Caroline O'Donoghue: If the last two years have proved anything, it’s that life takes the piss

'I've decided that I enjoy being a 1980s magazine editor, so I spent a day declaring what was over, and what was now'

Open plan homes? Over. Still water? Over. Wearing Black? You guessed it.

THE other day, a friend was having coffee at my house and the conversation turned to what conversation always turns to when two people are sitting inside a rented home: namely, how we would improve the property if it were ours.

“I would knock in that wall,” he said, pointing to the dividing wall between the diner and living room. He then pointed to the wall separating the diner from the kitchen: “and that one. Make the whole thing open plan.”