Lifestyle

Limitations are often seen as things that hold us back and most would see a heart condition as exactly that. However, for Jonathan Stretton-Downes a 28 year old fraternal twin nothing could be further from the truth... I’ve had five heart surgeries and I’ve never let in hold me back. I don’t want my surgery to define me or dictate my life. But there have been a number of occasions over the years where people have discovered my condition and...

By Rebecca Benson Just when I thought women were making some progress towards equality in society I turned on the TV and accidentally came across the behaviour of Stephen Bear on the show Celebs Go Dating. Also known as, People You’ve Never Heard Of Date Other People You’ve Never Heard Of, the programme involves a group of z-listers – 99 per cent reality TV alumni – who join The Celebrity Dating Agency in search of ‘the one’. Over the course of...

Not so long ago I was making a trip down to Cornwall when I overhead a conversation between two mums about what they feed their children. One said their child had developed quite a taste for quinoa before the poor beggar burst into tears.  "Pass the humus" -  she yelled, as if posh nosh acts as a pacifier to the modern gentrified kid. The whole experience left me quite horrified, but given that I was going for a long weekend in...

"'And you, Ring-bearer,’ she said, turning to Frodo. ‘I come to you last who are not last in my thoughts. For you, I have prepared this.’ She held up a small crystal phial: it glittered as she moved it, and rays of white light sprang from her hand... May it be a light to you in dark places, when all other lights go out.'" – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Two Towers Gift-giving is an act from the heart. Much has been...

These shocking videos show a 22-year-old woman ‘clicking’ herself back into place due to a rare condition which sees her joints dislocate ‘60 times a day’. 22-year-old Danielle Shield was diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome – an inherited condition which leaves her joints ‘loose’ and susceptible to ‘stick out at odd angles’ – in 2014 at 19 years old. Two years on, trainee nurse Danielle has 60 breaks or dislocations a day and has given up sport, is often reliant on...

Nature-loving Kate Burrows and her partner Alan built their home out of tree trunks, mud and straw after being forced out of their rented home by her permanent flu-like symptoms. Kate, who has lived in the hut in Tarka Valley, near Chumleigh, Devon, for 19 months, says the extreme move was prompted by her rare condition - Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS). But North Devon Council say the couple have broken planning laws - and have given them until December to...

I have a friend – let’s call him Tom, because that’s his name. Now, Tom does not like public transport. Not one bit. He is, however, a proud and passionate Londoner, and so is very happy to support the hackney carriage industry, and is famed for his addiction to what he calls “little black busses”. He is also very generous, so I have often found myself cadging a five-minute ride in a taxi for a journey which could easily have...

GHOGY, an online personal training website that provides interactive personalised fitness plans via instructional videos and customisable meal plans has launched. The online personal trainer aims to motivate and transform clients into the healthiest and happiest versions of themselves. Before online fitness subscriptions became available, fitness enthusiasts were forced to either attend fitness classes, pay for an expensive personal trainer or create a programme to follow themselves, which often resulted in people giving up or obtaining injuries. Now thanks to...

Getting rid of a beautiful grand piano may seem sacrilegious. But sometimes, sadly, they just aren’t usable anymore. Even working pianos can be difficult to sell, and as transporting them is a difficult and dangerous task for anyone other than professional piano movers armed with “heavy duty slippers, shoes, blankets, skids, trolleys and ramps”, they can soon become elephants taking up vital room in your home. Old pianos, particularly those that are beyond repair, are extremely difficult to sell. Robert...