It all gets very personal in your Heyday Friday newsletter this week

My top ten decluttering tips, an unusual recommendation, plus one that's very close to my heart, and a shout out to three very special people in my life in this week's newsletter

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Hello!

I hope you had a lovely Easter break (and that chocolate featured suitably extensively in it).

I would say spring is in the air but in all honesty, here in London the weather is still stubbornly miserable and the only thing that’s consistently in the air, is water. Apparently it’s been the wettest winter since 1830-something and the weather looks determined to keep that record going well into spring.

Thanks to a combination of the generally soggy conditions over the Easter bank holiday, and the fact that I couldn’t find something I knew I had in the mess of my bathroom cupboard, I had a couple of wonderfully cathartic decluttering sessions during the long weekend - the aforementioned bathroom cupboard and one in my bedroom as well. And yes I did find the ‘missing’ item, thank you for asking.

I do love a good sort out, don’t you? I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m an expert de-clutterer, but over the years I’ve found certain methods and systems that work well for me. So in the hope that they might be of use to you, I’ve shared my top ten best decluttering tips in this week’s blog.

Find out what they are by CLICKING HERE

And in the meantime, feel free to admire the interior of the newly sorted bedroom cupboard. You’re welcome

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You’ll need to READ THE BLOG to understand why these

WORDS OF WISDOM

from Confucius are so apposite

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THIS WEEK I’VE BEEN….READING

Something a bit different in this slot this week. Because what I would really encourage you to follow my example by reading isn’t a book. It’s a piece on a website called The Sunday Long Read, which collates and celebrates the best in long form journalism (unsurprisingly its new posts are published every Sunday).

This particular one is called ‘In the Land of the Very Old’ and is as clear sighted, insightful, thoughtful and moving a depiction and analysis of what it’s like to be very old as you’re ever likely to read.

Its written by 90 year old Sam Toperoff who, ten years ago, moved from New York to the French Alps with his 84 year old wife, daughter and grandson to live in the chalet where his family had holidayed for decades and which he had mostly build himself over the years (that’s the view from it in the picture above. This is them below).

In his reflection on very old age Sam looks back over and contemplates his own life and the choices and decisions he’s made - “In retrospect I can say I was wrong fairly often” - and goes on to explore the process of ageing and particularly how “being Very Old is qualitatively different from being just plain old.”

He doesn’t shy away from or gloss over the challenges and diminishments of extreme old age, but neither, to his surprise, does he find this final stage of life to be all negative. Far from it. “Even while I am moving deeper into very old age,” he writes, “my truth is that this last decade has been the happiest of my entire life.”

Read Sam’s thoughtful and though-provoking piece HERE

And explore - and subscribe to, should you be so inclined - The Sunday Long Read HERE

AND….RE-LISTENING TO

April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month. My dad suffered from this cruel disease so I’m always keen to do whatever I can to raise awareness and understanding about the condition and support efforts to find better treatments and eventually, we can only pray, a cure.

A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to have wonderful Jo Tosh sitting at my table at the Women of the Year lunch. Jo is a former nurse who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the shockingly young age of 47. Jo has since become a passionate campaigner, determined to improve understanding of Parkinson’s and increase funding for research into the disease, which is the fastest growing neurological condition in the world, whilst living the best life she can with its cruel and increasing cascade of symptoms.

Jo was also my guest on an episode of the Women of the Year podcast, The Extraordinary Ordinary, where she spoke with moving honesty about the potentially crushing uncertainty of living with the progression of the disease and finding not just joy and purpose, but something altogether unexpected as well. 

Please do listen to it, which you can do HERE, or wherever you usually get your podcasts, and then do what you can to spread the word. Thank you.

You can also follow Jo on INSTAGRAM where she goes by the account name ‘ladyduffgordon’

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WHAT HAS MADE ME HAPPY THIS WEEK

Returning to very old age, and as a swimmer who represented Britain in my increasingly long-ago youth, this story about 99-year-old competitive swimmer (yes, you read all of that right) Betty, made me very happy indeed

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April 10th is National Sibling Day here in the UK, so this

FRIDAY FUNNY

is in honour of my wonderful sisters and brother. Love you, you weirdos. (The pic is the four of us with our amazing mum at Buckingham Palace when she was awarded her CBE)

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That’s the lot for this week. I’m off to put the finishing touches to plans for various surprise experiences for my lovely fella’s 65th birthday on Monday, which looked as if they might be scuppered by a threatened tube strike (arrgh). However, I’ve just heard it’s been called off - phew!

I’ll let you know how it all goes.

See you next time

Diane x