Ever since my mother’s death in February, I’ve been getting clear messages from her that she does not want me to wear her jewellery.
It may not be the loving communication I was hoping to receive if her spirit’s watching over me but, even so, there is a certain comfort in the idea that she is still around.
None of the jewellery she left us had any financial value. Some of it I don’t remember her ever wearing but my siblings and I didn’t want to simply chuck it out.
When we distributed it, I took a bracelet by designer Pippa Small strung with small unpolished gemstones, as well as the very plain watch my mother always wore. It has a slim black strap and a simple face of Roman numerals.
Within weeks of my taking the watch, however, I lost it. Distraught, I searched everywhere, including in the recycling bins as they often turn out to be the repository of missing items. But it was nowhere to be found.
My trainer at the local gym told me his Iranian mother said a special prayer whenever anyone in the family lost things and it never failed. He would ask her to say it for the watch. All I had to do was to tie a knot into a piece of fabric and keep it knotted until the watch was found.
Three weeks later the watch did reappear down the side of a sofa. I put it back on my wrist, only for the front glass to fall out and the watch to stop working.
Similarly, the bracelet has broken twice – the first time was as I slept, so I woke to discover myself lying on the stones. Then, last week, after having it restrung, the chain snapped again with the gems scattering over the floor of a store I was in. Mama, I hear you!
Ever since my mother’s death in February, I’ve been getting clear messages from her that she does not want me to wear her jewellery, writes Alexandra Shulman (pictured)
Lost child is truly the stuff of nightmares
A child that disappears one afternoon is every parent’s nightmare and nobody should have to suffer the utter misery, despair and hopelessness that the family of Noah Wood will be experiencing after his body was discovered in a local pond last week.
The degree of terror when a child vanishes is like nothing else. One minute they are in your sightline, the next, gone. It’s happened to all of us but, thankfully, in most cases they re-emerge safe.
My own son Sam disappeared when he was five. We were visiting Rome and walking around St Peter’s Basilica near to closing time when I turned around to find him gone.
The tourists were thinning out but the church was enormous and filled with hundreds of sculptures, papal tombs and a million places for a child to hide.
I kept thinking about how frightening it would be for him should he get locked in and, plagued by child-snatching fears, I ran wildly around, grabbing at guards and shouting to everyone that I had lost un piccolo ragazzo con i pantaloni rossi. Never have I been more terrified.
After about 20 minutes, somebody found him outside running happily around St Peter’s Square. He was chasing pigeons under the gaze of the 140 saints and martyrs who line the Colonnades. I was massively relieved, but also furious with him.
Even though he was safe and only gone for a short time, the horror of his potential loss stayed with me for days. I can only imagine how it would have felt if it had turned out otherwise and my heart goes out to Noah’s family.
Reunion magic? It can’t Live Forever…
Conversely, one of the best evenings of my life was spent with that same child, now 31, watching Oasis at Wembley last year. It was an incredible concert and going with Sam was emotional in ways I still can’t analyse.
It was made more special because it was the first time Noel and Liam had played together since their split almost 15 years previously. Now, only a year later, they’ve announced dates for another tour.
It can’t erode my memories of that evening but it does somehow undermine the uniqueness of that reunion tour, and the magic can’t possibly be repeated again.
Liam (left) and Noel Gallagher (right) pictured posing together on the red carpet for the UK premiere of their documentary Don’t Look Back in Anger earlier this month
Pop doesn’t have to be political, just good
Will Oasis, like Ed Sheeran, be expected to reveal their views on Gaza when they perform?
Sheeran’s current US tour is in meltdown after his support act Macklemore used his platform on stage to publicise his ‘Free Palestine’ views.
It’s opened a whole can of worms over whether an artist like Sheeran is correct to stay publicly neutral. Personally, I would much rather he did and that we accept performers can keep their views to themselves.
Certainly, there are some I might admire for their opinion but, in general, I just want to go and see them play their incredible music.
I’m not paying for hugely expensive concert tickets in order to hear them share their political views.
Even the tech bros suit up for the King
I found it oddly reassuring to see the respect the tech bros had for King Charles at his AI summit in Scotland last week.
Usually geeks are the masters of dressing down – Sir Demis Hassabis, founder of Google DeepMind, is often in crew necks; Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, in leather jackets – but for the King, these men who control whether AI will kill off humanity, scrubbed up nicely, appearing in suits and ties.
Tech bros were suited and booted for King Charles III last week, pictured here making a speech during the summit for AI leaders at Dumfries House in Ayrshire, Scotland
How Jemima got her bridal gown so right
Jemima Goldsmith looked absolutely wonderful at her wedding last weekend to businessman Cameron O’Reilly.
Walked down the aisle by her two handsome sons, she wore a beautiful white tiered Oscar de la Renta wedding dress which, at first glance, seemed very conventional. On second glance, however, it was clear it was almost completely transparent.
Jemima is perhaps the only woman I know who could get away with such a revealing outfit, managing, at 52, to look traditionally bridal and knock-out sexy without the slightest trace of tackiness.
Jemima Goldsmith married multimillionaire financier Cameron O’Reilly last weekend wearing an almost completely transparent dress
