I spend a little piece of each morning fighting off the ravages of age followed by a few moments in close connection with my youth.

I always have to make the bed before showering. ‘Have to’ in an OCD sort of a way, and also because I don’t have a dressing table and so part of my getting ready is done perched on the edge of the bed.  I’ve should add that I’ve done it that way for as long as I can remember and so don’t miss having a dressing table (I fix my make-up in the bathroom later).  Apart from times like now when I think about it properly and think it would actually be quite nice to have one!

So before I go into the shower, I make the bed and then lay out four things; the hairdryer, moisturiser, eye cream and my comb.

As soon as I’m out of the shower and dried off, I put my moisturiser on along with a fiendishly good eye cream that’s helping to keep some of the wrinkles at bay.  I use Boots No7 which is very basic and something I’ve used for most of my adult life; I have really sensitive skin and find that I can trust in No7 for most things.

I dry my hair very roughly. I’m not a great one for products and styling, so I tend to dry my hair upside down and then comb through with my blue tangle comb.

When I was in my mid teens, we used to read a magazine called JustSeventeen when we were supposed to be learning to sew (a combination of having a very imperceptive teacher and our sewing classes co-inciding with the day that the magazines were delivered).

If you look really carefully at the handle of the comb, you’ll see some very faded writing.  The writing says JustSeventeen; the comb was a free gift with the magazine some time in the mid-1980s.  It’s lovely to have it as part of my morning routine even after all these years.