When is a 44-year-old woman not a 44-year-old woman? When she's presented with a package of amazing cute and funky stationary. When I was at school I had serious bouts of pencil case envy. There were other girls who had sweet smelling, beautiful stuff theirs while I had a few chewed pencils that said HB on them and a scribbled-on rubber. They seemed to have pencil cases that weren't falling to bits, pens that weren't just blue and rulers that hadn't been used to scoop Nutella out of a jar. I never managed it. So when Meg from Blott Shop offered to send me some of her wares to review jumped at the chance. Then, because I'm not 12 any longer, I forgot about it and got on with all the usual things that fill my life. But I got home the other day to find an interesting package waiting for me. What's this? The Panther of News, who is on an economy drive, was tutting assuming I'd been at the e-tail therapy again. But no. Oh! It was a bubble wrapped parcel of treasures. Pretty scented rubbers, a pen that writes pink (yes, pink!) , zippy pencil cases, badges, notebooks, key rings and a luggage tag. And all beautiful. My 14-year-old self would have fainted with desire at this little lot, and, even better they weren't in some other girl's pencil case. They were all mine. Thank you, Meg for the Blott Shop treasures. You have made my inner teenager very happy. And actually the outer 44-year-old is fairly chuffed too. I mean notebooks, pens and labels are necessary bits of kit, so why not have some fun with them. Why have an ordinary rubber when you can have one shaped like a motor bike, a dog or, best yet, a motorised rubber to do all that tedious rubbing for you?So if you've got stocking fillers to get, pressies, the office secret Santa or even just a guilty little indulgence that won't make you fat, get you arrested or bust the bank, go to Blott Shop. I'll see you there. And who can look at Elvis the sticky tape dispenser and fail to think "genius"?
