Not an April Fool

I seriously thought this was an April Fool, but it’s two days too late.

This has been all over the UK internet already, but I thought I should share it with my SA readers. And yes, I know. It’s from the Daily Mail – 6000 miles… favourite paper. But it still left me incredulous.

On a recent flight to New York, I was delighted when a stewardess came over and gave me a bottle of champagne.
“This is from the captain — he wants to welcome you on board and hopes you have a great flight today,” she explained.
You’re probably thinking “what a lovely surprise”. But while it was lovely, it wasn’t a surprise. At least, not for me.

Throughout my adult life, I’ve regularly had bottles of bubbly or wine sent to my restaurant table by men I don’t know. Once, a well-dressed chap bought my train ticket when I was standing behind him in the queue, while there was another occasion when a charming gentleman paid my fare as I stepped out of a cab in Paris.
Another time, as I was walking through London’s Portobello Road market, I was tapped on the shoulder and presented with a beautiful bunch of flowers. Even bar tenders frequently shoo my credit card away when I try to settle my bill.

And whenever I’ve asked what I’ve done to deserve such treatment, the donors of these gifts have always said the same thing: my pleasing appearance and pretty smile made their day.

Yep – this is the opening from this “story”, detailing the “downsides to looking this pretty”, according to Samantha Brick.

I actually can’t do it justice, featuring, as it does, photo captions such as:

Blushing bride: Samantha on her wedding day, left, and right, at home with Pascal. She laments that not one of her girlfriends has ever asked her to be a bridesmaid – perhaps from fear of being overshadowed by her looks.

and lines like:

I’m tall, slim, blonde and, so I’m often told, a good-looking woman. I know how lucky I am. But there are downsides to being pretty — the main one being that other women hate me for no other reason than my lovely looks.

I’m not smug and I’m no flirt, yet over the years I’ve been dropped by countless friends who felt threatened if I was merely in the presence of their other halves. If their partners dared to actually talk to me, a sudden chill would descend on the room.

You women can be such bitches, hey?

But wait – there’s more! So (and you have no idea how much it pains me to say this), go to the Daily Mail website and read this amazing article for yourself. Let me know what you think, please.

UPDATE: The twitter parody account has arrived.

UPDATE 2: Newsthump’s view and here. (Thanks Maggie)