spooky!

I decided to take the bull by the horns and after she gave me some of her costume jewellry -- all she has left after years of living in a home in Spain, where they pretty much cleaned her out -- I asked if I could take her wedding ring back to hold for her great-grandaughter. Remember 'Zorba the Greek', when the village women stripped everything off the dead woman near the end of the movie? I kinda felt like that, but I knew it had to be done. I love the fact that I have my grandmother's wedding ring, My daughter loves having her grandmother's wedding rings, my step-daughter loves having her grandmother's rings and I knew I had to get that ring to keep in the family and pass down. I knew if I didn't ask (B kept saying, "it's all she has left, you can't ask her".......which is precisely why I had to ask) that little band would just poof upon her demise. The minute I asked if I could take the band back for safe-keeping, she immediately pulled it off her knarled finger and said, "Oh yes, dahling, what a good idea." That in itself was worth the visit because the little band is engraved inside with the details of her marriage so many, many years ago.

Things like that have to be sorted, as the English say. It still nags me that my ex-sister-in-law snatched my mother-in-law's eternity diamond band off her lifeless finger for herself -- ignoring the fact that it should have gone to my daughter, Edna's first-born grandaughter. And this sister-in-law (not blood) has only boys. As a matter of fact, I may ask her for it one of these days to give to Susanne. Fat chance I'll get it. Did that a few years ago with a family heirloom brooch on B's side of the family. Laid low and vulnerable by a bout of misplaced idealism and male naivite, B had permitted the familial pocket to be stealthily picked and the piece to find its way into the possession of someone who certainly should not have had the nerve to have kept it when the relationship crashed. I orchestrated an elegant and skillful manoever that saw it returned to my step-daughter, where it belonged. Afterall a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

But back to makeup. We went a couple of times to a nifty little restaurant for lunch near our lodgings. I schlepped in there shamelessly the first two times without makeup. But as we got chatting with one of the waitresses and the owner, I somehow felt I should make at least one visit madeup because we got talking about makeup -- they both wore lots. And the waitress' sister was the famous (maybe) British actress, Rula Lenska. Anyone remember her? I remember a shampoo commercial she was in here, V05? Anyway, the day before we left I wore the paint and they were agog! I am one female who really benefits from the stuff. Years ago I sent away for a "face disk" featured by Lauren Hutton in an infomercial and I still use it. It came with a video -- you know, how to shade those fat areas under the jaw bone, how to make the neck fade back, how to make black, hollow eye sockets glow, how to apply eye shadow. No one ends up looking like the fabulous Miss Hutton, but I do manage to somewhat transform the bag-hag look.

More on dining later.