Sunday 15th January 2017

I asked Joshua Baring for steerage on bags. He said, ‘I don’t like them.’ Devastating. But where do you put your things? I won’t spend £600 on a bag even though it wouldn’t kill my economy for the time being. I could buy several, even a Balenciaga for £1500. For years I’ve been carrying a Visconti. I got it at the Designer Warehouse Sale for £80. I find I can replace it online for even less. I like the Visconti the best but am wracked with guilt it’s not expensive enough. I ought to spend more but not £1200 or even £600 on something that’s just a moderately fancified computer bag. Yesterday I saw a nice bag in John Lewis. But it had John Lewis written inside it. I couldn’t. I also lunched there because it was raining. Brexit-type Salade Nicoise tasting of nothing. Then I remembered John Lewis was Remain.

I’ve ordered a new Visconti as a stop-gap until such time as my Official Car can gain Bicester Designer Village or the Mulberry Factory Shop – if it still exists. Such places are perfect for leather goods like belts and bags. Nobody will ever know.

I’ve been living quietly but ill. I wonder how long I’ve got since everybody else has been taken. How much time is there left to wear fashion and elaborate the home? Last week, Dainty Lady TV ordered a 3 hour piece to camera on Her: great worry re: her cold. Thank God she emerged for Church last week. Genevieve Suzy said, ‘But what about her blinky blanky? Why was she wrapped up in the car?’ ‘She always has a blinky, even in summer,’ I was able to comfort.

Going backwards, I had two intensely private dinners this week, so quiet you could barely hear them. I served the first January Christmas dinner known to the human race. The vacuum-packed chestnuts had to be used by August. Wednesday was Rosenkavalier with Renee Fleming. Absolute heaven. Renee not declining at all but greater with age even though not what she was.  I wore my new lightly draped coat in a rust shade by Sandro and the tiny pale grey Topman suit collected from Jeeves of Belgravia immediately before the performance. Fabien-Boris fermented rebellion in the Rich Ladies Mainly-White-Tiny-Tables-Zero-Calorie Dining Pen over who was going to get the tip.

My Visconti: But It is Expensive Enough?

John Lewis Brexit Salade Nicoise. Flavour Reduced to a Minimum