I have friends who never ever leave their kids for a second and go on about it all the time and make sure everyone knows it… and I have friends who will happily fly to the other side of the world for a while, leaving the kids having a nice time with their loving grandparents (who enjoy it and wish it would happen more…

I don't think I've ever seen a picture of her super young. What a beautiful girl she was. [Editing to add: I don't mean to imply she looks rough now!]

I was taught to do it in news reporting to give "context" and distinguish this particular Amy Williams from most other Amy Williamses but it seems really unevenly applied.

I actually felt sorry for her (and I'm in no way a royalist) – she did a totally normal thing, haggling in an antiques shop, and then had someone run to the press about her "asking for a discount" and diss her legs.

I do look for deals and discounts (and would never, ever pay the starting price in an antiques shop) so I'm hopeful that I may one day become rich! Yay!

Plus, I think paying the price written on the tag in an antiques shop (at least in England) is just wasteful!

I work in travel quite a lot and it seems a lot of the time the hotels will broadcast details of famous guests when they're getting freebies, but will discreetly keep silent about the ones who pay. Unless you get 'em drunk.

Nope. I bet the person telling the story is a gossipy so-and-so just trying to make something out of nothing. (I'm not a Kate fan or anything, but I can't stand gossipy so-and-sos.)

I had an amazing perfume sample once that people went wild over — people would ask me what it was all the time. It smelled like sugar cookies. Yum.

I used to use amazing kid shampoo that was scented like cherries and cream, or something like that. Nowadays I try to pretend I'm a grown up and smell permanently like Jo Malone Pomegranate Noir, but in my heart I still smell like cherry baby shampoo.

The first boy I ever kissed (a million years ago) chain smoked and the smell of fags still makes me think that any halfway all-right-looking boy is a super-duper sex god. Your comment suddenly makes me reevaluate Harry Styles.

So funny to see this covered here. They're brilliant, and lovely people.

They might wonder why I'd be shutdown affected on the other side of the world! (Plus, it doesn't look very good. I suppose really I would love a free good vibrator.)

I haven't lost my own job, but my husband has now been unemployed for ages and we're really broke. I would love a free vibrator.

I would be happy if I were given a free vibrator, so if I were one of the people getting one it would benefit me as well as the company. Except the one in the picture looks rubbish, so I'd probably be more "slightly amused" than "massively delighted".

That is GLORIOUS!

EXACTLY. And I hate that showers are becoming a thing in here now too — "give me things" parties are just embarrassing, I thought.

I got married a few months ago and most of my friends didn't give me anything tangible and that was still great. Some of my best and longest-standing friends didn't go, and that was sad but I'll just have to deal with it.

I got married in America where I think the tradition is to give gifts from a registry, so I made a registry and a few people got us presents from it. A lot of others gave us a totally unexpected amount of cash/cheques in cards, which I didn't know was a tradition at all. And most gave us nothing as a tangible present,…

I bet it's regional. I just asked a handy foreigner and he told me there have always been seven in his world.