Table of contents for 21 September 2023 in Chat

I ‘reely’ love this pic of my son Kailan, 12, having fun fishing! Shelley Barrett, Sheffield We pay £25 for any photos that we use on Chat To Us! Get in touch! EMAIL chat_magazine@futurenet.com POST Chat, 121-141 Westbourne Terrace, London W2 6JR Find us online at facebook.com/ChatMagazine…

What do actors Salma Hayek and Pedro Pascal have in common? To find out, solve the crossword then read down the shaded squares to find the seven-word prize answer. WIN £1,001 Puzzle 4 ACROSS 1 Thick sweet liquid (5) 4 Applaud (4) 6 Period just after sunset (8) 13 The 10th month (7) 14 Pickled cucumber (7) 15 Edible fish (5) 16 Group of three (4) 17 60 seconds (6) 18 Isambard Kingdom _ (6) 20 Talk excitedly (4) 21 Wrote down (5) 22 Mythical king (6) 25 Abruptly (8) 28 Garden tool (6) 30 Blusher (5) 32 Charming quality (8) 34 Mother or father (6) 35 Corrode (4) 38 Cricket official (6) 39 Writing material (5) 40 Mariner (6) 43 French cheese (4) 44 Meal (6) 45 Borough of New York (8) 48 Very strong metal (5) 49 Trial, challenge (6) 51 West Yorkshire city (8) 54 Take for granted (6) 55 Light purple colour (5) 56 Abominable…

Q I caught some of my boyfriend’s semen in my eye and it stung – could I go blind? Becca, Chatham A The idea that semen in your eye can lead to blindness seems common, but it’s largely a myth. Semen is salty and will irritate and inflame your eye, but simply washing it out with water should clear your symptoms within hours. The danger comes from catching a sexually transmitted infection. The fear of blindness probably comes from the risk of catching gonorrhoea, which can lead to a nasty eye infection and blindness if it’s not properly treated. Sexual infections, such as chlamydia and genital herpes, could damage your eye too, and others, including syphilis and HIV, could possibly enter through your eye. If your partner has symptoms, such…

When I saw my mum’s name flash on my phone, I dashed to the corridor. It was November 2021 and I was away at a two-day conference for my job as a vet. My mum Helen, then 68, and dad Jay, then 58, were always calling me about their dogs Flash, Fly, Storm and Lily, who were all whippet crosses. Some ailment or a query about their diet. I quickly answered the phone, but was surprised when Mum said it was Dad, not the dogs, who was poorly. ‘He’s really struggling with his breathing and has gone to A&E,’ she said. Dad, a builder and proud Yorkshireman, had low-grade chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). But he’d been under the care of a doctor and it never stopped him working. He…

Which animal appears on the coats of arms of the municipalities of Hirvensalmi and Mantsala in Finland? Solve the crossword, then read down the shaded squares to find the prize puzzle answer. ACROSS 1 Picture holder (5) 4 Flying saucer (1,1,1) 6 Organ of smell (4) 7 Ribbon-like fish (3) DOWN 1 Located (5) 2 Entertain (5) 3 Sense of self (3) 5 Price for work (3) WIN 4 × £20 Puzzle 13 Your answer: TO ENTER Turn to page 56 for details or visit comps.lifedeathprizes.com/puzzles…

I miss our arguments Q I can’t stop thinking about my ex, even though I have a new partner and we have a great life together. But it’s a little boring. All I wanted was a nice house, a good partner and a cute dog. But now I’ve got it, I miss my ex and our fiery rows. I know we were terrible for each other but it all seemed so romantic and passionate. Emma, 33 A Do you really miss all those arguments if you think back to how you felt afterwards? I bet it wasn’t as romantic as you remember. I reckon the real issue is that you’re underwhelmed with your new partner. Is he really the bloke for you? If he’s not then let him go, he…

KNICKS FOR KICKS If your laundry basket is overflowing, don’t rush to stick your unmentionables in the washing machine – turn those worn shreddies into readies! Incredibly, there are folk out there who love nothing more than spending their hard-earned cash on a pair of a stranger’s knickers. And they don’t want them freshly cleaned – in fact, the grubbier the better. So, wear your pants all day, then photograph them and post them online at a specialist website. Getting paid for sitting on your behind. That’s not to be sniffed at! MONEYMAKER £15 a pair DODDLE FACTOR 8/10 TEXT ADDICT Always on your phone? Prefer sending messages to chatting? Then why not get paid to send text messages to strangers? As long as you don’t mind talking about your…

15-21 September 2023 Aries 21 March-20 April The North Node stationing direct for a couple of days from 17 September encourages you to follow up on an idea you’ve had on the back-burner. Go for it! ● Call 0905 817 0690* for more Taurus 21 April-21 May With Mercury moving forward in fellow earth sign Virgo, it’s a good time to make a practical plan for a vital work project. Focus on service to create success. ● Call 0905 817 0691* for more Gemini 22 May-21 June Your mind can take you in a positive direction or spiral downwards. Stay focused on what’s working well in your life and on what you are most grateful for. ● Call 0905 817 0692* for more Cancer 22 June-23 July Being sensitive, you…

Q I have some sun spots after my holiday – how do I get rid of them? Andrea Lloyd, Swindon A Pigmentation normally appears after exposure to the sun, but it can also happen because of pollution or other forms of skin damage. It’s quite hard to fully reverse age spots, but you can improve how they look with the help of an exfoliating acid. These can fade the spots over time, but be patient, it can take a week or two to show a real difference. Apply The Ordinary Glycolic Acid 7% Toning Solution, £11.50, Boots, to a cotton pad and sweep over your skin after cleansing. Using a vitamin C serum daily will also help improve pigmentation while preventing more from forming. We love Q+A Vitamin C Brightening…

Sweet treats or savoury snacks? I’m definitely a savoury snack gal, especially crisps. I love the crunchiness of any crisps, but my favourites are cheese and onion. Your go-to karaoke song? It’s got to be Black Velvet by Alannah Myles – some classic 1980s rock. I love singing, so I’m always first in line for a singalong! Tell us your favourite thing about yourself My best quality is definitely my ability to empathise with other people, and I try to spread kindness wherever I go. I also love my quirky taste, particularly my fascination with everything and anything Alice in Wonderland themed. I love going down the rabbit hole! What did you last binge watch? Coronation Street – I love all the drama. I recently went on holiday to Austria…

Which 1965 Andy Warhol film was loosely based on the novel A Clockwork Orange? The number next to the clue tells you which line the answer’s in. We’ve put a section in to start you off! There may be two Across answers in one line. Down words fill themselves in. The shaded squares spell out the one-word prize answer. WIN £100 Puzzle 2 2 Relating to the medieval knights’ code 4 Devious • Low-value coin 6 Take an educational course • Dark, salty sauce of Asian cuisine 8 Relating to the sense of smell Your answer:…

YOU’RE THE JUDGE! Sitting in his car, James Blue III, 43, chatted on the phone to his eldest son. It was 25 January 2022 and he was waiting outside a house he and his wife Lekeshia were renovating on Walker Avenue in Baltimore, Maryland. Expecting delivery men to arrive any moment with a new fridge for the investment property, he kept his eye out for them. Only, as he talked to his son, who was away at uni, a young man approached his Honda Accord. Seeing James’ window cracked open, the lad called out to him. On the other end of the phone, James’ son heard shouting, his dad and the boy arguing. Then… gunshots. When he had no reply from his dad, he scrambled to call his mum –…

Aroused at the gym Q Working out in the gym, I suddenly had an orgasm! Is that normal? I wasn’t even thinking sexy thoughts. Hannah, Milton Keynes A One study found that 9% of women orgasmed during exercise, although most of them keep quiet about it. Exercise orgasms are more common in women than men and occur during core exercises that involve your pelvic-floor muscles, such as sit-ups, squats and thrusts. Increased blood flow to your pelvis, squeezing and rubbing of your vagina and clitoris, together with the release during exercise of brain chemicals such as endorphins and serotonin, all combine to stimulate nerves in your pelvis and fool your brain into an orgasm -even when your thoughts are firmly elsewhere! Some women deliberately seek out exercise orgasms, but if…

Singing his heart out, my little boy Rio shimmied across the living room. We were watching his favourite film, Sing. And Rio, then 3, knew all the words! ‘I’m still standing!’ he crooned to the Elton John cover sung by pianoplaying gorilla Johnny. Rio was always singing and dancing, with his little brother Rudy, 1, watching on. Only, in April 2022, he was quieter than usual. ‘My tummy hurts, Mummy,’ he moaned. Pressing his belly gently, I could feel a small lump. ‘It’s probably just constipation,’ the GP said that afternoon. But the next day, Rio started vomiting. A bright green bile. Panicking, my husband Tom, then 34, and I called a relative to look after Rudy while we took Rio to A&E at Royal Blackburn Hospital. ‘There’s an obstruction…

Q My mum lives abroad but is coming back to visit and will be staying with me – and I can’t help but feel anxious. I haven’t lived with her since I was a teenager and we never got on very well. I don’t want to revert back to stomping around and slamming doors, but I know we’re likely to butt heads. How do I make her feel welcome but establish boundaries? Sam, 28 A Remember you’re both adults, sweetheart, and talk to her about it. Discuss how it was when you were a teenager, and let her know that you don’t want it to be like that again. If she says something that makes you cross, take a deep breath before you answer. Don’t criticise her or make her…

After a problemfree pregnancy, Brooke Atkins, 34, was excited about meeting her unborn son. Brooke and her partner Kewene, 28, from Queensland, Australia, already had a toddler daughter Armani, now 3. They couldn’t wait to become a family of four. ‘My pregnancy with Kinglsey was even better than my pregnancy with Armani,’ says Brooke. ‘There was nothing to alert us that anything was wrong – it was smooth sailing right up until we had him.’ But once Kingsley arrived, the couple were worried. ‘The moment he was born they knew it was a birthmark, but we didn’t know what type yet. ‘We got the confirmation that day that it was a port-wine stain birthmark, then later on we found out about the Sturge-Weber syndrome,’ she says. Sturge-Weber syndrome is a…

Leek, asparagus and pea spirals This quick, and healthy, green pasta will be ready in just 15 mins! SERVES 2 PREP 5 MINS COOK 10 MINS ● 150g pasta spirals ● 1 small leek, trimmed and sliced ● 6 asparagus spears, cut into chunks ● 60g frozen peas ● 100g shredded spring greens ● 2tbsp basil pesto ● Grated Parmesan, to serve 1 Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling water for 8 mins. Add the leek, asparagus, peas and spring greens and cook for a further 2 mins, until the pasta and vegetables are just tender. Drain, reserving a little of the cooking water. 2 Put the pasta and veg back in the pan, then stir in the pesto and a good splash of the reserved cooking water.…

Tearing across the grass, my ponytail streaming in the wind, I ran for it. ‘Quick!’ yelled my mate, as we fled from school. It was 2005 and until recently I’d been a well behaved kid, never naughty or late. But then I’d started secondary school and become the target of merciless bullies, taunting me for my puppy fat. By 13, I couldn’t take any more. Some days – like today -I’d go in for registration in the morning before escaping across the school field with a mate. For a few months it was fun, hanging around Huddersfield with nobody noticing I was truant. Until one morning in 2005 when I should’ve been in school, I waited for the bus and three men came over. ‘Fancy a cig?’ one asked. I…

PS… Watermelon Lip Scrub, £1.50, Primark The move into autumn always has one downside (as well as the lack of sunshine) – chapped lips. The change in weather combined with central heating can cause your lips to dry out, so use a rich balm every night to keep them nourished. Using a scrub like this fruity buy is also key – it’ll buff away dead skin and prep your pout for lipstick. 17. Ink Legend Tattoo Eyeliner in Blue, £4.50, Boots Black eyeliner can look more harsh as we get older – try a more forgiving navy, which will look especially gorgeous with hazel eyes. This one provides truly impressive staying power and is under a fiver. The brush is very fine, so it’s easy to create everything from intricate…

On 4 August 2020, the city of Aalst in Belgium was left stunned. At 8.30am that morning, Jurgen Demesmaeker, then 49, a local estate agent, went to a police station. There, he confessed to officers that he’d killed his girlfriend Ilse by hitting her over the head with a hammer. Jurgen had started dating Ilse Uyttersprot, 53, earlier that year. The mum-of-two was a respected councillor in Aalst and had been the city’s mayor between 2007 and 2012. When police arrived at Jurgen’s place, they found her lifeless body. She’d been fast asleep when her boyfriend launched his brutal attack. A post-mortem revealed Ilse’s death was caused by severe head trauma. He’d landed at least half-a-dozen blows to her head with a hammer. No one could understand why he’d done…

Dear Chris, Remember our first date? As we giggled over a bottle of wine in a sunny beer garden in July 2020, it was the first of many. We shared a sense of humour, a love of 70s tunes. As a foodie, you enjoyed taking me to restaurants. Only, by autumn you’d lost your appetite and kept being sick. ‘It’s a Crohn’s flare-up,’ you said. You’d been diagnosed with the bowel disease at 17. But that November – on your 40th birthday – when you sent me a selfie looking pale in a hospital gown, I felt a chill of fear. You’d been admitted with agonising stomach pains, and although you were allowed home, your symptoms worsened. April 2021 brought crushing news. ‘It’s advanced grade 3 bowel cancer,’ a consultant…

TRUE-LIFE Singing Fleetwood Mac’s Dreams into the mic, I smiled over at my partner Justin, then 39, as he strummed his guitar. ‘You say you want your freedom,’ I crooned on stage at our local pub. Me and Justin had always been musical. I’d been 16 when we met, working at the pizza restaurant where he was manager, then 19. We both loved rock ’n’ roll – those early days were full of music, laughter and love. After our daughter Hannah came along in 1996, followed by our son Jack 16 months later, life got busy. Justin and I became ships in the night as he cared for his terminally ill dad, and I raised the kids while holding down a teaching job. When I did see him, he was…

Enheduanna, an Akkadian priestess and princess who lived about 4,300 years ago, is considered the first member of what profession whose name is known? To find out, solve the puzzle… The three answers in this puzzle read the same across and down. The clues are given, but not in the right order. Read down the shaded squares to spell the prize answer. WIN 5x £20 Puzzle 3 CARD GAME PORTABLE LAMP WAREHOUSE Your answer: TO ENTER Turn to page 56 for details or visit comps.lifedeathprizes.com/puzzles…

TOPS STYLE TIP Keep it simple and team your top with neutral-coloured trousers or jeans so that the bold print takes centre stage. SKIRTS STYLE TIP Mix different textures to add depth and interest to your outfit. Pair a silky skirt with a chunky knit or leather jacket. SHOES STYLE TIP If you’re feeling adventurous, try mixing in animal print with another pattern, such as stripes, polka dots or florals. FROM £12.50 DRESSES STYLE TIP For a more polished look, layer a smart tailored blazer over your dress. This instantly adds sophistication and structure.…

Akitsushima, one of the classical names for Japan, is thought to derive from what animals and their association with the legendary Emperor Jimmu? To find out, solve the puzzle… Add a letter anywhere in each of the boxed-off words to fit the clue, eg, Imbibe = RINK + D = DRINK. Write the added letter in the space provided. Read down the added letters to spell out the prize answer. WIN 2 × £25 Puzzle 9 Your answer: TO ENTER Turn to page 56 for details or visit comps.lifedeathprizes.com/puzzles…

The Bell End's here A not-very-neighbourly row broke out among residents of Bell End street when a campaign was launched to change the name – apparently it made them a ‘laughing stock’! It was saved following a counter petition to keep the ‘historic’ name. Location: Rowley Regis, West Midlands Fun fact: There’s also the village of Bell End in Worcestershire and a Bell End road in Wollaston, Northamptonshire Muff said The Irish village of Muff is home to the Muff Festival, held every August. Scuba enthusiasts can also don wetsuits and snorkels and join the official Muff Diving Club. Oo-er! Population: Around 1,250 Location: County Donegal, Ireland Fun fact: Home to The Muff Liquor Company, a brand of spirits that boasts Russell Crowe, Ed Sheeran and Ronan Keating among its…

Q I started a new job, which I love, only I’m now making more money than my boyfriend. He keeps saying I should be paying for everything as I earn more. But footing the bill for everything we do together seems a bit much – I never made him do this when I earned less than him. I can tell he’s insecure about it, but how patient should I be? Lydia, 39 A First of all, congratulations on your new job, pet! Is there a chance that your fella is teasing you when he says you have to pay for everything? If he’s not, that’s pathetic. It’s not the 1950s, and men don’t have to bring home the bacon. If he carries on this way then it could be time…

3 ways to… rent your stuff for £££* 1 What do you have stashed? You can rent out all sorts of gear you may have at home – such as a barbecue, lawnmower or sewing machine – to people in your area by listing items on the website fatllama.com. So why not see if you can make some money from things you’d normally have sitting around unused? Just make sure you read the T&Cs carefully to ensure you’re happy first. You’ll find details of fees there too. 2 Get paid for parking Could you bag some extra cash by renting out your parking space on a website like justpark.com?** Your potential earnings will depend on the demand for parking spots in your area – people living in cities and near…

Catrice Sun Glow 6 Colour Eye & Cheek Make-Up Palette, £8.99, justmylook.com For under £10, you get a blusher, a bronzer and four wearable eyeshadow shades – it’s a brilliant way of updating your make-up kit with just one buy. L'Oréal Paris Infallible 24H Brow Filling Triangular Pencil, £8.99, Boots Fill in sparse brows and get a bolder shape with this clever new pencil – its triangular shape means you can apply lightly with one of the corners, or thicker with one of the edges. E.l.f. Putty Color-Correcting Eye Brightener, £6, elfcosmetics.co.uk If you have dark circles, concealer can help, but a colour corrector will do a better job. This has a slightly peachy tone, which counteracts blues and purples to cheat bright, well-rested peepers. Pantene Perfect Volume Hairspray, £5.25,…

Chat winners issue 25 (22 June 2023) £1,001 CASH S Lees, Driffield £500 CASH K Driscoll, Penarth E Brosnan, Torquay £250 CASH C Tomlinson, Bradford D Welsh, Loughborough £200 CASH J Edwards, Fleetwood £100 CASH N Luff, Spalding J Bryan, Kettering S Mallinson, Norwich £75 CASH K Owen, Telford £50 CASH C McGarry, Prescot S Jenkinson, Waterlooville L Bamforth, Taunton K Williams, Cardiff I Baig, Luton J Trigg, Ipswich £40 CASH F Scott, Torquay £30 CASH G Ngube, Swansea P Butler, Horncastle Anyone from your town in the list this week..? £25 CASH C Price, Cardiff J Shea, Eastleigh £20 CASH P Meakin, Manchester B Rowlings, Romsey A Hall, Bradford S Minnice, Oldham H Wilson, Stoke-on-Trent J Humphrey, Didcot H Eason, Alfreton S Blake, Portsmouth A Dennis, Haverhill M Dilks,…