I confess to not knowing, or indeed caring, much about the latest pop singers. Like a whole lot of people I have a tendency to think that the music I grew up with is the best music possible. I am ready to be persuaded by my children, perhaps also at some point by my grandchildren, to listen to some artist they really enjoy but otherwise I am not good at keeping up with trends.
Consequently I know very little about singer Billie Eilish apart from the fact that she won’t let herself be bullied into conforming to society’s expectations of what a young woman should look like. And so she’s a bit of a role model to young women who want to dress outrageously and dye their hair bright green or shocking pink. Well, good for her, say I.
I read something the other day about Isabella Rossellini (ridiculous full name Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini, daughter of actress Ingrid Bergman and film director Roberto Rossellini) where she talked about how she likes to dress up and put make-up on just to please herself, refusing to conform to norms of what we older ladies should look like.
Quite so!
I see a lot of adverts for clothes, all beginning with a question about whether we are fed up of wearing track suit trousers, joggers and pyjamas and asking would we not like to wear something different. As if working from home means everyone has to look like a scruff. Maybe a way to fight incipient depression is to cheer yourself up by choosing to wear something you like. Something from your wardrobe. If it’s still pyjamas, fair enough, but how miserable to look in your wardrobe and decide not to wear something just because you can’t impress the rest of the office by how trendy you are! That’s my take on it anyway.
Reading about Billie Eilish, I came across a new word, new to me at least - belfie.
SO WHAT DOES BELFIE MEAN?
A belfieis a self-portrait someone takes of their butt, usually to post on Instagram or other social media.
There you go!
There have always been nonconformist young girls by the way. Twenty years ago I had a student we called Shelley Green Hair because she had ... yes, green hair. She also had Doctor Marten boots which her mother had decorated with flowers, painted on with nail-polish in the days when such boots only came in basic black. I would love to know what Shelley Green Hair, whose hair changed to purple at one point, is doing now.
Back in the modern, coronavirus world, London is going into Tier 2 of lockdown, more or less voluntarily, while Mayor Andy Burnham is fighting to prevent Greater Manchester moving into Tier 3. This is the new normal, it seems.
Across the Channel, residents of major French cities including the Paris region are to be confined to their homes between 9pm and 6am, Emmanuel Macron has said, as governments across Europe battle to contain record numbers of Covid-19 infections.
Further away, across the Atlantic, Donald Trump’s son is reported to have tested positive for Coronavirus. No surprise there!
Reports of Trump’s falling popularity gave me another bit of insight into language when I read this:
‘“You go to places like The Villages [retirement community] and mostly they’re going to vote for Trump, but it’s gone from most to mostly,” said Charles Zelden, professor of history and politics at Nova Southeastern University, and a veteran Florida poll watcher.’
What’s the difference between ‘most’ and ‘mostly’? A percentage of votes, apparently, because I went on to read this:
“That additional 10 to 20% may be enough for Biden to win the I-4 corridor. You win the I-4 corridor, you win Florida. You win Florida, effectively Biden has won the election.”
There you go!
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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