Rhys on Treats

RHYS: A week ago a publisher sent me a beautiful display of tulips. A week later they had opened and were beginning to look a bit sad. I was just about to lift them from the coffee table when husband John walked past. "What lovely flowers," he said. "Where did you get them?"
I pointed out that they had been on the coffee table for the past week and he hadn't noticed. Men! I'm now regretting that I never had wild affairs. They would have been so easy to get away with. I can just see John walking through the bedroom to get his socks and not noticing an extra head on the pillow!
But joking aside, as I threw those tulips into the green waste can I felt quite sad. They had looked so good on the coffee table. Then the thought struck me, I could actually buy fresh flowers every week if I wanted to. A nice little treat and they would certainly add something to the living room.

This thought was followed by horror. Me? Treat myself to something that wasn't entirely practical? I'm not very good at treating myself. I suppose it comes from living through a very lean time when the kids were at home and John was laid off from his airline job. And also from being raised in that post-war period when we had to make do with very little. John still collects glass jars to store things in because his mother did.  Treats were limited to the occasional bar of chocolate as candies were still rationed until 1953. We hardly ever ate out and there was no such thing as impulse buying. A pair of shoes was bought when the old ones wore out, not before.

But I'm afraid it must be just me. I have friends of my generation who get their nails done every week without giving it a second thought. My mother went to have her hair set every Saturday morning. But if I have the occasional pedicure I feel horribly guilty.

I am getting a bit better. I do allow myself to stop at Starbucks if I feel like a latte while I'm out. I certainly don't think twice about lunch with friends. But there is warning sensible voice in my head that won't go away. Which is annoying because treats are the spice of life.

I'm trying to come up with a list of things that are treats for me and bring me joy.
Dark chocolate, of course.
Ordering oysters as s starter.
When I'm on a book tour getting into my pjs and having room service. Or having a room service breakfast delivered to my door.
Having time to sit beside a pool and read.
Lunch with friends.
A picnic beside a lake with French bread and good cheese and a crisp white wine.
Having the whole family together for a meal.
Finding I have a free evening and realizing there is something really good on TV. (And I have a bar of dark chocolate on the bedside table)

So what about you? Are you good at treating yourself? What are your go-to treats?