April fool? You bet! TV and radio presenter Gaby Roslin explains why she loves a prank and chocolate isn’t everything
‘I buy gifts I really want for myself!’
It’s my best friend’s birthday on 1 April (she’s no fool). I was trying to decide what to get her and thought about some amazing goodies from medical herbalist and nutritional therapist Collette Casey’s new website (themedicinalherbalist.com). There are teas, tinctures and natural skincare formulated for women and targeting things such as PMS, perimenopause and menopause. I had one of her teas when I had an infection, and it was incredible.
Now I must work out which products to buy my BFF and not keep for myself! Do you do that? I choose things for people that I’d want myself and then get into a tizzy, wanting to keep them. In fact, I’m currently wearing a jumper that I bought my elder daughter for Christmas, which has somehow found its ‘own’ way into my wardrobe… How did that happen, I wonder? When I was younger, I used to borrow my dad’s (posh) white shirts to wear open over a T-shirt, and they would miraculously end up in my cupboards. He wasn’t thrilled but, in a funny way, I think he quite liked that I borrowed them. Weirdly, I still like that look to this day, wearing a big shirt with some wide-leg trousers.
Back now to April Fools. There have been some great pranks to try to fool the nation, from a ‘treadmill’ that supposedly mowed the lawn to a supermarket bringing out ‘whistling carrots’. Probably the most famous was in 1957, when Panorama reported that Swiss farmers were thrilled with their bumper spaghetti crop from their ‘spaghetti trees’.
I know some people don’t like pranks, but I’m afraid I must come clean and say I do. As a child, I’d wake up early to put tomato ketchup on my face or arm or foot, then wake my parents up with a scream and ask them to look at what had happened. Each year, they would play along, and then I would shout, ‘April Fool!’ and they’d always look surprised.
So, whatever you’re planning, keep it simple, don’t hurt anyone and remember to let the person know it’s just ketchup, after all! Happy April, everyone – have a good ’un.
GET IN TOUCH! If you’d like to share your thoughts or messages with Gaby, email gaby.roslin@hearst.co.uk