Innholdsfortegnelse for 3-Dec-2024 i Woman's Weekly

The advent of change I love Advent, the period from the fourth Sunday before Christmas until Christmas Eve. In the old days, it was a time of fasting, restraint and expectant waiting before a celebration of the Nativity on Christmas Day, which started 12 days of merrymaking and feasting. But now, of course, the jollity has mainly moved forward, with parties and gettogethers filling bars and restaurants from early December. And that change-around grows stronger every year. When I was a boy, our Advent calendars opened on to little pictures. These days, children will expect some chocolate at the least! See page 10.…

For 22 years, Michaela Strachan has lived in Cape Town, South Africa, where her natural habitat is the great outdoors. So spending months indoors training for the new series of Dancing on Ice is, she admits, no mean feat. ‘Doing Dancing on Ice means that I’m missing the summer in Cape Town. To leave the beautiful summer that’s on its way to spend my time at an ice-skating rink, it’s a test!’ Michaela, 58, who has temporarily relocated back to the UK to train and compete in the ITV show, began her skating journey at Cape Town’s GrandWest Casino, learning the ropes from a local coach during 30 hours of lessons on the ice. ‘We were there five times a week for two hours. It was intense,’ she says. ‘On…

It was only after filming in France and Majorca over the past two years that I started to reflect on the food that has inspired me. Having worked in restaurants all over the world, it became clear to me what an influence French cookery has been in my life, since I was 16 years old and at catering college. All my cookery books at that time were based on French cuisine – the philosophy, the determination of its chefs for excellence and even the service in the restaurant. ‘I couldn’t leave the UK forever, I love my country’ When I arrived at The Savoy as a trainee, all the menus were written in French, the kitchens were run like a French kitchen and you worked with the chef de partie,…

Coping with PANCREATIC CANCER This disease grows from different cells in the pancreas, an organ by the stomach The pancreas makes enzymes that digest your food, and makes hormones, such as insulin. Anyone can get pancreatic cancer, and the cause isn’t usually obvious, but it’s more common in the over 65s or if you’ve had medical conditions such as chronic pancreatitis or a family history of it, and it may also be linked to lifestyle. Try to manage your weight, cut down on red and processed meat and alcohol, and quit smoking. You may have no symptoms initially, then you may notice loss of appetite, losing weight without trying, tiredness, fever, nausea/vomiting, diarrhoea or constipation, indigestion or bloating, pain at the top of your abdomen and your back. Your eyes…

Difficulty level YOU WILL NEED ✱ Body, underside, circle and petal-shaped templates✱ 22x30cm piece of dark red felt✱ 10cm square of white felt✱ Red, blue and yellow embroidery thread and any other colours you wish✱ Approx 30g toy stuffing✱ Scissors✱ Pen or pencil✱ Embroidery needle✱ Pins 1 Cut out the templates and transfer to the felt. You will need two bodies and one underside in the red felt, and six circles and eight petal shapes in the white. Cut out the felt pieces. 2 Split your embroidery thread and use only one or two strands. Position your cut-out shapes on the body following the picture and sew into place with running stitch in the middle of the petal shapes, and with a large star stitch or simple straight stitches for…

Horoscopes ARIES 21 MAR – 20 APR You may feel overwhelmed with all you need to accomplish. Prioritise your tasks and everything will fall into place. TAURUS 21 APR – 21 MAY Financially, you may be thinking about significant changes and making plans for the future. Many possibilities surround you. GEMINI 22 MAY – 21 JUN This can be an exciting week filled with activities and new social connections. Your world will expand and grow. CANCER 22 JUN – 23 JUL Don’t take things too seriously or too personally. When you interact with others, give them the benefit of the doubt. LEO 24 JUL – 23 AUG There are many options open to you at present. Take your time to cherry-pick those that appeal most to your heart. VIRGO 24…

In the Christian calendar, Advent is the period leading up to the birth of Jesus, and as we start counting down the days to Christmas, many of us will enjoy opening an Advent calendar. Back in the day, we’d peel back tiny cardboard windows to reveal festive scenes. Later, the calendar was more likely to yield chocolate treats. Now its daily reveal can be anything from luxury teabags to make-up. HOW MUCH? The most expensive Advent calendar was made in 2010 and was valued at £2.1m*. It featured 24 filigree glass tubes topped with diamond-shaped fairies trimmed with gold and silver, each bearing a diamond. It weighed in at a whopping 81 carats, and was crafted by Belgian jewellers. AN EXTRA WINDOW Traditionally an Advent calendar has 24 doors, marking…

1 Sort out the shape First, gather your tools. You’ll need clippers, a nail file, cuticle remover, cuticle pusher, buffer, base coat, nail polish, top coat and hand balm. Use nail clippers to trim your nails to your desired length. Then, gently file the edges to shape them, following the natural curve of your nails. WW loves Navy Beryl Basic Nips, £38, navyprofessional.com 2 Cuticle prep Apply a cuticle remover and gently push back your cuticles with a cuticle pusher. Avoid cutting them, to prevent damage or infection. Gently glide your tool over your nail plate to remove any excess skin or cuticle residue. Be careful not to apply too much pressure. WW loves ORLY Cutique Cuticle Remover, £8.70, orlybeauty.co.uk 3 Buff your nails Lightly buff the surface of your…

Is it disloyal for me to love again? Q My husband died six years ago. I decided a year ago to start dating and I’ve met someone I’d like to settle down with. My children are appalled and say that I’m being disloyal to their father. I don’t want to be alone for the rest of my life. They are all in their early 20s so it won’t be long before they move into their own homes and I’m left lonely. Robin, Dorset A Grief comes in waves, and I expect your children’s grief has been triggered by you meeting someone else. I think you need to sit down and talk to them, and explain that their father will always be their father and they will always miss him. Tell…

Book club Liars Island by T. Orr Munro (£16.99, HB, HarperCollins) What happens when two people confess to the same murder? It’s up to CSI Ally Dymond to find out. Revisiting the remote island off the North Devon Coast where she once lived, she comes into contact with a close-knit community awash with secrets – and it seems everyone has a motive for killing Kieran Deveney. When a storm closes in, Ally finds herself stranded on the tiny rugged island, and it’s not so much the storm she fears, but the people she’s with. An atmospheric whodunnit you’ll devour. Nothing to See Here by Susan Lewis (£16.99, HB, HarperCollins) One summer’s day, 16 years ago, three women were brutally murdered – and although all the evidence points towards one man,…

Letter of the week Seven decades of readership I am emailing to ask if you might give a shout-out to my mother, Mae, who turned 90 in November. Mae moved from the US to Ireland in the early 1950s, when she was 17. After her family found the area they wanted to settle in, she went to the newsagents at the time and bought Woman’s Weekly. That was in 1953. She has had it on order every week since from the same shop, collecting it every Saturday morning. To realise that she has been reading it for 71 years was quite the ‘wow!’ I think it would be really cool if she saw herself mentioned in one of the issues. Rose Callaghan, Castlerea, Co Roscommon, Ireland TESTING PROBLEMS I’m sure,…

It’s that time of year. Adverts for balm-infused tissues, throat-soothing cough syrups and sprays to unblock a stuffy nose dominate the Christmas TV. Feeling dreadful? Don’t be defeated – here’s how to beat the sniffles by tomorrow. 7am MEDITATE Can’t get out of bed yet? Try a free YouTube meditation session before you get up. Those who regularly meditated had fewer colds than those who didn’t, found a US study. ‘This could be because, under stress, your body can only deal with emergencies,’ says nutritional therapist Alison Cullen. ‘Colds become less of a priority, so your body shuts down the production of the antibodies that would fight them.’ 7.30am TIME FOR MEDS ‘Over-the-counter painkillers can bring down a temperature and zap headaches,’ says GP Dr Sarah Jarvis. Paracetamol and inflammation-reducing…

3 DRINKS... That play havoc with your teeth 1 MULLED WINE ‘It can cause staining,’ warns dentist Dr Zaeem Jafri*. ‘Alcohol also reduces the amount of saliva in your mouth, which is essential for rinsing out harmful bacteria that stick to your teeth.’ Drink water after to rinse your mouth. 2 PROSECCO Carbonated drinks, from cola to prosecco, can erode enamel and the dentine underneath, which also comes under attack from sugar in these drinks. 3 ULTRA-HOT COFFEE ‘Let hot drinks cool down before tucking in,’ warns Dr Jafri. ‘If it’s cold outside and you drink something that’s too hot, the shock heat can cause cracks in your enamel, leading to increased sensitivity and pain if not properly managed.’ MY HEALTHY LIFE Suzy Bolt is a yoga teacher and founder…

ASDA TESCO SAINSBURY’S…

Knitting Difficulty level MEASUREMENTS Height 35cm/13¾in from base to last hat picot band MATERIALS 1 x 100g (290m) ball of King Cole Glitz DK (97% acrylic, 3% polyester) in each of Silver (565), Sparkly Pink (Pink 4721) and White (Diamond White 483); 1 x 50g (145m) ball of King Cole Big Value DK (100% acrylic) in each of Mauve (Antique Lavender 3444), Bright Pink (Pink 4033) and Pale Pink (Blush 4058)*. Pair of 3mm (No. 11) knitting needles; spare 3mm needle; 2 small buttons; 50cm length of narrow ribbon; washable toy stuffing. Yarn is available from theknittingnetwork.co.uk ABBREVIATIONS B, through back of sts; k, knit; p, purl; rs, right side; skpo, slip 1, k1, pass slipped stitch over (to decrease 1 st); sk2po, slip 1, k2tog, pass slipped st over…

Wordwise You have 15 minutes to find as many words as possible using the letters in the grid. Each word must contain four or more letters, one of which must be the central square. No proper nouns, plurals or foreign words are allowed. There is one nine-letter word, for which the clue is: raincoat. Average = 25 More than 45 = well done SUDOKU To solve this puzzle, fill in the grid so that each 3 x 3 box, each row and each column contains the numbers 1-9. LINKWORDS Fit 10 words into the grid so that each links with the end of the word on its left and the beginning of the one on the right. Then unscramble the letters in the shaded squares to make a word. CLUE:…

ROSEMARY A very odd thing happened at the charity shop on Thursday. ‘I’ve brought in some biscuits,’ said Adam, our acting manager, with an apologetic smile. ‘I spotted a packet of Jammie Dodgers and I just couldn’t resist them. I haven’t seen them since I was about 13. But I also have plain chocolate digestives.’ You might not think that biscuits – even Jammie Dodgers – are so very odd, even by charity shop standards, but it’s as if Henry VIII had suddenly renounced the throne to become a marriage guidance counsellor. It’s as if Satan had become a Methodist. As if Bertie Wooster had been caught holding up a post office with a sawn-off shotgun. ‘Hmm,’ said my colleague Wendy, muttering under her breath. ‘What’s that all about, do…