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A lesson in being grumpy

6th June 2009 by Helena 7 Comments  

For some reason I have been quite ratty this afternoon. It could be because the children are all over-tired and they are making me grumpy with their bickering.

We are paying the price for staying at some friend’s late last night to watch the tennis. While we jumped up and down on the sofa willing Federer to win, they jumped through sprinklers on the lawn, swam in the pool and played baseball in the garden, until half past ten. All very good fun, but less fun when they still wake up at the crack of dawn.

Anyway, minutes ago there was a ring on the doorbell. I leaned out of the window to see an elegant young Emirati woman outside.

“Who lives here?” she enquired. My first thought was ‘oh WHAT NOW? Are they being driven mad by Leo playing ‘Old MacDonald had a farm’ 18 hours a day? Welcome to my world I would have told her. Or maybe it is a spy, sent on behalf of our landlady to check up on us? Do they want us to park somewhere else so they can accommodate their fleet of Hummers?
invite-photo.jpg

Anyway I stomped down the stairs to see what the beautiful stranger wanted. I opened the door. She smiled then handed me candle wrapped in glittery net.

“I have come to invite you to my sister’s wedding,” she said. “It’s the day after tomorrow.”

I was speechless. And cross with myself. And extremely touched. I ascertained that it is a women only event and I can wear what I like. Although I think I will avoid fuscia pink. A friend of mine wore that to one of the Sheikha’s weddings and said she stood out like a sore thumb.

I may go for black like everyone else, but whatever I wear I promise to think of the glass as half full instead of half empty in future. Even if it is only filled with fruit juice, which is certainly going to be the case come Monday.

Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2009


Filed Under: Abu Dhabi, blog --> Tagged With: being, grumpy, lesson

7 thoughts on A lesson in being grumpy

  • amber lee says:
    6th June 2009 at 9:25 pm

    As I plan my own wedding, I’m wishing I could just invite people two days before.
    Why is a stranger inviting you to a wedding, by the way?

  • helena says:
    7th June 2009 at 3:52 am

    Good question! I am going to try to find out, but I think it is the custom to invite all your neighbours. Or maybe it is because Sandra who lives downstairs has been chatting to her. Their whole house is lit up with lights, in fact they live in an apartment block opposite, but have draped the whole building with lights so it looks like a Christmas tree at night – amazing.
    Good luck with your wedding Amber.
    Hx

  • mimi says:
    7th June 2009 at 11:28 pm

    Very interesting to read about the wedding customs in another country, hope you’ll tell us all about the wedding in a future post!

  • Allison says:
    8th June 2009 at 6:12 pm

    Looking fwd to reading your experience of the wedding!

  • helena says:
    8th June 2009 at 6:55 pm

    Oh help….just back from the hospital, can you believe it? Leo was playing at a friend’s house and fell over and cracked open his chin. My dress for the wedding is hanging up where I left it and I am about to get ready to catch the 2.35am flight to London….
    Hx

  • Frances says:
    22nd June 2009 at 4:00 pm

    I don’t understand: does this mean you had to go to London for medical treatment for your son? Hope he’s okay.

  • helena says:
    22nd June 2009 at 4:22 pm

    Thankfully not, he’s fine thanks Frances
    Hx

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Helena Frith Powell was born in Sweden to a Swedish mother and Italian father, but grew up mainly in England. She is the author of eleven books, translated into several languages including Chinese and Russian. She wrote the French Mistress column The Sunday Times about life in France for several years. She is a regular contributor to the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday, The Times, Daily Telegraph, Tatler Magazine and Harper’s Bazaar.

Helena has been the editor of four magazines, including M Magazine, a supplement for the Abu Dhabi-based National Newspaper and FIVE, a high-end fashion glossy, also published in Abu Dhabi. Helena was also editor-in-chief of 360 Life, a quarterly glossy magazine published with the Sports 360 Newspaper in Dubai, part of the Chalhoub Group.

Helena contributes regularly to UK-based newspapers and magazines and holds a Masters in Creative Writing from the University of Cambridge. She is working on a thriller set in Sweden as well as a novel about the relationship between Virginia Woolf and Katherine Mansfield called Sense of an Echo.

In 2022 her short story The Japanese Gardener came second in the Fish Publishing Short Story Prize. One of her stories was also shortlisted for the Bridport Short Story Prize. When she’s not writing, she works as a headhunter for the media and entertainment industry for the Sucherman Group. 

Helena, who was educated at Durham University, lives in the Languedoc region of France with her husband Rupert and their three children.

Bibliography

More France Please, we’re British; Gibson Square 2004

Two Lipsticks and a Lover 2005; Gibson Square (hardback)

All You Need to be Impossibly French; (US version of above) Penguin 2006

Two Lipsticks and a Lover; Arrow Books (paperback) 2007

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (hardback) 2006

Ciao Bella Gibson Square; (paperback) 2007

So Chic! (French version of Two Lipsticks) Leduc Editions 2008 (also translated into Chinese, Russian and Thai)

More, More France; Gibson Square 2009

To Hell in High Heels; Arrow Books 2009 (also translated into Polish)

The Viva Mayr Diet; Harper Collins 2009

Love in a Warm Climate; Gibson Square 2011

The Ex-Factor; Gibson Square 2013

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles; Gibson Square 2016

The Arnolfini Marriage; Amazon Kindle December 2016

Smart Women Don’t Get Wrinkles (paperback); Gibson Square spring 2018

The Longest Night; Gibson Square spring 2019

 

 

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