It has entertained me for hours, though probably not in the intended way. And so for that reason alone, I might ask for next year’s as a Christmas present.
For the past few months I have been planning my social engagements with the help of my turquoise Debrett’s Diary for ladies. I am almost certainly not the ‘lady’ they had in mind when creating this sweet little handbag planner but ho-hum.
I’ve popped all my engagements into their relevant and reasonably roomy time slots (one week is spread over two pages), planned far into the future and converted some units of measurement. So far, so very normal really.
Where The Lady’s Diary comes into its own is at the very front and back. At the front you’ll find sections entitled Charity Event Dates, The Season and International Social Events. Most Debrett’s ladies will attend several of these a month. I, however, have attended a slightly depressing one. In a year.
At the back you will find oodles of useful lady-like information. From ‘Leading Ladies’ to draw inspiration from while you eat your porridge to ‘Manners for Modern Media’ and a gift guide for the chaps in your life.
‘Manners for Modern Media’ is one of my favourite sections. In it I’m told that ‘even perfectly sensible people’ have become obsessed with technology. Golly, even the sensible people have been taken in (stop reading the Spear’s website on your ipad). Outrageous.
The directory of clubs, hotels and shops is nicely laid out and practical but very much aimed at women in their 40s with both time and money on their side —‘when you are just too busy to shop (heaven forbid!)’. I don’t always have time to shop but sadly I don’t have the funds to buy anything from jimmychoo.com or net-a-porter.com either. I might gloss over the shopping section. And the clubbing section (Boujis) and, thinking about it, the Members-Only Clubs section too.
While much of the information at the back is completely irrelevant to a busy girl in her twenties, who – and this bit is important – doesn’t have access to Daddy’s credit card, it is a beautiful thing, nicely lined and well bound.
It has also entertained me for literally hours, including once on a bus, though probably not in the intended way. And so for that reason alone I quite like it. I might ask for next year’s as a Christmas present.
Read more by Emily Rookwood
Don’t miss out on the best of Spear’s articles – sign up to the Spear’s weekly newsletter
[related_companies]