Trinny and Susannah

To those of you in IBM, this has nothing to do with my dear old colleagues Susan & Susanne.

My life has changed a lot since leaving IBM - I still get up around 6 am (though, some days, I just turn around and sleep on for another hour, or two!). But instead of getting on the M50 to get to work by 7, I head to the gym instead, where I do a bit of exercise. Not too much - I never believed in too much exercise. And I'm ready for work around 9. And I even have time to dry my hair properly and put on mascara - at my age, you need a little bit of extra work to look presentable!

That's where Trinny and Susannah step in. To those of you who have never heard of them, they are the TV presenters of the series "What not to wear". They basically terrorise women into wearing clothes that suit them. They are real bossy bosses. The women who appear on their show seem to hate the experience, but love the results.

As I'd got stuck into a rut of wearing the same old clothes the whole time, and felt that I looked really drab, I got myself a couple of their books. I have found their advice really useful. It hasn't quite changed my life, but I now realise that wearing jeans turned up did nothing for my short legs. I have now started to wear trousers that don't look too short on me, and I feel I look much better. I haven't brought myself to culling old clothes in my wardrobe yet, and I haven't gone shopping to buy lots of new clothes. I find it a lot harder to find clothes in shops now, as I have to actually think about whether the clothes suit me or not. So it will take a while before I'm completely transformed. One step at a time...

If you go to their website, you will find a handy section where you can enter details about your shape (long legs, big boobs, etc.), and they give you a list of what to look out for when you go shopping for clothes. A must have for girls. I'm not sure there is a section for men... Sorry boys.