British Author Alexandra Shulman: I’d Rather Spend Money on Skiing Than Hand It to the Taxman

The latest acronym making its way through the travel industry is SKI-er: older holidaymakers who are cheerfully “spending the kids’ inheritance”. It is being used to describe the rise in overseas travel among people aged over 60. As one of them, I can say I am thoroughly enjoying the trend.

One of the biggest revelations of becoming freelance was discovering that, after decades of being restricted to four weeks of annual leave — or five after long service — I could take as much time off as I wanted, or could afford.

Whenever we return from a four-day break in Majorca, people say: “You’ve been on holiday again?” Or they remark: “You’re always away.”

That is not actually the case. To settle the matter, I counted the number of days I have spent abroad this year. The total was 23 — two fewer than I would have taken while employed. We do, however, seem to visit considerably more places.

Short breaks are also far easier to arrange now that I am no longer governed by school-holiday dates and the unyielding demands of a full-time job.

We can choose cheaper flights outside term time and travel in the middle of the week if we want. Nor are we expected to fund the entire family holiday any more. Although, if I am honest, I would still like to bring our sprawling blended family together in a villa one day. We no longer need to tempt our children into joining us by paying for their friends to come along.

I have no embarrassment about being a SKI-er. Given the direction of inheritance tax, the money we are currently putting towards easyJet flights and Booking.com reservations might have ended up with HMRC rather than my son in any case.

Pension pot is going on a new sweater

A financial adviser I spoke to recently offered some perspective when I complained about Labour’s new plans to include pensions in our estates for tax purposes. Pensions, he reminded me, are supposed to be used by us during our lifetimes.

“You are number one on the list of priorities,” he said. It was exactly the reassurance I needed before going out and buying a new sweater.

The heatwave has left us cracking up

London has become Britain’s crack capital — though not because of crack cocaine. This time, the cracks are the alarming gaps appearing across the walls and ceilings of houses. An unusually hot summer has caused the city’s clay foundations to shrink while baking the brickwork, leaving behind ominous fault lines.

There are so many cracks in our house that I sometimes have to walk around with my eyes shut. I have become fixated on watching them creep further across the building.

I am now desperate for rain to arrive and halt their relentless progress — something I never imagined saying as someone who loves sunshine.

A builder came to inspect the damage and calmly outlined possible remedies for the thermal cracking, assuring me that the house was not about to collapse. Before leaving, he mentioned that he had three more appointments involving exactly the same problem. It appears to be an epidemic.

Girls crush Cruise’s epic disaster movie

You might think a company with Warner Bros’ history would have known better than to go anywhere near Digger, Tom Cruise’s epic cinematic disaster.

The film was directed by Oscar winner Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu and carried a production budget of $180 million (£135 million), with a further $100 million (£75 million) reportedly spent on marketing.

It took only a few minutes of the trailer to suggest that this would be a spectacular turkey. Paramount, which bought Warner Bros last month for a staggering £82 billion, must surely be questioning whether it made the right call.

By contrast, there is Extra Geography, an independent British film directed by Molly Manners and centred on young love at a girls’ boarding school.

The film is adapted from a short autobiographical story by Rose Tremain. It was shot entirely in one location and, as far as I can tell, needed none of the lavish computer-generated imagery associated with big-budget productions.

The most elaborate thing in the whole film is the name of one of the two lead actresses – Galaxie Clear. She and her co-star Marni Duggan play the teenage schoolgirls with pitch perfect humour and pathos. The film’s budget was under £1million.

No perm, but maybe a shampoo and set…

Although I agree with Victoria Beckham, who considers 15 too young for her daughter Harper to have a perm, I did love having one myself. Admittedly not at 15, but 22, when I had a kind of lose-wave perm. It gave my straight hair a delightful shaggy look rather than a tight frizz.

At the time I hoped to resemble the actress Maria Schneider in Last Tango In Paris, an ambition which may or may not have been obvious to others. Eventually the perm grew out and I am not sure why I didn’t repeat the exercise.

Now, at the opposite end of the age spectrum, I am considering returning to salon curls, becoming one of those women who, in my mother’s era, had their weekly shampoo and set.

More Noele Gordon from Crossroads than Maria Schneider.

One hangover I’m not familiar with

Journalist Hannah Betts confided in me that, after a busy evening, she was suffering ‘an introvert hangover’. I was curious about this concept.

Apparently it’s when you are suffering the effects of an overload of social activity. Familiar as I am with all manner of hangovers, this is one that I’ve never experienced.

But it made me wonder if it’s possible to have an extrovert hangover, which presumably would be when you haven’t had enough company to keep you upbeat. That would be one I recognise.

Clearing out my life, one page at a time

My new love object is my shredder. Having just bought this fantastic gadget, I can’t think why I’ve never owned one before.

Clearing out boxes of irrelevant paperwork and reducing them to bags of confetti is delightfully relaxing and more therapeutic than meditation or a head massage.