Bright Ideas!

Hello,

Do you remember back in the day before eBay we used to do swaps at school? I swapped a Donny Osmond poster for a pair of Osmond socks, and a blue Mary Quant eyeshadow for an equally vibrant purple – because as all Osmond fans know, purple is Donny’s favourite colour! As I’d entered a competition in Radio Luxemburg’s FAB208 magazine to meet him, I needed to get my look together for when it was announced I was the lucky winner. Unfortunately, that letter of congratulations never dropped on my matt.

Today my love of swaps is being used to make lifeenhancing improvements. For example, I love chocolate and I don’t want to lose it from my diet but have trained myself, reluctantly to begin with, too swap milk chocolate forf good quality dark chocolate. The cocoa hit we love is more concentrated inn dark chocolate so in just a few blocks we have our “fix”fix and are satisfied. On the basis that too much of anything isn’t good for us, I have swapped milk for oat milk. Trust me, the acid test is a cup of tea, and it’s the only one of the “funny milks” as my fiancé calls them that doesn’t ruin a cuppa. Oat milk is cholesterol free, and you can also purchase a Barista version which is creamier and whips up a froth for coffee.

Sugar is the downfall of us all. I have a sweet tooth and over the years have become more and more aware of the detrimental effect it has on our health, and I’m constantly looking at ways to minimise it in my diet. The NHS is currently spending £6.1 billion a year fixing food related diseases, and our obesity crisis has sadly added to the horrific Covid death toll we are mourning.

On to improvements outside food, we are now the proud owners of a smart meter, and aalthough it’s not really going to come innto its own until loockdown is over wwhen we are able too control our heating while we aree out, I am reeliably informed thhat our bills will go down and we will be shavinshaving a little from our carbon footprint.

My search to swap diesel for electric goes on, although test driving an electric car is proving difficult at the moment – apparently, I can get into a taxi or bus but I can’t get into a sanitised new car and take it for a spin round the block.

I hope this encourages you to think about what you might swap in your life.

By the way, 40 years after not winning that magazine competition to meet Donny Osmond, I interviewed him – and finally got my kiss! Love, Anthea X