blog -->, Children, Love, ageing
Who will I marry?
Never mind the arrival of the Daily Mail in the region, the big news yesterday was that Louis has a girlfriend. “She’s called Elisa. They even kissed on the lips,” Leo told us when he came home from school. He was more scandalised than my mother was when I showed up at home with dreadlocks. Actually come to think of it, she wasn’t remotely scandalised.
Anyway, Leo was shocked. Disgusted from Tunbridge Wells. Then this evening he came home looking all pleased with himself.
“I kissed Louis’ girlfriend,” he told me happily chomping on a carrot.
“Didn’t he mind?” I asked.
“We was hiding,” he replied, somewhat smugly. This girl spells trouble, at four years old. So does my son.
“Mummy, who will I marry?” Leo asked after a minute or two.
“Who do you want to marry?” I asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe Louis’ girlfriend,” he said. “But definitely someone with long hair.”
Talking of marriage - one of the ways they may illustrate the Mail serialisation of the book is to show me ten years ago at our wedding (June 1998) and compare the picture with me now, wearing the same dress. Here is an exclusive sneak preview. The photographer kindly said I could publish it for free with a credit. His name is Ben Lister and his website is www.benlister.com.
When I sent my mother the picture she called to say how amazing it was that I could still get into the same dress ten years on. What most readers of the Mail won’t realise is that the back wasn’t done up.
So the pressing question of the day, apart from who will Leo marry, is when did my rib-cage grow, and why?
Copyright: Helena Frith Powell 2008
11 Mar 2008 helena
I discovered after my second huge baby that, even though I was back to the same weight and wearing the same jeans, anything that required a bodice or just a top wouldn’t go near. Apparently they expand your rib cage. No fair.
Wow, I think you look amazing, and if I may say, better now than ten years ago? By the way - you def can’t see the grey…
I had a size four, off-white mini-dress when I was married in 1971. I’d throw a huge party if I could get the dress over my head. We won’t even mention my thighs!
While your ribcage appears to have grown, your eyebrows have got thinner. Is this normal?
Dear Helena.
A single silver strand, and so much agonizing.
Today, you are as pretty as you were on your wedding day. You are intelligent, attractive, creative and resplendent. And I do enjoy women who dazzle.
Unfortunately, you didn’t dazzle the eye of the Daily Mail photographer. Why on Earth did they bother sending this guy all the way to Provençe? He has no idea of lighting or composition. And there was no noticeable styling, make-up or grooming.
You have a unique story to tell in your appearance and with your lifestyle. The sad High Street wedding photographer they sent you couldn’t get it. And never will. I’ve visited his web site and it’s third rate.
Pity. You deserve better. Rupert’s snaps were livelier and more becoming.
I didn’t want to put this on your blog as It’s personal and I don’t want to sound like a show off. But as you’ve asked me to, well, voila.
I’ve been around a bit in the world of photography and story telling, and I know what I’m talking about.
Here’s hoping that the snaps used in the serialization show the REAL Helena.
Yours, Disappointed of Switzerland.
Graham Ardboyle-Degge
I take great exception to these comments, Mr Ardboyle-Degge. Snaps? Pshaw. I am the Bill Brandt of the Languedoc, the Gustave Le Gray of the Garrigue, the Pierre Verger of…whatever. Your appreciation of art is worse than your geography.
Why on earth do these guys have to take pictures of women looking like Barbie dolls? That picture does not look anything like YOU! It could be just about anybody. I know we now live in the Superficial Age with a hint of mumbo-jumbo but what is wrong with having a bit of real life and personality? And, by the way, the rib cage DOES expand, the breasts stay the same (unless of course you interfere with them) and most of your fat from your face disappears down into your bottom and stomach. You just have to live with it! The men in Italy don’t mind at all!
One of the most famous photographs of Marilyn Munroe (black and white, white dress, Marilyn sitting down, leaning forward revealing…. )… was taken with the back zipper undone.
Back in the day, the “model size” dresses were 6 (now they are zero or less). Anyway, Ms. Munroe didn’t fit in the dress (she was a 10 or 12 at least depending on the day or the style of the dress) .
They went ahead and took the shots. She was beautiful.
So, to hell in high heels and in dresses with out expandable zippers in the back.
Cheers, Leanne (Halifax Nova Scotia Canada)
Hi Helena
You look very very well.I check passports and am appalled most of the time as to how women let themselves go during the ten years’ validity of their document.
You, honestly, look more mature and attractive than ten years ago in the photos you have put out in your blog.
I have had three children myself and never understood why my bra size increased as a result despite staying the same weight.
Helena, there are millions to be had if you can incorporate, into your spa, the reduction of rib girth!!
Dear Helena and Rupert.
I was with David Montgomery when he photographed Bill Brandt in his little flat in Earl’s Court just before he died. Bill knew exactly where to sit and how to use the ambient light. Thus, he became a hero.
My knowledge of geography is beyond reproach, as is my knowledge of photography and the graphic arts.
Ardboyle-Degge.
Darling Ardboyle-Degge,
So you have left me for the charms of Helena. Have you gone off the boil? Does my prose no longer entice?
Are the Swiss waters no longer to your taste?
What about the buttery soldiers we share?
There is a ghastly sulphuric whiff in the air, eggcups at dawn H!
Your beloved Swiss Softboyle-Degge
I think you look marvellous.
My rib cage has expanded since I worse my wedding dress as well, and that was only a year ago!