{"id":97465,"date":"2020-06-12T15:27:27","date_gmt":"2020-06-12T14:27:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/?p=97465"},"modified":"2020-06-17T11:17:34","modified_gmt":"2020-06-17T10:17:34","slug":"now-im-sixty-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stories.qvcuk.com\/presenters\/julia-roberts\/now-im-sixty-four\/","title":{"rendered":"Now I\u2019m sixty four\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a school of thought that the years seem to pass quicker as we get older, but I have to say the past twelve months have had so much packed into them, it doesn\u2019t seem possible that it was only a year!! This week\u2019s blog is more of a pictorial look back over what has been a momentous year for me, and I hope it may raise a smile or two as we continue to sail through these uncharted waters.<\/p>\n

This coming Sunday marks a year since I had a party at my house to celebrate publication of my first book with Bookouture, Little Girl Missing. I\u2019m sure you\u2019ll recognise some familiar QVC faces, along with neighbours, family and friends who came along to raise a glass of champagne.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

By the way, the lady in the white cardigan is my friend Denise. We worked together more than thirty-five years ago on a little Saturday night television game show called The Price is Right; I wonder if any of you watched Alan Carr\u2019s recreation of it last Saturday?<\/p>\n

July and the early part of August were filled with preparations for mine and Chris\u2019s wedding after forty-one plus years of living together. It was only the immediate family and a couple of friends at the ceremony on the beach in Mauritius, but it was exactly what Chris and I wanted, and it was perfect having our daughter, Sophie, as bridesmaid and our son, Dan, as our best man. I can honestly tell you it was one of the happiest days of my life, ranking alongside the births of our children (and the Crystal Palace promotion piece I filmed and presented for Sky Sports in 1994!!).<\/p>\n\"\"\n

I had quite a lot of work to do on the second book in my Rachel Hart series, some of which I did on our honeymoon, before it was published at the end of October \u2013 trust me, you never tire of the moment when you open the box and reach in for the first copy of your latest book baby.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

Before we knew it, Christmas was upon us and we were delighted to have both our mums to stay and help us celebrate. My mum had left it until the last possible minute to confirm, but has told me many times since that it was the highlight of her year \u2013 at ninety-three I completely understand her reluctance to travel from Nottingham, but in light of recent events we\u2019re both so happy she did!<\/p>\n

As a musician, Chris always works at New Year, but we had a bit of a bash at home with Sophie and her partner, Reece, and his daughter, Amber, and Dan and his girlfriend, Katie, who got me tipsy quite early on with a Bailey\u2019s cocktail\u2026 I hate to think what else was in it!<\/p>\n\"\"\n

With my ankle operation looming, Chris and I made a last – minute decision to go on holiday to Mexico \u2013 when I say last minute, I really mean it. We booked it on the Saturday and were on the plane the following Wednesday. Once again, I was working on a book, and also had to do daily physiotherapy exercises to strengthen my ankle pre-surgery, but we still managed to get in plenty of much-needed relaxation. I feel very fortunate that we squeezed in a holiday before the current situation kicked off; in fact, I remember hearing the first news reports about the virus while we were away \u2013 it seems such a long time ago.<\/p>\n\"\"\n

Four days after we got back from Mexico, I went into hospital for my surgery. In case you don\u2019t know, I had paralytic polio as a fourteen-month-old baby and while I have managed to lead a very active life, over the past three or four years I have experienced a dramatic weakening on my left side, allowing my ankle to roll outwards badly. This in turn had stretched the tendons to almost breaking point and had allowed space for a bony spur to grow, making it uncomfortable to walk. The operation has been successful but there is still a very long way to go in terms of physiotherapy and seeing my physiotherapist hasn\u2019t been possible since lockdown.<\/p>\n