Now no woman of any age really wants to be a shabby chick (hen, or old boiler) but generally we don’t mind being a stylish “Shabby Chic”. This morning, when I looked at myself in the mirror, I wasn’t quite sure… At the time I was dressed in my Australian yellow, green and aqua harem trousers, a plain yellow sun top and short-sleeved white cardigan. Oh, I used to love those harem trousers – three or four years ago when they were fresh and new – but now they are definitely tired. We were only going to our local Sainbury’s store, nevertheless…

“Do I look a bit poor in this outfit?” I asked Chris.

“You look…” my beloved husband paused to find the appropriate word (that wouldn’t offend) before finishing his sentence with, “unique!”

“Not shabby unique by any chance?” I queried.

“Certainly not!” he grinned, “but if you were wearing a woolly coat over the top… do you think you would be ‘Shabby Sheep’?”