Innehållsförteckning för 09-Jan-2018 från Chat

My husband John, 64, zipped his suitcase shut. ‘Got your lucky jacket?’ I asked, thinking of the multicoloured monstrosity he was convinced brought him luck. ‘Of course,’ John grinned. ‘Hope it works!’ You see John, who owns a caravan sales company, was off to Las Vegas to seek his fortune! He loved playing poker. Nothing serious, just the occasional game at a casino near home. He wasn’t bad, had the occasional small win. Still, I was shocked when he’d mentioned wanting to enter the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. ‘It’s £8,000 to enter,’ John had admitted. ‘But the top prize is of over £8m.’ ‘Are you mad?’ I’d gasped. But determined to enter, John withdrew the money from his savings and enrolled. And now, in July 2017, he…

Jaffa cakes Sainsbury's Jaffa Cakes, 75p for 12 Nice enough but we found the cake base a little on the dry side and there wasn't enough jelly filling. M&S Dark Chocolate Jaffa Cakes, £2 for 125g The dark chocolate makes these a bit more sophisticated and pairs really well with the tangy orange flavour. Co-op Jaffa Cakes, £1.49 for 24 These had a good amount of orange jelly in the middle and were the best value. Harry Ramsden Prime Fillets, £4.50, Sainsbury's These frozen haddock or cod fillets let you recreate that seaside feeling from your own kitchen. All you need is chips and mushy peas!…

Kitty tip My cat gave me this novel idea for a snuggly winter pet bed. Just place some old blankets and threadbare pillow cases in a washing basket to make a lovely warm bed for your kitty. Yolo seems to approve! Cameron Camilla Boyle, Leicester Squeaky clean Struggling to get burn marks off a pan? Apply a paste mix of bicarbonate of soda, vinegar and cold water, leave for about 5 minutes, then rinse! Deborah Robinson, Warley Nifty knitting Use a paperclip to mark your knitting rows. It's less fiddly than a safety pin! K Liversedge, Everton Dust buster Lining the tops of your wardrobes with newspaper will help collect any dust. Saves me a lot of time and effort, as the paper holding the dust is easily lifted and…

Lip balm Lypsl Mirror Compact in Fresh Orange Blossom, £4.99, Superdrug This instantly soothes sore lips and the tiny compact is the perfect size for your handbag. O'Keeffe's Lip Repair Cooling Relief Lip Balm, £4.25, amazon.co.uk A long-lasting, no-fuss balm that does exactly what it says on the tube! Great for anybody who spends a lot of time in the great outdoors. Vaseline Limited Edition Mirror Mirror Lip Therapy Tin, £2.99, Asda The beauty favourite we all know and love has been updated with a sweet apple taste and pop of red colour. Blistex Intensive Moisturiser, £2.50, Wilko This will heal even severely cracked lips in just a few applications, giving a soft, smooth pout. Use sparingly, - a little goes a long way……

Serves 8 Prep: 15 min Cook: 50 min Cost per serving: 28p 1 Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6. Mash 2 ripe bananas with a fork. 2 Using an electric beater, cream 110g softened unsalted butter and 160g caster sugar together until light and fluffy, then beat in 2 eggs with a wooden spoon or electric beater. 3 Add the mashed banana and stir in 225g self-raising flour and a handful of granola (we used Lizi's Original). 4 Pour the mixture into a greased and lined loaf tin and bake for about 50 min until golden brown and cooked through. (Check by using a skewer.) Cool in the tin and transfer to a wire rack. Top tip Once cooled, slice the loaf and freeze. You can defrost and toast individual…

By Pauline Burlinson, 63, from Clevedon Over the last few years, I’ve enjoyed many precious moments with my two grandkids from my son Jonathan, 40, and my daughter Andrea, 38. The kids love visiting their nana, and I’m so excited that, in February, my daughter-in-law Emma is due to give birth again. I don’t get out as much as I’d like, and having the kids round enjoy barbecues, and, as the days get colder, we play board games. I’ll often treat the kids to the latest toy, too. ‘You’re an over-indulgent grandma,’ my hubby Richard, 68, is always telling me. I’ve always enjoyed reading Chat magazine and completing the fantastic puzzles. And I’ve often read the stories about Chat Mag Bingo winners. So, one day about four years ago, I…

By Zoe Spink, 65, from Cleckheaton, Leeds As the cameras flashed, my identical twin sister Gay and I gave our best smiles. It was 1971. Aged 19, we’d just started modelling professionally. Growing up, we’d shared our toys, friends – now careers. We wore bikinis and £100,000 worth of diamonds! Our mum Betty, who’d been a beauty queen, had told us about all the fun she’d had. And Gay and I had decided we wanted a bit of the action. Our first job together was modelling clothes in Bradford department stores. Then we went on to do local fashion shows and catalogue shoots. In 1972, Gay sent a photo of me to the Miss TV Times comp. There was no rivalry between us, so she was thrilled when I won!…

By Dawn Searle, 60, Hastings It was January 1977 when I first met Stuart, then 24. I was 20, partying it up in a Hastings nightclub with friends. He took a shine to me, but I wasn’t bothered. Still, he got my number from a friend and called me the next day. I was flattered. Well, to an extent... I didn’t even fancy him! But Stuart made me laugh. I found out that he worked as a signalling operator on the railway – and loved it. ‘I’ve been collecting all things railway for years now, too!’ he laughed. See, aged 14, he found an old enamel sign behind his school, propping up an old coal storage box. ‘That’s what started my collection,’ he said. From then on, whenever a local…

Ellie marched straightupto the woman staring... It was just a routine check. We weren’t prepared for the bombshell… ‘Ellie has a form of dwarfism,’ the doctor said. Our daughter was only 10 months old at the time. Her condition hadn’t shown on pregnancy scans. And, when she was born in July 2003, she’d been a healthy 6lb 7oz. After further tests, Ellie was diagnosed with achondroplasia, a bone-growth disorder. One of the most common types of dwarfism, the condition is caused by a random genetic mutation. ‘It could happen to anyone,’ the doctor said. However, me and her dad, Stuart, now 71, were devastated, plagued with worries for our girl. Would her life always be hard? Would she be teased and bullied? ‘Why her?’ I sobbed to Stuart. And it…

The story in the paper made my blood run cold... My brother Trevor’s words chilled me to the bone. ‘I did it,’ he said. It was October 1975 and Trevor, then 30, had forced me to go for a pint with him and his girlfriend in a pub. Talk had turned to a murder that’d shocked the community. Local barmaid Wanda Skala, 17, had been found battered to death in July that year. ‘What do you mean?’ I stuttered. ‘I hit her with a brick,’ he said. Boasted. Trevor was eight years older then me. A violent career criminal, he’d been in and out of jail since he was 15. Before that, it was approved schools, borstals... I remember, as a boy, getting the bus with our mum to visit…

My scream echoed through the waiting room When Mark and I got together, I knew he was the guy for me. ‘I’ve always wanted to be a mum,’ I admitted. Mark already had two children from a previous relationship, and he’d had an irreversible vasectomy. But as we fell in love, we knew we wanted kids together. So, in 2003, about four years on, we visited a fertility specialist together. ‘Your best option is donor insemination,’ the specialist explained to us. So we selected a donor with similar characteristics to Mark and paid about £700. I was inseminated at Oxford Fertility. We were thrilled when I fell pregnant. The scans at six and eight weeks were fine, so I started thinking about buying a buggy and cot. Then, at my…

Falling in love can change your life. But not always for the better. Not if you fall for someone like Andrew Thomson, anyway… To begin with, Andrew, then 34, was confident, funny –a charmer. No-one had a bad word to say about him. I was a single mum, my daughter was just 2 months. But Andrew swept me off my feet and was great with my girl. But fast-forward a few months and he’d become possessive, controlling. By then it was too late. I was already under his spell. Andrew constantly wanted to know where I was – and he absolutely hated me being on Facebook. ‘I don’t want other men looking at your photos,’ he sulked. To please him, I deleted my account. After nine months, Andrew and I…

The V factor QI can't take the Pill because I've been diagnosed with factor V Leiden. What is it? Annette, 27 A About five per cent of people carry the gene which causes factor V Leiden. Your blood clots more easily, increasing the risk of a serious clot known as deep vein thrombosis (DVT), and more rarely multiple miscarriage. Avoiding the Pill and not smoking reduces the risk. Thumb pain Q Where my thumb joins my hand hurts. My GP has diagnosed osteoarthritis. Is there a cure? Clara, 55 A Arthritis of this joint is common, even when there's little or no sign of arthritis elsewhere. Anti-inflammatory painkiller gel, a splint or a steroid injection from a doctor can ease symptoms. Severe arthritis can mean an op to remove worn…

Credit cards are often seen as risky – it’s easy to overspend when you only have to flash it to buy stuff straight away. But I’m careful with money, so after years of doing without, I decided to get one. I found it very useful, and I was careful to settle the balance each month to make sure my credit score stayed healthy. I knew that would be important in the future if I wanted to borrow money or get a mortgage. What I hadn’t bargained for was fraudsters getting hold of my card details and using them to go on a £500 shopping spree at my expense! Looking back, I can’t believe I fell for their scam, but at the time it all seemed so realistic that I didn’t…

The route home from my parents’ was so familiar. I’d driven it countless times. On Friday 4 August last year, heading along the roads I knew so well, I reached Agden Park Lane in Lymm. I turned the corner to see a van careering towards me. It was going so fast it was literally on two wheels. It clipped the car in front of me, then headed towards mine. Desperate, I tried to turn the wheel... I’m going to die! I panicked. Then there was an almighty bang as the van smashed into the front driver’s side wing of my Nissan Torrance. The airbags inflated and I was hurled around as my car ricocheted along the road and on to the verge. Eventually, it stopped. I felt blood trickling from…

By Takita Morgan, 20, from North Curry, Somerset When I met Shane in June 2015, I knew we’d get together. I was living with my sister Tammy, 22. Shane, 24, was her mate. We hit it off, started dating. When I got my own place in September 2015, Shane would stay over. We told each other everything. Or so I thought... In late 2015, I found something among his things. A tiny plastic bracelet with a little girl’s name on. ‘What’s this?’ I asked. Shane’s face dropped, tears in his eyes. ‘I brought up a baby I thought was mine for six months. Then I found out I wasn’t the father,’ he said. Heartbreaking. ‘I’m sorry,’ I replied, taking his hand. I couldn't believe he’d been through this and not told…

Beautiful boys The story of Louise Johnson's twin boys Thomas and Jacob - who has Down's syndrome - was so lovely (issue 47, 23 Nov 2017). Parenting a child with Down's syndrome has its challenges, but many adults with the condition live independently with limited support from relatives or the state - and some live entirely independently. Jacob and Thomas are beautiful boys, and have an amazing mum. I wish them every happiness in the future. Amelie Barnes, St Asaph, Denbighshire WE PAY CASH Choco-laugh My sister Jennifer and her family enjoyed their trip to Cadbury World, but she thought it was too crowded. ‘Yes’ said her hubby Jamie. ‘It was choc-a-block!’ Seren Roberts, Llanarmon-Yn-Lâl Missing the point ressed in her new outfit, D my mum looked lovely for her…

As the summer of 1967 gave way to autumn, it wasn’t just the colder weather that was sending chills down people’s spines in Rosenheim, Germany. Something dark and disruptive had descended upon the Bavarian district. Specifically, the offices of the respected lawyer Dr Sigmund Adam. The legal practice began to receive mysterious phone calls, with nobody at the other end of the line. Employees were also irritated by their telephones constantly cutting out in the middle of important calls. Thinking that the office phones were just malfunctioning, Dr Adam had them all replaced. But, soon, things got worse. Looking at the phone bill, Dr Adam was astounded to find that he was being charged for repeated calls made to a speaking clock service. Within one period of 15 minutes, 46…

Aries 21 March - 20 April Someone at work has a proposition for you. It sounds good - and it is. But it’s also a lot bigger than it looks, and it could change your life. If that’s what you want, go for it. But think it through well first! Call 0905 817 0690* for more Taurus 21 April - 21 May You’ll be needing tissues this week - but the tears will be of joy and relief, not despair. Whatever you’ve been through, you can put it behind you and move on. You’ve got the best result you could’ve hoped for. Call 0905 817 0691* for more Gemini 22 May - 21 June How good are your powers of persuasion? You’ve spotted an unmissable opportunity, but you can’t afford…

I went to his funeral, hoped that it’d bring closure The evidence against my brother Trevor was overwhelming. So, halfway through his trial, he fired his lawyers to defend himself. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility. He tried to persuade the jury that he was mad. That he needed help, not punishment. They didn’t buy it. My brother was found guilty of all three murders. Finally, he’d pay. Trevor tried to claim that he hadn’t meant to murder any of the girls. He said he’d mistaken Lesley for a schoolgirl who’d broken his heart. Had killed Sharon and Wanda in muggings gone wrong. Absolute nonsense, in my opinion. Trevor was plain evil. The papers nicknamed him the Beast of Manchester. I watched him get sentenced. Life…

Starving, I tore open a packet of crisps for dinner and decided on a chocolate bar for dessert. If there’s any left, I thought to myself. It was a regular occurrence for my two brothers and I – we were in charge of feeding ourselves most nights. I was only 11, but with our dad gone and Mum suffering depression, we had to fend for ourselves. Mum regularly had bad days, spent a lot of time in bed. It was a sad time. My comfort was food. If it wasn’t crisps, it was chips or chocolate. I was already a size-14. But I quickly gained weight and, by 16, I was 17st. ‘Here comes fatty,’ school bullies taunted. I knew I was bigger than my friends, but hated being teased.…

Being different is hard. My Felix, 15, knows that. He suffers from Tourette’s syndrome. It’s a neurological condition which causes involuntary noises and movements called tics. It started when Felix was 5. I noticed he kept rolling his eyes. He’d also jerk his shoulders and roll his tongue. And he kept gurning too. I thought he was being silly. But when it didn’t let up, I took him to see our GP. ‘It’s normal for little boys to have twitches like this,’ he said. I thought Felix would grow out of it. But then he began twitching from the middle of his body. It was as though he was convulsing. We went back to the doctor. But like before, he reassured us Felix was fine. Me and my husband Tim…

Bringing up five children is tough. With three sons and two daughters, you never get any peace! Luckily, I had the support of my husband James, now 41. I thought I’d seen it all. Then, when my youngest Callum turned 6, it was a different experience entirely. Until then, he was a typical boy. But then we noticed him choosing girls’ toys, dressing in his sisters’ frocks and trying on my lippy. I thought it was just a phase when he went to primary school and didn’t want to be friends with the boys. He’ll grow out of it, I thought. But he didn’t. Starting secondary school, he hated the boyish uniform, wanted to dress like his sisters. ‘Maybe he’s gay,’ I said to James one night – we were…

UNEXPECTED CALLS Q A genuine bank or organisation will never contact you out of the blue to ask for your PIN, full password or to move money to another account. Only give out personal or financial details to use a service that you're expecting to contact you, that you've given your consent to, and you trust. DOESN'T FEEL RIGHT? Q If you feel suspicious or uncomfortable, trust your instinct. Take five to say, ‘My money? My info? I don’t think so!' And resist being rushed into making speedy financial decisions. PHONE NUMBER SCAM Q Scammers can make any number appear on your phone handset, or make an email look as if it's from an existing thread. Don't think this proves it's genuine. DON'T CLICK ON LINKS Q Be wary of…

By Beth O’Neill, 63, from Newtownabbey When I first met Sasha, she was a scrawny little thing. It was 1991 and I was visiting local stables when I spotted her. The little mite had been abandoned and had seen better days. But her tortoiseshell coat was still beautiful. Scooping her up, I took her straight to the vet. ‘Poor thing has broken ribs,’ he said, examining her. Someone had abused her and left her at the stables. She was so small, I thought she be must be just a kitten. ‘She’s around 5 years old,’ the vet said. Wow! She really had been badly looked after. Well, not any more... Naming her Sasha, I took her home. My girls, Emma, then 7, Michelle, 14, and Stephanie, 15, fell in love…

Serves 2 Prep: 10 min Cook: 15 min Cost per serving: 95p 1 Preheat the oven to Gas 6/200C. Place 2 chicken breasts between two sheets of clingfilm and bash with the side of a rolling pin until flattened. Then season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. 2 For the coating, tip a handful of plain flour onto a plate, a beaten egg onto another plate, then mix 10 rye or rice cakes, ground in the food processor (we used Ryvita Rye Cakes), and 10g grated Parmesan together and tip this onto another plate. 3 Dust each chicken breast in flour, then pass it through the egg to coat each side, then cover completely with the ground rye cake mixture. Cook each breast for about 5 min on…

Chip-ped cup My daughter Elsie loves her little Chip cup from Beauty and the Beast . Don't worry, there was no hot tea in it! Debbie Watson, Pelaw, Gateshead Hungry girl ‘Where's my dinner?' Didn't my daughter Eliza look cute at just 4 months old? Joanne Thompson, Edlington, Doncaster Here’s Chase!  My son Rueben-Lee, 1, is Paw Patrol mad! He was over the moon when he got to dress up as Chase. Nicole Ogden-Campbell, Bridlington…

CAFFEINE THIEF! A macaque in Thailand passed out after jumping on a tourist's motorbike and drinking their coffee. Thankfully, the cheeky monkey was given emergency aid and finally came round at 3am the next morning. We just wish it'd been a capuchin-o! KISS OF DEATH  ritish fisherman Sam B Quilliam almost choked to death when the Dover sole he was trying to kiss literally jumped down his throat! The angler turned blue as his mates performed CPR to keep him alive until paramedic Matt Harrison, left, stepped in. Now fully recovered, Sam hasn't ruled out kissing more fish. Gulp! BRR-ILLIANT! If you've never seen the Northern Lights, then this is different way to view them - immersed in freezing-cold water... Travel company Off The Map is offering an experience in…