ALEXANDRA SHULMAN’S NOTEBOOK: Other halves make flying on business a lot less jolly

Akshata Murthy has joined her husband for the first time on an official overseas trip, an indicator of her profile as the PM’s wife.

As anyone who has travelled for business knows, the person left on the home front often has a sneaking suspicion that the traveller is enjoying a jolly without them. Off they gaily go, waving their ‘pink ticket’ for some fun and games.

Taking your partner with you prevents that faintly lemon-lipped look on your return, though I always think having someone with you on a business trip is a mixed blessing.

The Sunaks have flown to Japan, meaning a journey with killer jet-lag. Sharing a bed with someone when you are both horrendously jet-lagged is a nightmare.

It’s bearable on holiday when all you have to do is laze by the pool but when there are wall-to-wall meetings the next day, someone tossing and turning beside you is not ideal.

Akshata Murthy has joined her husband for the first time on an official overseas trip, an indicator of her profile as the PM’s wife

Just as you drop off to sleep after persuading your body-clock that it is night-time rather than midday, it’s extraordinary how your bed-mate invariably decides to give up on any attempt at sleep and gets up to rummage around the room looking for some form of distraction.

If you’re working, there are few opportunities for downtime, too.

When flying regularly across the world for fashion shows, I remember treasuring a spare hour to read or soak in a bath. Having a companion on the trip makes it harder to indulge in that little me-time bubble.

Also, while the working partner has every minute of their days mapped out, the other may be left having to find their own entertainment. If they’ve enjoyed themselves discovering an unknown neighbourhood, lunching solo in a delightful cafe or lounging in the hotel spa, it is not surprising if the partner who’s spent the day sitting in a conference room staring at a tableful of glum faces finds it all rather galling.

Conversely, if, as the working partner, you have set the world to rights and the other person has failed to amuse themselves and ended up with Netflix in the hotel room, you feel irrationally guilty.

Of course the companionship can be reassuring and it’s lovely to have someone at the end of the day to cheer you along and reassure you that everyone doesn’t really hate you. But isn’t that where that handy device of a phone comes in?

Farewell to an old four-legged friend

While renovating our loft space, I decided that, much to my sadness, an old walnut veneer dining table, which was the first piece of furniture I ever bought, had to go.

It had been part of my life for 40 years, but finally there was nowhere for it.

I’ve surprised myself at my attachment to this piece of battered wood, and how bereft I am at the idea it is no longer with me. I remember the excitement of paying for it with cash in Camden Market and the anxiety when it was delivered in a van, as I feared it wouldn’t get through the narrow doorway of my mousehole-sized first flat.

The table has witnessed my life’s triumphs and tragedies.

Since that first flat, it’s had a spot everywhere I’ve lived, except for a time when it had its own sabbatical in a friend’s country dining room and then in my son’s university rental. Now it’s been taken to pieces and loaded into an antique dealer’s van.

I hope whoever finds my table next will treasure it and have equally good times around it.

The joy of our green and pungent land

To Charleston House in Sussex to speak at the annual festival. The house and gardens are a joyful monument to the members of the Bloomsbury Group and every corner is a creative delight.

It was a lovely evening, with soft sunshine and the flower borders just coming into full bloom, including the lake’s carpet of water lilies.

One of those perfect English settings, I thought. And enhanced by that defining scent of the English countryside, a deeply perfumed, rich manure, wafting over from the surrounding fields.

I’d be walking on the moon with a Novello

Sting has just joined Elton John, Kate Bush and Paul McCartney in being honoured as a Fellow at the Ivor Novello Awards. The man who wrote the haunting Every Breath You Take certainly strikes me as a deserving candidate.

When it comes to achievements, some people may wish they had written Middlemarch or Oliver Twist, or painted masterpieces like Turner or Van Gogh. Me? I’m a music type and would die happy if I’d written the lyrics for Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain.

Sting has just joined Elton John, Kate Bush and Paul McCartney in being honoured as a Fellow at the Ivor Novello Awards

Sting has just joined Elton John, Kate Bush and Paul McCartney in being honoured as a Fellow at the Ivor Novello Awards

British cities need the ‘Vermeer effect’

Next time Whitehall bureaucrats consider cutting money for our national galleries, they should look at the ‘Vermeer effect’ on Amsterdam.

The once-in-a-lifetime sell-out show of the Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer’s works has pulled in visitors from across the world to gaze at his masterpieces but also to fill the city – giving a huge boost to the local economy, packing out hotels, cafes, restaurants and public transport.

Many of my friends have returned with tales of their trip to the Dutch capital with a visit to the Vermeer exhibition only one part.

Museums and galleries are not only arty experiences but massive tourist attractions bringing in millions of pounds.

After Brexit, our country is losing some appeal for foreign visitors, so now is the time, more than ever, to make the effort to secure our position as a world-beater for staging arts and culture.

Dodging marriage…and Harrods

There’s been a large increase in the number of unmarried ‘cohabiting’ families. I think David and myself fit this category even though our children are now old enough to live apart from us.

Personally I feel having married once I’ve ticked that box.

David though likes to proclaim, frequently, that there are two things he has not done.

One is to marry. The other is go to Harrods.

***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk