Real stories · A little bit of luck

At my age you take your luck where you can get it — mine is a tiny hummingbird

A little bit of luck, worn daily — that's what this necklace has become, and I didn't know how much I'd needed it until it arrived. Not the serious kind of jewellery, locked away for occasions. The kind that makes you smile when you catch it in the hallway mirror on a grey Tuesday.

Grey Tuesdays being in generous supply from November onwards.

It's the Aurenly from a British label called York Boutique — a tiny hummingbird in bright stained-glass colours on a fine gold-tone chain. The hummingbird stands for freedom, energy and good luck, which is a great deal of optimism for something that weighs next to nothing.

The colours are the magic. Over a plain cream or navy jumper, that little flash of stained-glass does what my entire necklace drawer never managed — it lifts the whole outfit and the mood with it — and because it's feather-light with an adjustable chain, it goes on every single morning without a thought.

Stained-glass colours over plain winter jumpers — which is why the brightest thing in the hallway mirror, from November to March, is the size of a postage stamp.

It's £11.95 in the sale — less than half the usual £25, and rather less than the round of coffees it got admired over. A fortnight to send it back and free delivery, for form's sake; it hasn't been off my neck since the box opened.

Because admired it was. At the coffee morning it got passed around the entire table like a found treasure. Two of the girls ordered one on the spot, and Margaret declared it 'exactly the thing for Joan' — her sister, who could use some luck this year. It's in the post to Joan now. That's rather the whole point of it.

If someone in your circle could use a little luck this winter — or if that someone is you — do have a look. With the gift season coming, at this price it solves several names on the list at once. The Aurenly is rated 4.7 out of 5 by more than 240 customers — and at £11.95 they go quickly.