When I was a child and someone said, ‘You look lovely!’ I assumed that they meant I was appropriately dressed and clean (no mud smudges on my nose, my clothing wasn’t torn, no scuffs on my ‘good shoes’). When I was a ‘young lady’ (teenager) and someone said ‘You look lovely!’ I assumed that they meant I looked very fashionable. As a young woman, having hit the twenty-somethings, when someone said ‘You look lovely!’ I assumed that they meant I wasn’t yet showing significant signs of age. Now that I have hit midlife, when someone says ‘You look lovely!’ I assume that they mean ‘You don’t look dead!’

I strongly suspect that about twenty years or so from now, I will have cycled back around to the beginning and when someone says ‘You look lovely!’, I will know that what they really mean is that I am well dressed and clean (no mud smudges on my nose,  my clothing isn’t torn, no scuffs on my ‘good shoes’).

To the left: many thanks to Paul for taking a photo of me ‘not looking dead’ during our recent visit to ‘The Villiage’ (Portmeirion).