Mum's official birthday

I sent her messages but she hasn't received them yet.

I think tomorrow's her real birthday anyway, but in Spanish folklore it's a date associated with a lot of suffering, so we celebrate today. Nothing from her.

The present R got me would also be good for her. I have bought her a subscription to Vogue, which hopefully will please her more than the Fortean Times (I think the article about attacking penis fish put her off) but she used to love perfumes too, so I will start sending her testers and she can talk to me about what she thinks of them.

My effort is to get her mind on something other than the virus and the vaccine. People who are vaccinated are contagious, she informed me and added that now whenever she sees me she will think I have the disease and she will be worried.

The rest of that conversation can be deduced, there are no great surprises in it. The only surprise is me thinking she will ever change.

Still, the perfume samples are a great idea.

Pointless Perfume Review: Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 Extrait De Parfum

Woah! Anosmic moment in the first spray, then lots of cool dry aperitif like alcohol followed by bitter almonds and what I think is saffron. There's something like blood orange too, tucked away in a lot of generic mid note stuff. I'm sensitive to almonds, but it's not any kind of full blown allergy thing; I could wear this, it's quite elegant and stays close to the skin. Thing is, when it dries down, on my skin the body of the perfume becomes a bit boiled sweet. Later, for some reason, up comes the ambergris and (hopefully synthetic) musk, which is rather nice. It's a Charlotte Rampling of a perfume; is she beautiful? Just interesting? Or does it depend on the day?

https://www.johnlewis.com/brand/womens-fragrance/maison-francis-kurkdjian/baccarat-rouge-540/_/N-4bsgZ1z13s19Z1z0djnv?s_ppc=1dx43700067443379626&tmad=c&tmcampid=1&s_kwcid=AL!9689!3!560709798935!e!!g!!baccarat%20rouge%20540&gclid=CjwKCAiAiKuOBhBQEiwAId_sK_S1arUqg2CQkU9xqnxEGH3d4n06AFc0HiRhM8_6VRdxUBnjsat2VRoCkwoQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds