One of the things that my illness taught me was that life’s too short to persist with things you don’t like just because it’s the easy option. Life’s too short for that. I’ve been given the great treat of a new dressing gown this week. I am as thrilled as thrilled can be to cast aside my old one and pull on this mad thing.

I do think that dressing gown manufacturers miss a trick. Basically they fall into two types – granny-style (my last one) or wrap-around towelling/fleece with a tie belt….usually in nasty nondescript colours.

Do you know what I mean by nasty colours? They’re the ones that are beige in all but name – sometimes the beige can technically be described as blue or purple or pink……but they’re the blues, pinks and purples of the emotionally beige….. These items populate every chain store in the land (as far as I can tell) and you really have to hunt to find something with a bit more vibrancy.

Anyway, after a really miserable search a couple of weeks ago for something with a bit more oomph (including M&S), I wandered into M&S this week and discovered this…….it’s such a joy – lightweight fleece so warm but not heavy and a jolly colour. Rah, rah, rah to M&S for breaking at least part of the mould. The shame is that it’s still the “classic” (read unimaginative) style (if you can call it a style) shove it on and tie it around the waist style that ends up making even the most beautiful look like a sack of spuds tied up in the middle.

For those of us whose girth is more generous(!) then I’m afraid that they are very unflattering indeed. But hey, who cares? They don’t have to be flattering, just warm, don’t they? Well, call me old-fashioned but I’d still like to feel that even attired in such a manner that I could look just a little fetching.

Why not do a big generous cowl collar then fasten with a single big toggle on the left, just under the line of the bust? It would be so much easier to wear – it wouldn’t come undone when in the garden in wellies with a camera for a start. It would give a smoother line to all of us who don’t look like stick insects and let’s face it – shouldn’t the dressing gown be subject to a facelift from time-to-time anyway, just as a matter of good practice? Go on all you dressing gown designers – get machinating about how you could be the one to turn the dull old world of the dressing gown on its head. I, Linda Mingay, challenge all of you!!!

All of that aside, I AM thrilled with my new dressing gown, even though there is a faint hint of “Mr Blobby” about it, I’d rather Mr Blobby than Mrs Dull.