![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.elainespires.co.uk\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/E3293CFA-0092-47CA-A746-7FB2E45D4ED6-300x300.jpeg\")
Janet Street-Porter<\/p><\/div>\n
Janet comes across as a strong woman with a large circle of friends so I was a bit surprised to find out that she\u2019s admitted to being lonely. \u00a0Apparently a couple of months ago she realised she had gone for a whole weekend without actually speaking to anyone. \u00a0So, she took the decision to speak to one stranger every day. To her surprise she found herself engaging with all sorts of interesting people and has now upped her target to three people a day. \u00a0\u00a0https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/femail\/article-6312695\/JANET-STREET-PORTER-Talking-three-strangers-day-helps-cope-late-life-loneliness.html<\/p>\n
What surprised me wasn\u2019t that Janet felt lonely, because I can totally identify with that. \u00a0I am a strong woman – or like to think I am – with a very wide circle of friends, and I enjoy my own company. \u00a0I\u2019m quite happy to go to the cinema or the theatre or a restaurant by myself. \u00a0But sometimes… just sometimes I feel lonely. \u00a0Not so much since I\u2019ve been living back in UK but certainly the last year I lived in Antigua. \u00a0There were times when I spent the whole day without talking to anyone – especially when the Fella Who\u2019s Far Away was busy working – although he did always ring. \u00a0But not actually seeing another person and having to force yourself out of your pyjamas – or sarong in Antigua – and out of the house was sometimes hard. \u00a0It\u2019s strange that you feel lonely yet it\u2019s a struggle to get out into the world…<\/p>\n
But to get back to Janet, what did surprise me was that she actually started talking to strangers when she\u2019s so often said how she loathes it when members of the public try to engage with her. \u00a0Good for her! \u00a0I\u2019m not sure it\u2019s something I\u2019ll be doing, though. \u00a0My experiences of strangers on public transport for example, are not very positive. \u00a0I\u2019m a magnet for strange strangers. \u00a0\ud83d\ude02<\/p>\n
But if she wanted it, I\u2019d rather like to be friends with Janet.<\/p>\n
Lonely was the one thing I wasn\u2019t for the last couple of weeks. \u00a0I had sixteen glorious days when I saw The Daughter for every single one of them – the first four in England and the rest in Ibiza. \u00a0We were joined by the Sister for five days and then by my friend J. \u00a0And what a time we had! \u00a0Especially as it was the Daughter\u2019s birthday – and we had a really great day together, including time spent with two of her closest Ibiza friends B & J and the Cousins and her beloved Tio.<\/p>\n
Ibiza was its usual magical self; void of huge crowds – except for the Hippy Market which was heaving (Blimey! Where did everyone come from?) – it was lovely to get a table on Sunset Strip and Tapas and El Chiringuito. Speaking of El Chiringuito, we found ourselves sitting next to the Mambo Brothers themselves! \u00a0It was a shame the Sister had left two days earlier or it could have been the Spires Sisters meet the Mambo Brothers! \u00a0Boom! We also had a gorgeous drive to Santa Gertrudis – THE place to be for Sunday pre-lunch aperitivo. \u00a0It was buzzing!<\/p>\n
Ibiza is the setting for my current WIP, the fifth and final book in the Singles Series, which has the working title of Singles, Set and Match so it was nice to use my stay as a research trip, too. \u00a0We stayed at the Gran Sol, which was as wonderful as always. \u00a0Looking at the breakfast buffet – which matches any cruise ship or five star hotel spread I\u2019ve ever experienced – it was hard to imagine the hotel was closing two days after I left. \u00a0Nothing, absolutely nothing was spared. \u00a0The Gran Sol is a little gem of a hotel and I thoroughly recommend it.<\/p>\n
And now I\u2019m counting the weeks until the Daughter is here for Christmas! But before then we have the Underwire Film Festival at The Barbican \u00a0where our short Only The Lonely will be showing on November 22nd. \u00a0I am very excited about that and proud of what Veronique and I have achieved. \u00a0We spend every Friday together working on a full-length feature. \u00a0And this afternoon I\u2019m going to see our wonderful leading lady, Anna Calder Marshall, in Love at the Queen\u2019s Theatre Hornchurch. \u00a0And I am going on my own.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Janet Street-Porter is a Marmite celebrity; with her forthright views, distinctive, quirky look and abhorence of being hugged by anyone outside her immediate circle, you love her or you can\u2019t stand her. \u00a0I fall into the former category. \u00a0I admire … Continue reading