I recently took the bait, reacting to a Toronto Life version of the Refinery29-pioneered Money Diaries. In it, a 32-year-old woman buys everything that pops into her head and then some, but explains that she was bad with money in her 20s, so this is, we’re to understand, her being reasonable. There’s an impressive amount spent on personal refurbishment ($450 every two months on blondification, $200 every three on Botox) but also “self-care,” a category that includes something called “biocharging” that no one on my Twitter knew, either, but I googled it and it’s some sort of hi-tech snake oil. But the most telling part was that she found a “condo-sized” Christmas tree she liked so she… bought two of them. They’re in the photo as well, the same one where this woman boldly poses, showing off, in all ways, the fruits of her spending.
What if money were no object? This is, in a sense, the premise of the neverending Britcom (1992-2005!) “As Time Goes By.” Everyone’s rich, just different flavors of rich, but because it’s England where there are also royals and nobles and so forth they are, I guess, middle class.
Alistair, the only fun character (adds up, Philip Bretherton, who plays him, is from Lancashire, same town as John Inman!), is a businessman. He wheels and deals. He’s like what Harvey from “Waiting For God” wishes he were. Technically he’s a book publisher but this is not realism, he’s basically just slick and silly and yuppie. He can make a phone call and get the best restaurant table or flight. He can snap his fingers and buy or sell a London townhouse. He’s a fairy godmother more than anything.
Jean, played, improbably, by Judi Dench, is a comfortable widow (not that they’re consistent on the “comfortable” point)
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