I have been inspired by Twittering to display my handbag and its contents. This could very well say something about me; it could also be an entirely pointless exercise where I get to show off Chloe bag AGAIN. Probably the latter.

Photo quality is very bad – that is courtesy of fun-but-useless iphone. All style, no substance.

Chloe Betty bag – I love you.

Bag contents:

Baby wipes

Chili seeds from Wahaca

Smythson diary

Receipt from Trinity Hospice for some old manky McDonald toys (no expense spared for my kids)

Juicy Tube in Tomato

Chanel Rouge Allure in Brilliant

Luella wallet containing cards, cash, stamps, receipts

Blue boat, badge, K’Nex pieces, Carluccios colouring pencils

Raisins

Tissue

Recipe for banana cake

Sock

House keys

Isabel Marant necklace

Hairclip

Eyedrops

Sending self to sleep. That was boring. Sorry.

In other news, the Beautiful Brazilian came this morning to take the kids to the garden while I enthusiastically dressed up as Prairie Girl (accidentally – I was meant to be looking cool in vintage paisley cowgirl dress but with ill-chosen moccasins and flicky hair it failed dramatically) and made my way to the British Library to register a patent. Yes, in those halcyon days of, um, yesterday, I thought you could just go and patent an idea, pay £1000 and then go and make your fortune. It turns out I was wrong. 

We (Susan and I, future business partners, no less, thank you very much) sweatily bussed in to the British Library, got registered and issued with a Reading Card, which means that for a year we can waltz in and read/see/touch (carefully) many of the British Library’s resources. Oh, to have less children and more time! The point of all this was to have access to their patent information. So we sallied forth to lay claim to the Great Idea. But alas – three people had laid claim on the same Great Idea before us! Three different-but-similar patents have been lodged over the last 20 years. And they are quite complicated, detailed little buggers, too. So we had to waltz on out and have had to come up with Plan B. 

Plan B is much scarier, and involves us employing a product design team to create a prototype, which has to be innovative and clever and more advanced than the existing patented ideas. Which means getting a business grant, private investors or remortgaging our houses. The thought of it all makes me want to lie down for a long time. But the idea is a good one and so we march/stumble forward. Wish us luck.