We survived...

... a 2 night stay with my mother.

We went to London for the family firm Christmas lunch on Friday. It was very much a flying visit of getting there, partying and then coming home.

My mother was fine for approximately an hour after we arrived on Thursday evening. Mountain Man and I went out for dinner on our own as she had a previous engagement and we awoke the next morning to a mother in not such a good mood. By yesterday morning and it was time for us to leave, her mood had deteriorated even further. We felt we were lucky to escape relatively unscathed and with only one piece of food from her fridge, out of the three that she gave us, that was out of date (to be eaten by 10th October), which is a third better than usual.

Anyway, enough of that. I thought instead of telling you of the difficulties of being with my family, I'd tell you all about a wonderful thing that happened to me in Selfridges and made me feel very Christmassy indeed.

About 3 months ago I bought a Stila lipstick from somewhere. I can't even remember where, but the sales person specifically told me it was one of those that once on, stays put all day. And I can remember her saying that I could put my lip gloss over the top. I'm sure you're gathering from this that I'm not really a lipstick wearer and haven't a clue what I'm doing. I tried the lipstick on it's own but it made my lips feel dry, so thought the next time I used it I'd put gloss over the top.

When MM took me out for my December birthday I thought I'd put it on and I duly put my gloss on and then discovered that every time I put anything near my mouth (fingers with crudites, glass with wine, fork with food) the bloody stuff came off everywhere and that included bright pinky red lines on the beautiful white serviette. I'm hoping I'm not the only one who goes to Kitchin's and leaves their mark!

So there I was in Selfridges and I saw the Stila counter and, as I happened to have the lipstick with me, I thought I'd ask what the problem was. I was told in no uncertain terms that you cannot put anything on top of it. When I said that it made my lips feel too dry, the assistant said she was sorry, but that was it. Then she asked me if I wanted a refund. I told her if one was on offer I'd accept it gratefully as I certainly wasn't going to be wearing the stuff again.

A manager was called. A very lovely young guy. When I said I'd bought it about 3 months ago, he very kindly told me there was no way they could give me a refund. I wasn't bothered and said thank you to him and it was all fine. We then had a discussion about the kind of lipstick I might want to buy to go to glam nights out and off we went to the Bobbi Brown make-up counter (a brand I do use for eye liner) where I was courteously handed over to another assistant and, as she and I were discussing my needs, the manager came up with a bag of bath goodies for me. I was so surprised. I mean I hadn't even bought the damn lipstick in Selfridges! What also occurred to me was that what he gave me was probably twice the price of the lipstick... what a lovely, kind, Christmassy thing to do, don't you think?

Oh yes and I did buy a Bobbi Brown lipstick, which does stay on relatively well so the next time I go to Kitchin's (please, please let there be a next time), their serviettes can remain relatively pristine!