I’ve never given the ridiculous proffered rules of “age appropriate” dressing the time of day (I immediately started wearing mini skirts more often the day I turned 50), however was brought up with the concept that at work one should appear professional, sensible and smart. As a medical student in the 80s, I was once sent home from a ward round by a crusty old consultant for wearing trousers, with the instructions to return in a skirt, and a female relative was looked at aghast when she arrived at her job as a junior lawyer wearing a checked shirt (“Good grief! Are you going to a BARBECUE or something?”) rather than the standard plain white one.

Things have moved on, and now juniors (and young consultants) come to work in casual clothes or scrubs, which I suppose makes sense. I still have a “work wardrobe” of smart dresses, skirts and trousers with “proper” shoes and save my more whimsical and relaxed stuff for home/socialising.

Over lockdown and the current restrictions, everything has changed and I’ve started to wear more relaxed clothes and occasionally smart trainers to work. Today, I looked in my wardrobe and decided that there is a whole array of stuff that I save for going out that I normally would never wear to work.

As I never go out anywhere at present and am only going to get older and fatter, I’ve decided I might as well bin the division between work/non-work wardrobe and I am heading out in a fetching leopard print number.