Who Would Have Thought?

Who would have thought when I purchased the menopause wellies that I would end up needing them for Ireland's first Arctic winter since 1963? And, thank goodness I went for the wellies and not the clogs. It has now been three weeks since the start of this cold spell and Met Eireann (the weather forecasters) are saying it will last at least 10 more days. The trouble is, the nation is totally unprepared so roads and pavements remain unsalted and ungritted and the entire population of Dublin city is slithering around doing its best to stay upright and maintain some semblance of dignity. Needless to say, the trainer heels have been put away for the moment and it is back to flatties with grip while I try to preserve the integrity of my bone structure. The wellies have proved invaluable for trips through the slush but what they deliver on grip, they lose on the warmth front so they are never more than a temporary measure. Meanwhile, at the other extremity, or perhaps I should say extremities, hands have rarely been in worse condition. Various solutions have been tried and so far the best results are coming from L'Occitane hand cream. Biting cold is equally unkind to the complexion so I'm not leaving home without a liberal application of Origins Skin Guardian underneath my moisturiser and at night I am attempting to reverse the damage of the day with a Decleor night balm. So far I haven't resorted to the hideous hats being sported by journalists on our national news programmes but it may yet come to that. Is there specialist menopause headgear I wonder? Might it come pre-loaded with conditioning hair treatment and perhaps embody technology to slightly pull up the sagging jaw line - what a good idea that would be, I must remember to suggest it to the entrepreneurs. Thankfully those guys have not been chasing me to strongly since Christmas though I wish the same could be said for the self-improvement brigade. From high cholesterol to improving the sex life, from re-branding myself at 50 to changing direction entirely with the aid of a midlife coach - they are all out there touting for my hard-earned euro in 2010. And hard earned those euros will be if the first week back in the office since New Year is anything to go by. But that's a post for another day. Right now it's time to get back into the wellies and brave the icy footpaths in search of a bottle of vino. Well, it is the weekend after all ...