Andrea Mc Veigh

I have, on my fireplace, two beautiful 'thank you' cards. One of them was sent to me by the sister of a friend, both of whom I'd invited to a party (more about the party later). It was the first time I'd met Fionnula and it was a lovely gesture for her to send me a card. So much so, in fact, that I was tempted to send a thank-you-for-the-thank-you card! It's a trend I've noticed, in this era of texts and emails - the return of the greetings card. It's a delight to get them through the letterbox, when you’re more used to bills, junk mail and flyers. Last month I received even more, including some unexpected 'thinking of you' cards from friends. I send them myself, my favourite being a 'George Clooney' card for my GC-obsessed friend Jacquie with the scribbled note, "I saw this and thought of you". And a few years back I was thrilled when my friend Sonja sent out 'thank you' cards for her birthday presents. The post-birthday thank you note is something I hadn’t thought about since childhood, but it's a tradition I now aim to keep up.
It's good to know that in these busy times, people still take the time to seek out pretty cards, write a note, find a stamp and post it. It takes such a small amount of effort yet means so much. You should do it yourself. Next time you see a nice card that makes you smile, buy it and send it to someone you love - it'll make their day.
But back to that party. It was an Uber Pamper Party, and I'd not heard of them either until my friend Marcus Hunter Neill told me he'd bought the Uber rights for Belfast and Co. Down. You may remember Marcus form his star-turn on Deal or No Deal when he totally stole the show from Noel Edmonds! He's since turned up on UTV and, as well as his media career, he also works in property development and management - he's a busy man! Pamper Parties are like Tupperware parties but with skincare, beauty, hair and tanning products instead of sandwich boxes. You get a group of female friends round and an Uber rep will come and give you all mini-facials and you can buy the products you like at the end of the night. It was great fun and it's certainly a craze that's sweeping the province (you can call Marcus on 07717 229880 to organise your own party).
I could do with some more pampering after my trip to Cairo on behalf of Ulster Tatler (you can read my travel feature on the city in an upcoming issue of everyone's favourite glossy magazine). Not that the trip was in anyway bad - far from it. Cairo is an amazing city, vibrant, busy and fascinating and I had a fantastic time. I don’t know why I didn’t visit years ago. But boy, was it hot. It was difficult to get a proper temperature reading during my all-too-brief stay, but there were rumours it reached around 45C degrees on some of the days I was there. That's hot!
It was amazing though, seeing the pyramids and the Sphinx, up close and personal. I even went inside one of the pyramids to see one of the burial chambers. Getting inside involved bending over from the waist and almost-crawling along a narrow passageway. Even though I was only one of many people making their way through the tunnel, I felt like an adventurous explorer entering the temple of doom, when I eventually made it into the chamber. Just call me Indiana McVeigh!
The next time I write I'll be in Sydney, on a long-awaited holiday to Australia, so I'll be able to share my news about this fascinating place. I also aim to take part in one of the organised climbs up the Sydney Harbour Bridge - even though I'm afraid of heights! Maybe that Indiana McVeigh nickname isn’t so inappropriate after all!