On tanning

I have decided holidays can change who we are- either just for the time we are away, or in a much more permanent way.

For the most part I just turn into a much more relaxed version of myself when away- and I would imagine therefore a much pleasanter and more patient me.

This time around I became fairly obsessed with tanning in a way I hadn't ever been before. Sure we all feel better when we're browner, it's slimming, it hides imperfections, it makes us look more attractive- but I had always accepted that I was one of life's pale and (hopefully) interesting types- because even after 2 weeks in burning sun I am normally a faintly gold colour at best.

On this holiday for the first time I found myself tempted to ditch the sun cream and get a really dark colour. I didn't do as I wished and kept faithfully layering on the factor 5000 but it did worry me that I started to think maybe sun beds or layers of orange fake tan weren't so bad after all.

Now that I am back it doesn't seem as important at all to be brown- and the idea of applying endless after sun is becoming more and more boring. but I do quite like the 'aren't you a lovely colour' type comments and it does give me more of a swing in my step to be sun kissed.