Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Yvie Burnett: I really need to become that early bird to catch the summer worm

Ever a fan of the snooze button, Yvie is feeling inspired by the summer sun and a 5am jogger.

Running in the early morning sun is popular with some.  Image: Shutterstock
Running in the early morning sun is popular with some. Image: Shutterstock

It feels like summer and I’m very happy about that.

This morning I’m on a 7am flight which meant getting up at 4am, and as much as I love my bed, getting up at that hour in the summer isn’t actually that bad.

Don’t you ever head out of the house earlier than usual for some reason, when the sun is up and the birds are singing, and feel glad to be alive?

Every time I get up and out at dawn in the summer months, I say to myself, I’m going to do this more often, but I never do.

Snoozing the alarm and sleeping a bit longer is my downfall in so many ways.

Yvie finds the snooze button hard to resist. Image: Shutterstock

As we drove out of the gate this morning (Gordon was up for an early flight too), we had to stop to let a runner pass. It was 5am! That is dedication. She looked so happy and full of life.

It’s inspiring to see people with that mindset, but whether it’s inspiring enough for me to be reminded of her when I tell Alexa to snooze tomorrow, is doubtful!

Of course, Gordon and I are heading in opposite directions as usual, he is off to Berlin and I’m off to Glasgow, but I’m just there overnight whereas he has a few days away.

I’m back tomorrow for a few days home alone where I can spring clean and organise my house the way I like it. I’ve been away so much this year that I’ve been dying to have some time at home for a good old sort out.

I’m definitely a combination of Stacey Solomon and Mrs Hinch with my love of organising. I just don’t think I could make my chores sound so interesting as they do on Instagram.

So, in exciting news, I’ve just chosen some new fabric for the lounge curtains, and I’ve got a man coming to measure up.

Do you remember all the different styles of curtains and furniture you have had over the years? It’s a bit like our fashion sense or our various hairstyles where we can’t quite believe that we thought that was a good look.

I’m not sure if my ’80s perm or my ’90s “swags and tails” curtains were worse!

When we first got together, Gordon had the typical young businessman’s bachelor pad with black leather chesterfield sofa, black tables and, don’t laugh, but he even had black sheets!

All that had to go, of course, but my taste wasn’t much better. I was very twee and totally obsessed with Laura Ashley, so we had bright colours with floral prints everywhere.

Yvie is a fan of Stacey Solomon who presents BBC show Sort Your Life Out. Image: PA Photo/BBC/Optomen/James Stack

In my defence it was much more homely than the black, but all far too country cottage.

Our next home was a Victorian semi with huge ceilings, so thankfully we inherited some pretty neutral colours from the previous owner. The cost of new curtains for those windows would have broken the bank.

Fifteen years ago, we moved into a brand-new house, so every window had to be dressed. Patterns had become bigger and more modern, and as I was a working in America at the time, I totally delegated this task to an interior designer friend.

These are the curtains that I told you a few weeks ago I had taken straight to the charity shop before Gordon came home to stop me.

Now at last, so late in life, I think I know what looks nice… but do I?

Ten years from now black will probably be back in fashion and I will wish I had kept all Gordon’s “G plan”. Ha ha, not the sheets though! That’s a fashion that is most definitely not coming back. That and perms.

Do you remember sitting there for hours having those tight little rollers put in and that really strong-smelling lotion painted on?

And the worst bit was looking at it for the first time.

After a couple of weeks, it looked better, but that first look where you resembled a poodle was devastating.

Of course, men had them too. Footballers seemed to lead that fashion trend.

Real curls are wonderful. Perms – never again!

The way we were: Yvie and Gordon with Deacon Blue’s Ricky Ross and Lorraine McIntosh. Yvie says: Compare my permed curls to Lorraine’s beautiful natural curls.

The whole fiasco with ITV’s This Morning has been quite disturbing. Most of you know it’s my favourite show.

The combination of presenters is important, but when Richard and Judy left and it still survived, I think it shows that This Morning is enough of an institution to get through this storm – whoever is at the helm.

Have a good week, Yvie x

Conversation