Let’s raise a cold flannel to women and the flush of success
Iwas having coffee with a friend when she began fanning herself furiously. “My own private summer,” she smiled. It’s the nicest description I’ve heard of a side-effect at our time of life.
That and the cartoon of a woman mopping her face above the defiant caption: “Don’t think of it as a hot flush. Think of it as our inner child playing with matches.”
Today is World Menopause Day. When it started in 1948, there wasn’t much to celebrate. Women over 50 were expected to turn into driedup old crones. A condition that affects half the human race was shockingly neglected.
Well, that has really changed. While I was writing a novel about a 49-yearold trying to cope with brain fog and insomnia, I realised that Britain is pretty much run by post-menopausal women. Theresa May in No10, Cressida Dick at the Met. The list goes on and on.
Now, the everyouthful Davina Mccall, 50, tells Stella magazine that menopause night sweats reminded her “of being a junkie”. If anyone can make menopause cool it’s Davina. On World Menopause Day, let’s raise a glass – and a cold flannel – to older women and the flush of success.