365 Days, Day 45

The best actors, I think, have a childlike quality. They have a sort of an ability to lose themselves. There's still some silliness. (Kenneth Branagh)

Bunny slippers remind me of who I am. You can't get a swelled head if you wear bunny slippers. You can't lose your sense of perspective and start acting like a star or a rich lady if you keep on wearing bunny slippers. Besides, bunny slippers give me confidence because they're so jaunty. They make a statement; they say, 'Nothing the world does to me can ever get me so far down that I can't be silly and frivolous.' If I died and found myself in Hell, I could endure the place if I had bunny slippers. (Dean Koontz)

Today is Ariél’s 20^th Birthday. It has been a day of silliness. We went to London and wondered around Camden in the pouring rain. Ariél got her wellies to wear to the festival next weekend> the man who sold them to us said for festivals the two basic requirements are wellies and baby-wipes!? We shared a pizza on the bank of the Camden lock. We were surprised by a man walking confidently past us wearing no make-up, a lilac floral dress and lilac cardigan and matching pumps. We saw well-pierced and tattooed men and women. We watched a houseboat fill the lock to get up to next water level. We loved the 1950s retro-look which is very fashionable at the moment: hair and make-up and clothes. Some vintage shops sell these fashions, but at £45 for a dress… we moved along. I visited ‘my’ Tokyo-street-style kimono outfit in one of the shops: it’s still beautiful, but still too expensive. My favourite Goth shops still have the most divine, creative fashions: food for my soul (I wonder what kind of lives my soul has had!).

We took the tube back to Oxford Street and went into Topshop on the high street but it was extremely crowded, so we made our way back to Victoria station. We discovered a South African shop on the station and Ariél bought some of her favourite green Spaletta Cream Soda. I bought a latte from a kiosk on the platform. On the train we took silly Death-at-a-Funeral poses of each other with much giggling. The Oriental tourists who got off at Gatwick station were looking slightly afraid. Instead of waiting fifteen minutes for a bus, we walked home (a thirty minute walk) with much giggling and silliness on the way. It’s a long walk but didn’t seem too bad because we laughed a lot. Lily was waiting for us when we got home and had a lot to say, but was soon distracted from her whinging with a golf ball and twig we had found along the walk home for her.

Tonight we are off to Brighton for a late surprise supper to celebrate 20 years of silliness with, and never-ending love and admiration for our wonderful Princess. Happy Birthday, Precious!