Amazon.co.uk
Amazon.comEuthanasia advocate took pentobarbitol, prescribed for assisted suicide in other European countries.
Chantal Sebire, a terminal cancer sufferer who had failed to change French law to allow doctors to help her commit suicide, was found dead earlier this week.
Alright - she’s over 40, so how could I not write about Carla Bruni, who has taken the UK by storm?
She’s all over the papers in her Dior suit (and also, in other papers, without much on at all - very nice timing). Bruni, wife, as we all know, of the French President Nicolas Sarkozy, has done what no-one thought she would - got the British press to roll over and have their tummies tickled. Their love affair with her is much to the bemusement of the French, who haven’t got much time for Bruni.
The truth is, she looks bloody fabulous on her trip. Poised, elegant, sexy as hell. Any woman who wouldn’t want to look like her is probably nuts. There’s no point in envying women like this any more than there is in envying Stephen Hawking’s intellect. Some people have got it and some people haven’t, and Bruni has got it in spades. That’s why she’s a millionairess.
She’s also fulfilling a media role that’s been left vacant a long time. (more…)
A visit to the ophthalmologist is one of those things you need to get round to - you never know what you might find…
The DH and I finally got round to seeing ours the other day. It wasn’t for want of trying, I should add. Here in rural France, it’s a 4-to-6-month wait, and last year we couldn’t get in. Nevertheless, it was a surprise to find I hadn’t seen her for four years. That’s a bit too long, and it’s risking glaucoma, so I was relieved to find there’s nothing wrong with my eyes.
It doesn’t stop me being blind as a fecking bat, of course. (more…)
Chantal Sebire, who had requested doctors’ aid to end her own life, is found dead
Just a week ago, a court in Dijon refused Sebire, 52, the right to have doctors aid her to end her own life. She was dying of a rare form of facial cancer that caused her agonising pain and had cost her her sense of smell and taste before making her blind. She was unable to take morphine because of its side-effects and was facing a slow and terrible death.
A few days ago I lamented the apparent demise of French knickers, but deep in the far reaches of various websites, it appears that the species may be endangered but is not yet extinct.
A friend sent me an email recently about lead in lipstick causing health problems
Apparently, this information was all over the web in late 2007. I must say I hadn’t seen it - the idea of lead in lipstick was new to me. So I checked it out. Fortunately, it turned out to be another health scare. This time, it’s been put about by a pressure group run by roughly half the cosmetics industry, who are campaigning against the other half. Lead suspects in the lead scandal are named as companies like Chanel, Shiseido and Lancome - all at the high end of the market.
So Eliot Spitzer’s wife is standing by him, at least for the moment. What surprises me is why is anyone surprised about this.
From what I understand, about two thirds of marriages suffer an infidelity on someone’s part. Infidelity is something men and women have been weathering in one another since the dawn of time and only about half of those marriages collapse as a result. Many people pick up the pieces and move on. A lot depends on people’s private attitudes to fidelity and marriage in the first place as to whether or not they feel betrayed.
My friend M and I were discussing fashion the other week and we both had a question - whatever happened to French knickers?
You know - proper French knickers. The type that are loose and flowing around your thigh, lace-trimmed and preferably made of silk. Neither of us has seen hide nor hair of them for over 10 years, and we are both, we discovered, hanging onto our last threadbare pair.
Wealth of Nations was one of my go-to brands for many years for basic, well-made clothing but the company went out of business last year. Now it’s relaunched itself as Fashion Union.
The new company aims to supply a ‘brand new, fun, affordable casual clothing range for both men & women’ online, and its range looks good, fun and cheap, with vest tops starting at £6 and even a trenchcoat costing only £30.
I’m guessing that the demographic is younger, judging by the girly gingham dresses, but the tops (£9-10), jackets (£20) and jeans (£22-23) would make good staple items for any wardrobe. They have a ’skinny flare’ jean called Vancouver that looks interesting - narrow through the leg than a normal flare but with some weight at the ankle to balance your hips, and 1 per cent stretch.
For spring the colour range is beach-bright shades of yellow, pink, peach, etc, and most items seem to come in five or more shades.
The range may not offer anything you couldn’t find elsewhere except for one particular - sizes go up to a UK 16-18, so they’re somewhat more generous than the high street and at least with mail-order you get to try on in the privacy of your own home.
Fashion Union can be found at www.fashionunion.co.uk
A new way to wear concealer that gives you a real lift
A lot of us birds over 40 use concealer to hide under-eye circles, and we normally choose yellow (the idea being that this covers the blue better). However, I’ve just come across a new colour that works - pale salmon pink.
