Table of contents for October 22, 2015 in Chat

As I played out in the street with my little brother, an older boy smiled at me. 'Hiya, Hayley,’ he said. I hadn’t lived on the street long, but I knew Jason Woodhall’s face. He was 18 and I was 9. All the kids looked up to him. Mum knew his family and had babysat for him when he was little. 'You’re very pretty,’ Jason said that day. I blushed, feeling grown-up. Whenever I went out to play, Jason was always nearby. One afternoon, he gently took hold of my hand. 'You’re very special,’ he said. Everyone thought Jason was so cool, but he’d chosen me. So lucky. Next time I saw him, he led me to his back garden and kissed me. I froze, not knowing what to do.…

I’ve never liked being a patient. Which is why I hadn’t seen a doctor in donkey’s years. But, in May this year, I found myself sitting across a desk from a consultant, about to get personal. 'You should’ve come to see me years ago,’ he said. 'I know,’ I gulped. 'It’s been up there 15 years.’ See, a couple of days before, I’d forced myself to see a GP in Limassol, Cyprus. My husband and I had moved there back in 2005. We’d come to the sunshine island for a change of pace. Things between us hadn’t worked out. We’d split up and he’d gone back to the UK. But, by then, I’d been bitten by the Cyprus bug. Only, five years before we’d moved, I’d had a Mirena contraceptive…

MY CUTE BABY PIC Sneak preview - is this what my 5-month-old daughter Megan will look like with front teeth?! Shelley Fielder, Portsmouth Strike apose I only asked my son Jacob, 4, if I could take a picture of his new trainers – he’s obviously a model in the making! Stacey Greenwood Bullock, Wakefield Going dental… They grow up so fast! I turned around and my Alfie, 3, already had all his teeth (it’s a lollipop, really)! Emma Williams, St Annes, Lancs Dress to impress? Hmm… seems my daughter, Morgan, 2, hasn't quite got the hang of underwear yet! Stacy Gibson, Evesham Team chuckle What's so funny? Here's my 10-month-old twins Eadie and Felix having a right old giggle. Shelly Wenn, King’s Lynn Zoom zoom! All we wanted was a…

With our three kids, me and my hubby, Gurcan, 37, certainly had our hands full. Yaren, 10, Kutay, 8, and Kaya, 3, kept us on our toes. But when I found out I was pregnant again last year, we were thrilled. 'This baby will complete our family,’ we agreed. Though, at my seven-week scan, we were in for a surprise… 'It’s twins,’ the sonographer told us. Stunned, Gurcan and I couldn’t believe it. My brother had 4-year-old twins, but we hadn’t thought it’d happen to us. 'There are two babies in Mummy’s tummy,’ I told the kids. They were so excited, couldn’t wait for the new arrivals. Then, weeks later, at my 12-week scan… 'There’s another baby,’ the sonographer confirmed. Triplets! 'We’ll have enough kids for a mini football team,’…

Morrisons Minced Beef & Onion, 400g, £1.29 A great texture with coarse ground mince and lots of gravy. This would make an excellent base for a shepherd's pie. Just load it up with some mash! Sainsbury's Minced Beef & Onion, 400g, £1.50 This has a really good beef flavour, but with a very fine minced consistency. We'd add some chunky veg to it and serve it up as a filling for baked potatoes. Princes Minced Beef With Onions In A Rich Gravy, 392g, £1.49 With a good texture, lots of gravy and a nice meat and onion flavour, this ticks all the boxes. If you really can't be bothered to cook from scratch, this is a tasty substitute. Oykos Luxury Greek Style yogurt in Devilishly Delicious Salted Caramel, £2.39 for…

Flopping on to the sofa after a long day in the office, I poured myself a large glass of white wine and opened a bar of chocolate. Bliss! I thought to myself, as I tucked in. This wasn’t a treat, though. I did this most nights – alongside eating massive portions of lasagne and garlic bread for dinner. Little wonder, then, my frumpy frame was squeezed into a size-18. Growing up, I’d always been active, so I didn’t have any problems with my weight. And when I met my hubby, Sean, 39, in 2007, I’d been a slender size-12. I’d bounced back after having my first, Charlie, in 2002, but the weight started to pile on after I had my daughter, Sophia. Working in a new office job, I spent…

Hubby’s very fishy story Q My grumpy husband, 42, always relaxed by fishing on Sundays. I was grateful and enjoyed the space. But lately, he joined up with two divorced mates and bought a boat. They sail offshore at weekends and sleep onboard. He comes home in a weirdly great mood and I'm suspicious. The other guys are women-chasers. Could the fishing trips be a cover-up for an affair? Maggie, 50 A Why ask me, not him? Scared he'll admit infidelity? Would losing him really be a massive loss? You two are well adrift. You relish time without him. He can't wait to go off. Join them one weekend. His reaction could well tell you all you need to know. Then review your marriage carefully. Could be time you looked…

In England and Wales there are currently more than 50 inmates who’ll never taste freedom again. For them, life means life. Serial killers, murderers and psychopaths too dangerous to walk the streets. Given whole-life orders and locked up in high-security prisons or, in some cases, high-security psychiatric hospitals. You’ll have heard of some, their crimes etched on people’s minds decades after the cell door banged shut. Peter Sutcliffe The Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe, murdered 13 women and attempted to kill seven others. During his five-year killing spree in the late 1970s, he used a hammer, knives and a screwdriver to brutally murder women across the north of England. In 1981, he began 20 life sentences and has been in Broadmoor Hospital since 1984. Arthur Hutchinson In 1983, Arthur Hutchinson, now…

Libra 24 Sep - 23 Oct When something difficult pops up, it’s never a good idea to just ignore it in the hope that it’ll somehow just go away. It never does. This particular problem is one you’ve met before, so you should know what to do. Get someone else to help, if necessary, but make sure you get it sorted. It’s the only way. • Call 0905 817 0696* for more Scorpio 24 Oct - 22 Nov So much is on offer just now that it’s hard to know what to go for - and you’re worried that if you don’t make a decision, you’ll miss your chance and end up with nothing. The answer is simply to look at it the other way round. Every choice is good,…

1 Preheat oven to 200C/Gas 6. 2 Peel and cut a butternut squash into cubes and place in a roasting tin, along with 16 peeled shallots. 3 Sprinkle with 1tbsp olive oil, and cook for 30-40 min until softened and beginning to brown. 4 Stir in a 145g jar of ready-made pesto, and return to oven to heat through for a few min. 5 Meanwhile, heat a pack of ready-to-eat puy lentils, following pack instructions, and serve with roasted veg piled on top. Serves: 4 Cost per head: £1.31 www.ukshallot.com LIFE! DEATH! PRIZES! Love a bargain? We’ve got loads! Visit www.lifedeathprizes.com/ bargainoftheday…

It's a website where savvy shoppers earn millions by getting cashback and using voucher codes and money-off coupons when they shop online. Once you've signed up at www. quidco.com , you'll get your own Quidco account - then as you shop, your account will be topped up with real money, which you can choose to go directly into your own bank or PayPal account. How does cashback work? Rather than going straight to a retailer, if you find a link to its website via Quidco, you'll get cashback when you shop. One recent offer at Quidco was £100 cashback on an iPhone! Twice as nice! There are also lots of voucher codes but, with Quidco, most of them also come with cashback amounts on top,…

Strolling into the room, it’s just a matter of time before he notices me. He starts staring at me with his chocolate-brown eyes, blowing me kisses… But my flirty admirer, Ramon, isn’t a bloke. Well, not a human one, anyway… He’s a 10st orang-utan who lives in Blackpool Zoo! I was first noticed by Ramon, who is 16 years old, in September last year. I’m a nature photographer and going to the zoo to take snaps of the animals gives me some respite from ME – a chronic illness which leaves me exhausted, in pain and often bedbound. My fella Andrew Ingledow, 22, and I try to go there a couple of times a month. The zoo uses my pictures for some of its promotional materials, so I like to…

Hysterectomy fear Q I suffer terrible heavy, painful periods and my gynaecologist has diagnosed adenomyosis. I'm scared it'll mean an op to remove my womb. Flavia, 38 A Adenomyosis affects about 15 per cent of women, and means that fragments of womb lining have burrowed into the muscle of your womb. A hysterectomy to remove your womb is one option, but hormone therapy through injections, pills or a contraceptive coil also works well. Shoulder joint Q My shoulder keeps coming out of its joint. My GP wants me to see a specialist, but I'm terrified it'll mean an op. Jane, 44 A Damage to the muscles and ligaments around your shoulder can weaken it and lead to dislocations. See the specialist, as physio might do the trick. Otherwise, an op…

I woke up smiling, heart fluttering in my chest. I ve met someone, I thought. Excitedly firing up my laptop, I spotted a new message from Amit Chawla. Morning beautiful, he’d written. Swoon! I’d been single for years. In my early 20s, I’d been beaten up by a gang in a random attack. Police never caught them, and it left me scared to go out. I also suffered Triple X syndrome – I was born with an extra chromosome that causes short-term memory loss, dyslexia and weak muscles. By the time I was 31, I felt isolated and lonely. So I joined the social networking site tagged.com hoping to meet someone. And in September 2012, I got chatting to Amit, then 26. He seemed genuine and sweet. And flicking through…

Penpals for more than 20 years, I hadn’t seen Laura for 10. So we decided to meet for a long-overdue catch-up. Where to stay? After a smooth, two-hour flight with Monarch from London Luton, I landed in Fiumicino airport. The end of September, a balmy 30 degrees and the main tourist season over, it was perfect. With a week together, we planned to spend a few days lapping up the culture in Rome, before heading to nearby Sperlonga for some beach time. We booked central apartments through AirBnB for both legs of our trip. What to do? From the Colosseum and Pantheon, to the Trevi Fountain and Spanish Steps, we blitzed Rome! And with the hop-on-hop-off tourist bus it was easy. Having gawped at the Colosseum in hit flick Gladiator…

Emmerdale Killer Cain? Cain comes up with a plan to save Aaron and asks Adam to help him kill Robert and frame Chrissie for it. Can Zak talk Cain out of it? Ross returns to the village, and Bernice and Lawrence’s engagement do is a disaster… EastEnders Kathy comes clean! A guilty Kathy confesses to Ian about Gavin and her plan, then goes to the police... Denise clashes with Roxy after learning Ronnie was Vincent’s mystery woman. Pam reels from her discovery - can she stand by Les? Hollyoaks Scared to death? Freddie, Jason and Robbie are in mortal danger after being chased by Trevor, who later discovers Grace is working to destroy him. The Gloved Hand strikes again, but this time makes a fatal mistake, and we discover the…

Watching my eldest son sprinting across the football pitch, I felt a rush of pride. 'Well done, Reiss!’ I shouted and cheered as he slotted a goal into the back of the net. He was only a little boy, but already a brilliant sportsman. Typical proud parents, maybe. But my husband, Rob, now 45, and I had an extra-special reason to be chuffed with our lad. Because, when he was born, in November 2004, Reiss was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. An inherited, complex disease, it affects different organs. Worse, it’s life-shortening and there’s no cure. We had no idea I was a carrier until my 20-week scan. And we’ve since found out that Rob’s a carrier, too. Reiss had major bowel surgery, which we were told he might not survive.…

Serves: 8 Prep: 15 min Cook: 50 min 125g salted butter 125ml Guinness 125g self-raising flour 40g cocoa powder ½tsp bicarbonate of soda 125g caster sugar 75ml milk 1 egg, beaten 1tsp vanilla extract 50g dark cooking chocolate, broken into small pieces 1 Preheat oven to 180C/ Gas 4 and line a 1kg loaf tin with greaseproof paper. 2 Put butter and Guinness in a saucepan over a low heat until butter has melted. 3 Sift flour, cocoa powder and bicarbonate of soda into a mixing bowl. Add sugar, milk, egg, vanilla, chocolate and melted butter mixture and mix together. 4 Spoon mixture into tin and bake 50 min until risen and just firm to touch. A skewer or cocktail stick inserted into middle of cake should come out clean.…

Do they have a message? Dear Tony, Both my parents have passed over into the spirit world. Can you tell me whether my mum knew she was dying, and was she aware I was with her until the end? I wasn't able to be with my dad, as I was only 5. Do they have any messages for me? Carol, Liverpool Dear Carol, Your mother was a feisty woman who worked long hours in factories to put food on the table. She tells me she'd always try to put you to bed safe and sound, even though she often had to work through the night. She talks of passing after a fall. Though she was admitted to hospital, she never fully recovered. Now she's reunited with your father, who passed…

THE CRIME  t looked like the I kind of house a child might draw, with a pointy roof, trees around it, and a bike left on the porch. Children played and laughed on the lawn outside. But, behind the closed doors of the picture-book house, one little lad wasn't living, he was desperately fighting to survive… o-one had seen the THE STORY N little boy in months. His mother, Mary Rader, 28, had taken him out of school, saying she’d teach him at home. The little boy, aged 7, lived with his mum, his grandma Deana Beighley, 47, Deana’s husband Dennis, 58, and his siblings – two sisters, aged 11 and 4, and a 9-year-old brother. His sisters and brother often played together out in the garden, and waved at…

Loving lion Back in 2012, a male lion, Jupiter, was pictured kissing a woman, Ana Julia Torres. There was a good reason for his advances, though - she'd rescued him from a cruel circus owner 12 years before. Gorgeous gorilla Shabani, a gorilla living in a zoo in Nagoya, Japan, has attracted an influx of young female visitors due to his handsome looks. His fans gather on Twitter and post pics. Feisty flipper In 2012, swimmers off Grand Cayman in the Caribbean were warned not to approach a 7ft male dolphin, following reports of the mammal becoming sexually aggressive and pinning people to the seabed.…

What I loved Downton, Strictly, X Factor... blimey! There's so much good telly on! And thank heavens for catch-up… What hacked me off FOUR failed appointments - and counting - from my electricity supplier (E.ON, since you ask). That's nearly a week's holiday spent waiting! Anyone know why I shouldn't switch? Nope, me neither. What made me laugh A mate's definition of hospitality: making your guests feel like they're at home, even if you wish they were… Hope you're full of charm this week!…

Everything had been going smoothly. Each scan showed my beautiful baby getting bigger. 'You’ll have a little brother or sister soon,’ I told my daughter Alexia, then 2. Me and my partner Paul, 42, couldn’t wait for our new arrival. But, five months in, doctors found high levels of glucose in my blood. 'You’ve got gestational diabetes,’ they said. It’s a common form of diabetes in pregnant women, can be controlled by monitoring glucose levels. 'It means your baby might be bigger than normal,’ doctors said. I’d scans every couple of weeks to monitor the baby’s progress. Then, in August last year, I felt the first grips of labour. 'It’s too early,’ I said to Paul. I was only 35 weeks gone… At Broomfield Hospital, doctors discovered my baby was…

Chat, Blue Fin Building, 110 Southwark Street, London SE1 0SU chat_magazine@ timeinc.com On Facebook at www.facebook.com/  ChatMagazine We pay £25 for each letter published, and a fiver for each Facebook thought, £25 if we use your Facebook photo on here. • All contributions to Chat must be original, not copies or duplicated to other editors. Subject to these conditions, payment as set out above will be paid for all rights in each letter printed. The Editor reserves the right to shorten or modify any letter or material submitted. Time Inc. (UK) Ltd reserves the right to reuse any submission sent to Letters, Tips, Kids, and Chat to us! columns of Chat magazine, in any format or medium. We regret we cannot answer letters. We cannot take responsibility…

Andrew Barton Protect My Colour Shampoo, £3.60, Asda. For coloured hair: You spend time and money dying your hair, only for it to fade! Use this shampoo for longer-lasting colour. OGX Extra Strength Argan Oil of Morocco, £7.99, Boots For dry hair: This is sulphate-free and gives dry hair a shot of hydration, right from the first use. Charles Worthington Thicker & Fuller Shampoo, £6.99, Boots For thin hair: Used with conditioner and scalp tonic, it can cut breakage by 95%. TRESemme Perfectly (Un)done Weightless Shampoo, £4.99, Superdrug For limp, straight hair: Gives your locks a deep clean, and contains sea kelp extract to add texture. Aussie Repair Miracle Shampoo, £3.99, Superdrug For damaged hair: With macadamia, jojoba-seed and avocado oils, it smells great!…

Across the USA, there were people listening. In their cars, in their kitchens, in hospital wards, shops, offices. Coast to Coast AM radio. The evening chat show with host George Knapp. And, on that day in 2007, George’s guest was Thomas A Drake. A man with a story to tell. For years, Thomas had worked at America’s National Security Agency (NSA), the government intelligence organisation responsible for gathering foreign intelligence and data from around the world. Thomas had long since stopped working for the NSA. He’d come on the show to spill the beans, to talk about how the agency works. But what he revealed shocked the nation. He claimed the US security forces knew about the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 before they’d happened. Not because of clandestine…

Tuck in, everyone!’ my hubby David, 55, grinned, dishing up a yummy curry. We were having a party for some friends, in our new conservatory, sitting at our brand-new oak table. The happy talk flowed – and we loved our new dining space, all thanks to our wins on Chat Mag Bingo! We’ve always been a sociable couple. Together since 1981 – married for the last 30 years! We’ve always enjoyed going out for meals and drinks with friends. I liked going to bingo, too, and David would often join me. Then I started playing online, after spotting an ad for Chat Mag Bingo. 'I’ll give it a go,’ I told David. It was bags of fun, not to mention convenient and, before long, David thought he’d join, too. So…

Ever since a D&C procedure at 21, I've suffered ‘adhesions', meaning my abdominal organs can stick together. I've arthritis, too, and take a lot of pills. The pain can be so intense that I pass out. I'd been using a special alert pendant so emergency services would know if I had a fall. Only, in March 2015, the cost of the service, which used to be covered on the NHS, doubled. As a single mum to Bradley, 4, I couldn't afford it. So I taught Bradley how to ring 999, just in case…. Then, this May Bank Holiday Monday at about 2pm, I had horrendous stomach pains. I headed into the lounge, doubled over in agony - when, suddenly, everything went dark. I came round 10 minutes on, find Bradley…

I joined Quidco in 2007 after a colleague recommended it to me. 'It’s like an extra search engine you have to go through to shop online,’ they said. It seemed like a no-brainer to me. And, as soon as I started using Quidco, I saw the benefits. I’ve booked holidays through Quidco, and received around three per cent cashback. The extra cash has been useful spending money for my holidays! It’s fantastic for insurance, too. My car insurance was my best cashback bonus. I got a huge £50 for it. Home insurance pays out well too. No matter what I need to buy, I’ll always go through Quidco now. I spend a lot on toiletries, so it’s great for that. All I have to do is search for shops like…