‘Are you sure you wouldn’t just come in for a chat, Penny?’ Isla persists. ‘They’re really keen on a Seventies fashion angle. It’s recent enough to bring back memories, and retro enough to be properly vintage. People our age – and older – will remember the styles, and fashion students will love it—’

‘Sure,’ she cuts in, ‘I think it’s a great idea. I just don’t see what I could bring to it …’

‘Oh, Penny,’ Hamish exclaims. ‘You were a Seventies icon. A pioneer! You’d be a fantastic resource—’

‘I’m not a resource,’ she says, her patience clearly fraying now, ‘and I’m not just about the Seventies either.’

‘Ah, here we go,’ Hamish teases her. ‘Don’t get her started on the Rolling Stones thing.’

‘What Rolling Stones thing?’ Isla looks at him quizzically.

‘You know.’ He grins. ‘You go and see them in concert and they insist on playing the new stuff – the entire latest album – when really all anyone wants are the old hits that everyone knows.’

Penny looks aghast at this, and we all fall silent for a moment. He has a point, of course; after Girl Friday’s demise, apparently she tried to kick-start numerous other ventures. But her various stints at working as a fashion illustrator, print maker and interior designer seemed to fizzle out. Girl Friday was her golden era, which strikes me as incredible when she was a single mother to a young son at the time. We don’t know how she does it, read a headline of a magazine interview with her back then, accompanied by a photograph of her in a fabulous white floppy hat.

Well, I don’t know either. But she won’t be persuaded, and, as everyone gets ready to leave, I realise there’s no point in trying to cajole her. Once Penny’s mind is made up, that’s that.

Later, as I pull on my pyjamas, it occurs to me that perhaps her reluctance to be involved might simply be due to her age. Lines and wrinkles – the bugbears of ageing, which I spent an obscene amount on trying to eradicate yesterday – Penny never seems to give the time of day to. But perhaps she does care, deep down, and it’s a sensitive issue? After all, she was a teenage model, then a fashion designer – and both careers are obviously appearance-focused. And maybe the idea of being called upon as an expert on Seventies fashion would make her feel, well … old?

Although it’s entirely feasible, it’s a possibility I’d prefer not to dwell upon. Because if Penny is insecure about ageing, what hope is there for the rest of us?

I apply an extra layer of my new night cream before going to bed.

Chapter Seventeen

Saturday, August 17