Hannah Waddingham, Sunglasses & Torvil and Dean…
Great to see Hannah Waddingham on our front cover celebrating her 50th as I’ve had a total girl crush on this lady since watching her play AFC Richmond owner Rebecca Welton in Apple TV’s Ted Lasso. Love, hate or have no emotion about football, please give this series a try and by the 3rd episode you will no doubt be glued, clutching the remote saying “oh just one more”.
I was late to the Ted Lasso party but now I tell everyone to watch it. The casting, writing, humour is spot on and Hannah shines in every face Rebecca shows us. Another reason we should all feel empathy with Hannah is, after working herself to the ground over many years her perceived public success came late, in fact, very late if you compare her career to other women in the entertainment business. But that waiting, training, working, getting up, scrubbing up, especially when she felt her age was against her, has paid off. We are always full of fear, it’s what makes us human, but I hope she’s enjoying and savouring her amazing success. Charles Darwin observed, it’s not necessarily the strongest that survive it’s the tenacious and adaptable!
I’m enjoying my last few days in Santorini so I’m all over our article on Sunglasses. Outside of personal preference re shape and fit, my maturity and my new knowledge of eye health has taught me how important it is to protect our eyes in the sun. Now, when trying sunglasses I’m looking for good lenses with UV light protection. You don’t have to pay a fortune, one of my favourite pairs are under £20.00 from Mountain Warehouse, it goes without saying over the years I’ve lost, expensive brands but can I lose these? Can I barn cakes! But unless you have strayed while on holiday into an opticians please don’t buy flashy looking glasses from the many stands outside convenience shops. Even if they have a UV sticker on be suspicious, it’s not worth putting your precious eyes in jeopardy. Also when at home if you find yourself squinting, whatever the weather, pop your sunglasses on – your eyes will thank you!
Finally, Torvil and Dean - you can’t say one without the other – I cant believe it was 40 years ago! I remember those winter Olympics like yesterday, the nation was obsessed by them. In 2013 I competed in ‘Dancing on Ice’ and will never forget arriving at Crystal Palace Ice rink on my first day at ice skating school and they were both there on the ice waiting for me. I so wanted to rush over and say “Hello” but the knives strapped to my shoes made it impossible! Instead Chris and Jane skated over to me, took me by the hand and proceeded to guide me around the ice, I felt like I was in a dream.
Over the months I saw them every week they choreographed, inspired, judged and laughed with us But I’ll never forget the day we had to show the rest of the group how we were getting on. Guess who was the only person to fall over? Me! Chris knew I was mortified and came straight over when I’d finished to remind me the most important thing was that I got straight up and carried on…and that’s a metaphor for life indeed!