Oh well, it comes to us all I guess. Last week I had my first hot flush.

To tell the truth, I'm surprised it's taken so long. Given that my mother and sister began pre-menopause at 36, I'm lucky to have held it off so long, but the Pill has done a lot to help that. 

But one thing that is taking me by surprise about ageing generally is how un-gradual it is. 

You'd think, wouldn't you, that you'd go from no flushes to maybe one every so often - say one a week. Then two a week, then one a day. But it doesn't work like that, at least not with me. 

Just as I woke up one day with a sudden crop of lines around my eyes, and just as last winter I suddenly ached in every joint badly all at once, my hot flushes began five days ago and it's wham-bam 6-10 a day right from the get-go. 

Luckily for me, they're pretty minor affairs. I feel dizzy, of course, and a bit sick - it's rather like you feel when you have a virus - but they only last 30 seconds or so and then they're gone. I sneaked a peek at myself in the mirror during them, too, and I can see that I go bright red - as is my wont, this actually makes me look slightly healthier. 

Oh la, I guess it's time to denicher the evening primrose oil, or see if I can track down some Agnus Castus.

Menopause here we come.