Pretty in pink

I am turning into a girly-girl. This is worrying, because for as long as I can remember I have been an ardent feminist. I used to get very indignant as a child when the rag doll Looby Loo secretly cleared up after Teddy and Andy Pandy had retired, knackered, for a sleep in the picnic basket. Why would she even think of doing that?

A few years later in the 1960s, however, I was a real Miss World fan. In our tiny primary school, we used to play Miss World in the playground. I was always a Scandinavian contestant who, although blonde and beautiful, disgraced herself by tripping over. I thought it added a bit more character, a bit more interest, to the role.

I didn’t think the two viewpoints were mutually exclusive. You could have beauty as well as brains and I always went for the underdog. Girl power. What I didn’t like was the traditional perception that a woman’s place was in the home where she looked after the children and did the housework. And nothing else.

That independent spirit has been with me throughout my life. I’ve always worked and my heavily pregnant daughter has inherited that same work ethic and, to be honest, I wish she would slow down. Mr Grigg calls it our stubborn streak but I like to think that - heaven forbid - we could survive if we had to.

So here I am, juggling a full time job with three part-time ones and do you know what’s really exciting me right now?

There is a package at home just waiting to be opened.

It’s a new vacuum cleaner.

What makes it even more exciting is that it’s a Hetty. Strong, tough, pretty…

And pink.

She has arrived courtesy of a villager who works at the Numatic factory in Chard. She’s cheaper than usual because she’s not Grade 1 quality (hoorah for the underdog). I am hoping this means she'll have a lop-sided smile or is cross-eyed. I like character in a vacuum cleaner.

I can't wait. Get the apron out of the drawer. Housework here I come.

That's about it.

Love Maddie x