It’s no secret that I’m a vintage loving girl at heart.

One of those people who’s sense of style and taste is firmly rooted in a different era whilst retaining a modern outlook on everything else.

I live for finding the clothing and accessories of my dreams on the bargain rails of charity shops , vintage boutiques and fairs ,dreaming of the lives they lead before they ended up there , what their previous owners were like and the special places they might have been.

So it probably comes as no surprise to learn that my love for old things has continued on into my personal life as well.

For like newly elected French President Emanuel Macron my partner is somewhat older than myself so I can sympathise with them over the kerfuffle that their pairing has met with over the past couple of weeks.

Now first of all I must point out that I was a grown woman in my twenties when we got together after meeting at work so there’s no need to be getting all Mary Whitehouse on us, I was quite old enough to know who I was choosing to spend my time with so isn’t as sinister as it might sound at first to some people.

It is a situation that does come with its own little drawbacks though as I’m sure Mr and Mrs. Macron and those of you also in age gap partnerships can relate to.

For there will always be those who will assume the older partner is the younger ones parent, whispers behind hands as they try to determine why you might be requesting a double bed in a hotel room or being given the message that your dad has come to meet you are just a few I can offer up from personal experience when I’ve had to explain he’s not my father, he’s just 16 years older than me.

However now that I’m a mature woman in my forties the age gap doesn’t seem quite as obvious as it did when we got together 20 years ago.

Except that is if we are confronted by the Vintage music channel doing tracks from a certain year that will inevitably lead to comments about how old he was and what job he was doing at the time and the only thing I can offer up in return is ..... “ yeah , we used to dance to that at our school disco’s “ !