This lady looks like she knows how to tell a good knock-knock joke (Picture: Getty Images)
Today, International Joke Day, is a day which presents a perfect opportunity to add some levity to life and tell jokes to your friends and loved ones.
To mark the occasion, we’ve put together some of our favourite bad-good knock-knock jokes.
Whether you like them because they make people cringe or you’re just really into puns, we’ve got plenty for you to enjoy and inflict upon your nearest and dearest.
Funny knock knock jokes
Knock, knock. Who’s there? To. To who? To whom.
Why did the chicken cross the road? To hunt somebody down. Knock, knock. Who’s there? The chicken.
Knock knock. Who’s there? Yoda Lady. Yoda Lady who? Hey! I didn’t know you could yodel!
Knock knock Who’s there? Tank. Tank who? You’re welcome!
One of these ladies probably just told a knock-knock joke (Picture: Edward Berthelot/Getty Images)
Knock knock Who’s there? Déja. Déja who? Knock knock. (repeat joke as many times as they can bear it).
Knock knock Who’s there? Broken pencil. Broken pencil who? Forget it – this joke is pointless.
Knock knock. Who’s there? Europe. Europe who? No you’re a poo!
Knock, knock. Who’s there? Madam. Madam who? Help madam finger is stuck in the door.
Knock, knock. Who’s there? Amish. Amish who? You’re not a shoe!
Before and after (Picture: Lisa Barnett/DIY On A Budget UK)
A mum was peeved to find that her 11-year-old daughter had accidentally tipped paint all over her staircase and ruined the carpet.
Lisa Barnett realised that the paint job had damaged the carpet beyond repair and decided to take it all off.
The mum decided to lift the carpet and give the staircase a whole new look.
She revamped the stairs by giving them a quick sand and lick of paint. Lisa then ordered a pretty waterfall mural from online retailler Wish and it only cost her £21.
The design comes in parts so you can just stick it on to each section of the staircase.
Now she has a brand new jungle look in her home and she can’t get enough.
The mum was so pleased with the job she shared the hack on Facebook group DIY On A Budget UK, where people lapped up the look.
The old carpet was ruined by paint (Picture: Lisa Barnett/DIY On A Budget UK)
On the post, she wrote: ‘After my 11-year-old accidentally spilled paint on my stairs carpet I was forced to make a change.
‘Thankfully the carpet was old and I hated it anyway.
‘So I filled, sanded and painted them and waited for the decals from Wish.
‘Still a bit more painting to do but I am so pleased I couldn’t wait to share.’
Thousands of people enjoyed the transformation and some said they wanted to spruce up their staircase too.
One person commented; ‘Absolutely love this. Having the same debate on whether to haul up my stair carpet and sand.
‘Scared what I’ll find underneath though.’
Others commented: ‘Oh my God, that’s amazing,’ and ‘looks good, well done’.
If you like the idea behind Lisa’s new staircase but don’t want the waterfall then good news, Wish also offers a bunch of other cool designs.
You can opt for a trippy bookcase stair mural, a sunset, or 3D designs that are easily applicable.
If you have a DIY story you want to share, get in touch.
Pam, 60, is engaged to partner Jonathan, 21 (Picture: HotSpot Media)
A grandmother-of-one whose fiancé is 39 years younger than her has ditched her friends after they disapproved of the relationship.
Pam Shasteen, 60, was devastated when her best friends labelled partner Jonathan Langevin, 21, ‘young enough to be her grandson’ and told Pam she needed therapy.
Since then, the loved-up couple, from Tulsa, Oklahoma has refused to let comments affect them, and insist age is just a number.
The couple met in 2018 after counsellor Pam received a message from Jonathan, a computer engineering student, on dating app Badoo.
Pam, who has daughters in their 30s, thought Jonathan was 21 when they started chatting but he revealed he was actually 19.
But he told her he liked older women and she had also dated younger men in the past.
A week later, Jonathan, from Minnesota, travelled across the country to meet Pam.
The couple has been together for two years (Picture: HotSpot Media)
Pam said: ‘He told me he was actually 19.
‘I stressed that I was too old for him as I had two daughters in their 30s and I was a grandmother.
‘But thankfully, Jonathan admitted he’d always wanted to be with an older woman.
‘I still can’t believe my friends of over 30 years couldn’t be happy for me just because Jonathan is 21.
‘Jonathan is the love of my life and I don’t care what anyone thinks.’
As Jonathan, whose mum is younger than Pam, lived 900 miles away, the pair video-chatted every day.
When they first met, they say they ran towards each other and kissed passionately, realising it was love at first sight.
That day, while the pair were out sightseeing, they received dirty looks from strangers.
Pam said: ‘I heard one woman tell her friend that we looked disgusting and we shouldn’t be together.
‘It really upset me. Every person we walked past gave us a horrible look.
‘Thankfully, Jonathan didn’t mind and when we got home, we laughed it off.’
The date went so well, Jonathan decided to stay over.
Pam added: ‘We made love and it was just wonderful. There was very little sleeping done that night.
‘Jonathan may have been decades younger than me but he wasn’t inexperienced. He knew exactly what he was doing.
‘During the next few nights, we were all over each other. Jonathan was amazing. I felt myself falling for him already.’
Jonathan, whose mum is younger than Pam proposed three months after meeting (Picture: HotSpot Media)
A week later, the pair admitted to being in love and Jonathan agreed to move in with Pam.
The following day, Pam invited her daughters over to meet her new boyfriend.
‘Before they arrived I texted them “Just a heads up, he’s 19 and he’s moved in with me”,’ Pam explained.
‘As my daughters and I watched Jonathan play around the house with my six-year-old granddaughter, they admitted they liked him.
‘I was relieved to have their blessing.’
Soon after, Jonathan broke the news to his parents, and three months later, Jonathan proposed to Pam who was delighted and said yes.
The couple then travelled to Minnesota to talk to Jonathan’s parents.
Pam continued: ‘As I was older than his mum, my stomach was in knots on the way there.
‘But when I arrived she welcomed me with open arms and laughed about Jonathan finally finding a mature lady.
‘They said they knew Jonathan always had a thing for older women so they weren’t surprised.
‘I was over the moon. I knew it was fast, but I was turning 60 soon and I knew life was for living.
‘I’d been waiting all my life to meet my soul mate and he was right in front of me.
‘Although I lost some friends on the way, I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.’
Catherine’s perinatal OCD left her terrified that she would hurt her baby (Picture: Catherine Benfield)
When Catherine Benfield, 39, gave birth to her son back in 2012, she was terrified she would harm her baby.
The school teacher from East London suffered from maternal OCD, the development or worsening of symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder following welcoming a child.
‘I got to the point I couldn’t eat, sleep, look after myself or function,’ she tells Metro.co.uk.
‘It started with a fear he would die in his sleep naturally so I didn’t sleep to watch him breathe.
‘Then I feared someone or something would accidently hurt him. I only let certain people near him. removed anything even remotely chemical or which I thought posed a risk from the house – which was impossible!
‘I then began to fear a stranger would break in and hurt him on purpose – so I barricaded the door and slept in with my baby. I didn’t take him out.
‘After two weeks of the OCD growing, I started to get intrusive thoughts about harming him deliberately myself – it’s the worst thing OCD could have done to me.’
Catherine had experienced OCD since childhood, but found it shifting into perinatal OCD – a type of obsessive compulsive disorder characterised by intrusive thoughts about the safety of a child.
A lack of knowledge and discussion of OCD, and maternal OCD specifically, meant Catherine suffered alone for months.
Catherine while pregnant with her son (Picture: Catherine Benfield)
‘It took 18 months for me to find out that’s what it was, mainly because of the lack of understanding and knowledge around OCD at the time – including from postnatal medical teams,’ says Catherine.
‘I had been through numerous medical staff before I found out myself what I was going through, using Google to search “OCD and the fear of harming my son”.
‘It was a desperate grasping of straws that I didn’t think would amount to anything, because I didn’t know OCD could affect you like that.’
Catherine had no idea that what she was going through was perinatal OCD, as her OCD had never manifested in this way before.
Her OCD had always centred on keeping her loved ones safe and having intrusive thoughts about them being hurt – but she coped with this through external compulsions such as checking and counting.
She said: ‘My childhood was very much focused on keeping my loved ones safe and my OCD symptoms centred heavily on external compulsions.
‘I counted, checked, recounted and rechecked everything because I believed it would help keep my family safe.
‘I spent whole evenings watching out of the window for my parents to return from work believing this silent vigil would secure their safe return, and at my worst, it took me three to four hours to settle into bed because I was busy walking the well-trodden pathway of my night-time safety checks.
‘Throughout my childhood, my OCD was hugely time-consuming, and there were many times where I was heavily reliant on others to do the simplest of tasks. I became an expert at hiding my symptoms and didn’t tell a soul.
‘I feared, even back then, that talking about it would get me labelled as ‘weird’ or ‘different’ and bring shame on my family. So I kept quiet.’
After taking to the internet to research her symptoms, Catherine was surprised to find that what she was experiencing was maternal OCD.
‘After I had my son, it was similar but had another layer of self-doubt and as well as the outward physical compulsions I ruminated and had mental rituals I spoke about previously,’ the mum explains.
‘I didn’t know the fear of and intrusive thoughts about harming others was another manifestation of OCD.
‘I hadn’t known the role of intrusive thoughts in OCD until that point. I also didn’t realise it was OCD because my compulsions were internal and involved ruminating.
The teacher has experienced OCD since her childhood, but still didn’t understand what was going on when she was plagued with intrusive thoughts about harming her baby (Picture: Catherine Benfield)
‘It was just an intrusive thought – studies show that 95% of new mums get intrusive thoughts about deliberately harming their child.
‘It doesn’t mean they want to do it, it’s the opposite, its’ the brain focussing on harm which is an excellent way of securing your child’s safety.
‘People without OCD can brush these off, but people with OCD attach too much meaning to them and find them devastating and start compulsions.
‘Mine were searching the internet for stories like mine, collecting memories and evidence about whether I was a good person or capable of harm, keeping my distance from my son, which grew to only being near him when my husband was between us. I constantly questioned myself.’
Catherine describes the months after her son’s birth as being ‘locked in an OCD cycle’.
Shame around her thoughts kept her from speaking openly about what was going on, telling her husband, Pete, 42, that she was anxious but feeling unable to go into the reality of what she was experiencing, because she didn’t want to ‘ruin parenthood for him’.
‘It was very tough for him because he also had to deal with a newborn almost single-handedly and try to keep me functioning,’ she said.
‘I wouldn’t have been able to get through the OCD without him – I owe him big time.’
Catherine’s OCD made her feel lonely, isolated and afraid, which resulted in her struggling to be around her baby. It took away things she enjoyed and she says she’s ‘grieved for lost years’ and dealt with the trauma of what she’s been through – which she says is an ongoing process.
After not receiving much help from the perinatal mental health team, she spoke to her GP, who recognised her illness and gave her medication.
She then sought help through CBT and and Exposure Response Prevention therapy.
This didn’t erase her intrusive thoughts, but better equipped Catherine to cope with them.
She explains: ‘I got much better when my son was three – we were back to doing normal things but recovery work is ongoing.
Catherine was able to begin recovery through therapy (Picture: Catherine Benfield)
‘The thoughts don’t disappear because they’re completely normal – they’re normal thoughts everyone gets them, but they happen far less because they are no longer impacted by OCD.
‘When you have OCD you misinterpret the meaning behind the thoughts – you take it seriously – you carry out compulsions to try to deal with the anxiety. As a result the obsessions get worse and you need to carry out compulsions more.
‘It’s a horrible insidious loop. Recovery has seen me be able to break out of this cycle. The thoughts are no longer seen as threats and so the need to carry out compulsions isn’t there.
‘I no longer have perinatal OCD. But I do still have relapses of OCD that presents in other ways.
‘I recently found I was worrying about contamination when working in the garden. I made sure I faced it, did exposures, got out there and am thankfully nipping it in the bud.
‘You have to stay vigilant with OCD and address any new obsessions – some people call them ‘themes’ as you go along.
‘I had 80 weeks of CBT with ERP.
Catherine is sharing her story to offer support to other mums struggling (Picture: Catherine Benfield)
‘Exposures included carrying my son on train platforms, up escalators, forcing myself not to stay in the room with him. It gradually trained my brain into understanding there was no weight behind those thoughts.
‘I stayed on top of self care – getting enough sleep, exercise and eating well. I don’t always do it but I try. I have to put my health as an absolute priority.
‘I know now because of my recovery work I’m a better mum as a result of it and my son is growing into an absolute beauty who talks openly about mental health and shows compassions for those suffering. He is an amazing kid. We have had a normal mum/son relationship for over four years now. that bond is unbreakable.’
Years on, with her son now seven years old, Catherine is ready to speak openly about her experience in the hopes that her story could help other mums who are struggling.
Catherine says: ‘OCD put us through an extremely painful and frightening experience.
‘We have lived through very extreme times together. As much as I wish it hadn’t happened, I can recognise how much stronger we are now.
‘And yes I did lose time with my son but I’m more than making up for it now. We have an incredibly close relationship.
‘I feel proud of what we got through and just how hard I had to work to get there. I feel angry that a poor general knowledge of what OCD actually is meant I slipped through too many nets and didn’t get the support I needed for such a long time.’
Finally, we’ll be reunited with some of our favourite cultural institutions this weekend, as museums and attractions open their doors to the public after a four-month wait.
Others will be back in business over the coming weeks.
One of London’s star players, the Barbican, is scheduled to reopen on Monday 13 July – and it’s back with a bang.
The performing arts centre – which usually hosts contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exhibitions – has announced that its popular plant conservatory will be open seven days a week.
Before lockdown, the Instagrammable spot was only open to the public on selected Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays – between noon and 5pm.
The foliage-filled room features more than 1,500 species of tropical plants and trees – some of which are endangered – alongside exotic fish and three indoor ponds.
The conservatory used to only be open to the public on selected Saturdays, Sundays, and bank holidays (Picture: Sam Mellish / In Pictures via Getty Images)
It’s also home to some rowdy terrapins, who were relocated to the conservatory after terrorising wildlife on Hampstead Heath.
The indoor rainforest, which first opened in 1984, is even more striking against the Barbican’s brutalist architecture.
It’s also one of the biggest greenhouses in London – after Kew Gardens.
Demand for the reopening is expected to be big, so those looking to visit the venue will need to book online.
Barbican members can book from today, Wednesday 1 July, and non-members will be able to do so from Thursday 2 July.
If you’re looking for more hidden spots to explore now lockdown is slowly lifting, be sure to check out these 10 hidden gems in the capital – including Postman’s Park, located a stone’s throw from the Barbican.
People are leaving litter behind at parks and beauty spots (Picture: Getty)
As lockdown slowly lifts, people are descending on outdoor spaces.
But after watching the natural world thrive over the past four months – with wildlife returning to tourist-free cities and pollution levels lowering – humans have been quick to leave their mark on beauty spots again.
Images taken over recent weeks showed the country’s parks and beaches flooded with litter after crowds head home for the day.
From Starbucks cups and picnic remains to cigarette butts and beer bottles, park-goers have been leaving a trail of their social meetups.
But where has the country’s litter problem suddenly come from?
Of course, littering has always been a problem to some extent. Rubbish would be left behind at festivals and large events (and incredible teams would clean it up), and day-to-day there would be some bottles and papers scattered across parks but it seems to be worse after lockdown.
Pictures of parks and beaches in recent weeks show a carpet of rubbish, which didn’t usually happen every day before lockdown.
This is Clapham Common this morning! We really donât deserve nice things. People talk about making the world a better place, people canât even pick up their litter pic.twitter.com/eQzWifgl5l
Dr Konstantinos Arfanis – a lecturer in psychology at Arden University – says that due to the fact that lockdown drastically changed everyday activities, people have altered their behaviour as a result.
He tells Metro.co.uk: ‘Under normal circumstances, people tend to respect social conventions and norms. These are the unwritten rules and norms governing our everyday behaviour. Things we do without thinking, such as tidying up after ourselves, making use of litter boxes at street corners etc.
‘When we talk about social norms, we really talk about two things: injunctive norms (what society in general approves or disapproves) and descriptive norms (what others around us do).’
‘But obviously we haven’t returned to this normality as of yet. We are still in the grip of a global pandemic that has already killed hundreds of thousands of people, we have been prevented from visiting loved ones, we need a haircut – we are angry and somewhat scared.
‘Social conventions become irrelevant, we have to learn again how to behave publicly.’
Dr Arfanis says this change in everyday ‘norms’ might explain the increase in littering.
He believes it’ll take time for people to ‘renegotiate’ these day-to-day behaviours they were once familiar with.
‘After spending so long alone or within the family unit (where nobody was watching) we need to adjust again.
‘How we feel about our community, outcome expectations (what we think the consequences of our actions will be), and injunctive norms are all important pieces of the puzzle when we renegotiate established norms and our behaviour,’ he adds.
A disconnect from public behaviour
Professor Margareta James, a psychologist at The Harley Street Wellbeing Clinic, says that – after being home for so long – lots of people are experiencing a disconnect from public spaces.
She says: ‘When we look at the issue close up, we can see that – as a result of the lockdown – people feel so disconnected from public places that they don’t actually take ownership for clearing up their mess.’
A breakout act
Most people had never experienced restrictions on everyday life until coronavirus lockdown.
It therefore makes sense that – with lockdown slowly lifting – some might want to express their frustrations by rebelling against what is considered to be right (aka, tidying up after ourselves).
After months of tough restrictions, some people are asserting their free will to new extremes.
Professor Margareta explains: ‘As we have all been asked to be compliant by the government to a previously unseen extent, it is (sadly) no surprise that some people exhibit their non-compliant behaviour at the first opportunity they can – on return to public places.
‘This could be a subconscious way to break out of the “forced- upon” compliance they had to adhere to. ‘
Copycat behaviour
Beaches have been left in awful states (Picture: PA)
Professor Margareta adds that the rise in littering could also be down to people copying others – often referred to as crowd mentality.
She says: ‘As awful as it is, we know from studies conducted that if people see others littering or litter is already present when they arrive somewhere, they are much more likely to litter themselves.’
Crowd mentality therefore suggests that the more people who litter, the more likely others will follow suit – which could explain this sudden rise in discarded rubbish.
Professor Margareta continues: ‘So if an individual sees that littering in a public place is common then, sadly, the tendency is that the environmental morale of the individual decreases.
‘In contrast, if an individual believes others to be compliant, then the environmental morale increases.’
So, the best way for us to get green spaces and beaches back to the clean conditions they deserve is through a mass cooperative of individuals.
Through crowd mentality, this should get the majority of people tidying up again.
An increase in packaging
In order to stop the spread of coronavirus, lots of food companies have increased the amount of packaging used on their products.
A number of coffee shops have stopped offering beverages in reusable cups and supermarkets, such as M&S, are now selling fresh bakery goods individually wrapped in plastic – to make them safer for customers.
So, the rise in rubbish could also be down to the fact that we simply have more things to litter.
There’s also the closure of cafes and restaurants to take into account.
People are limited in where they can sit at the moment. Parks and beaches have bins and refuse areas but they’re not as accessible as the ones at hospitality venues (where staff clean up anything left behind anyway).
While it’s certainly not an excuse, it does explain why more rubbish has been left behind over recent weeks.
That awkawrd moment when your boyfriend thinks pads stick to the vagina (Picture: TikTok/AriannaRomano)
We will never tire of asking those who don’t menstruate how they think sanitary products work.
Whether it’s what the wings in pads are for, or generally how they think periods work (to the men reading, no it doesn’t come out like wee).
One man who was sure he knew how pads operate was shocked to discover he was oh so wrong.
Isaac Turnage was hanging out in the car with his girlfriend Arianna Romano when she filmed him explaining how he thinks people who menstruate wear sanitary towels.
When Arianna asks Isaac where he thinks the pad goes, he confidently replies ‘on your coochie, duh, where else would you put a pad?’.
Continuing to ask and answer his own questions he says: ‘How do you pee with the pad on? You can’t. You have to take it off first, obviously.
‘Do you just pee in the pad and let it sit in your vagina?’
Karina and Kelly fell pregnant at the same time (Picture: PA Real Life)
When Karina Rincon and her wife Kelly Mesa decided to have a baby together, they wanted to double their chances.
Unable to afford treatment at a fertility clinic, they used £72 home insemination kits and found a donor online but decided to both try to get pregnant at the same time as they knew the chances of having a baby were slim.
But amazingly, both women conceived and they ended up giving birth just three days apart in July last year.
Now, they describe their son Leo and daughter Sophie as ‘almost twins’.
Karina, who lives in Los Angeles, California, said: ‘I’m really glad we didn’t go into labour at the same time.
‘That was a worry of ours, but thankfully, being three days apart meant that I could be there when Leo was born and Kelly could when Sophie was.
‘People told us that we would kill each other being two pregnant women in the same house, with all those hormones flying around but, actually, it was great to go through this with the love of my life, who completely understood how I was feeling.’
Kelly, 31, and Karina, 32, met at school in Venezula, South America before moving to the US after graduation.
They lived separately in lots of different places but eventually reconnected when they were both living in Miami, Florida and working as biomedical engineers in 2013.
They had both been dating men but realised they had feelings for each other and decided to start a romantic relationship.
Karina said: ‘Whenever I’d hear Kelly talking about boyfriends, I’d feel almost jealous and started to realise that it was because I had romantic feelings for her.
Positive pregnancy tests and scans of the babies (Picture: PA Real Life)
‘She moved around a lot but, eventually, we found ourselves in the same city when we both moved to Miami. I was so nervous, as I had no idea how she would take it, but I had to tell her how I felt. Thankfully, she felt the same.’
For the first few years of their relationship, Kelly and Karina kept their love secret from their families – eventually coming out in 2017, just before marrying.
Karina added: ‘Not all of our loved ones approved. Coming out as a process is very hard. You have to come out to yourself first, accept who you are and understand that you aren’t doing anything wrong.
‘As I’d only ever dated men before Kelly, some people thought it was a phase, but it wasn’t.’
‘Part of why we wanted to get married was to formalise our relationship and show the world that we were serious about one another.’
After they married in September 2017, they decided to start a family but knew they couldn’t afford the thousands required at a fertility clinic.
‘Growing up, I hadn’t thought I wanted children,’ Kelly explained. ‘I wanted to focus on my career and studying instead.
Karina (L) and Kelly (R) while pregnant (Picture: PA Real Life)
‘But Karina changed all that. She has always wanted to be a mother, and I knew she’d make a fantastic one. My love for her changed my mind.’
In early 2018, they discovered a company online that offered at-home artificial insemination kits for just $89 (£72).
Kelly said: ‘Some of the clinics we looked at would have cost thousands and thousands – and that was just to find the donor. Then, there’d be all the costs of insemination, medication, doctors’ appointments and so on.
‘The awkwardness of it all was also a component. Being able to be at home with a DIY kit seemed less invasive.’
When it came to choosing a sperm donor, they wanted to know as much as possible about the person so they found an online network called CoParents.com, which matches couples looking to start a family with potential donors.
As registration on the site is free – though users do also have the option of paying for members-only access – it helped get around the issue of budget.
They set up a profile explaining what they wanted and soon had a full inbox.
Karina said: ‘Across the course of three months, we filtered the responses down to around 15 which we liked the sound of.
‘Then we got to know them, sending questionnaires about their family history and genetics, and also what their motivation was for wanting to help was.
‘We wanted somebody truly altruistic, but unfortunately not everybody out there is genuine.
‘We narrowed it further and further down until there were just two donors. We would joke that it was like the reality show The Bachelor.’
Kelly and Karina then met the remaining two potential donors in person – neither of whom asked for money – before settling on their final decision in October 2018.
Karina, Kelly and their babies, Leo and Sophie (Picture: PA Real Life)
After all three parties took part in genetic screening – the results of which did not bring up anything of concern – it was time to start trying.
Kelly had just been offered a new job in Los Angeles, California and they decided to both try at the same time as moving meant leaving their sperm donor behind in Washington.
Karina went first, followed by Kelly the next day, never imagining that both attempts would be successful.
Shortly afterwards, Karina went for a blood test, arranged as part of a health MOT just before they moved.
‘The results seemed to show that I wasn’t pregnant, so we thought, “That’s okay. Let’s just wait and see what happens with Kelly,”‘ she said.
‘Days later, in our tiny new apartment in Los Angeles, we got a test for Kelly to take. Two lines appeared, but they were so faint that we didn’t know what they meant.
‘I said to her, ‘My blood test has shown I’m not pregnant, so why don’t I take a test, too, as a control?’
‘But when I did, mine looked the same – two little lines.’
For clarification, Kelly and Karina sent a photo of the tests to a nurse friend – who replied saying she thought they were both pregnant.
Karina added: ‘We took some more tests which confirmed it. We were both expecting, and around four weeks along.
‘We couldn’t believe it – what were the chances?
‘The reason my blood test hadn’t shown anything was because it was too early, so the levels of hormones in my body weren’t high enough.’
It meant they navigated their pregnancies together right until the end.
Karina added: ‘We both understood how the other was feeling. It was nothing like it would have been if we’d had babies with men, where one of us wouldn’t be facing the limitations and challenges of pregnancy.
‘The only difficult thing was sharing a bed with two ginormous bellies and both of us wanting to pee every five minutes.’
Leo arrived first, weighing 6lb 12oz, with Kelly giving birth on July 7, 2019.
Just three days later, Karina went into labour, welcoming little 7lb 11oz Sophie into the world.
Now, the pair are enjoying their life as a family of four and say they are utterly in love with their children.
By sharing their extraordinary love story, they want to give hope to other couples for whom traditional conception is not an option, and raise awareness of the many different paths to parenthood.
Kelly concluded: ‘My advice to other couples would be to be systematic. Think about what you want, and what will and won’t work for you.’
Karina added: ‘My advice is to be patient. I still can’t quite believe the way things all happened for us, but don’t give up hope.’
Many of those struggling are delaying seeking help (Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)
If you’ve seen that stat currently making its way around Twitter, the one that says suicides are up 200% in lockdown, it’s important to know that there’s no evidence to suggest that’s the case.
It can be incredibly unhelpful (and triggering) to make claims about largescale suicides, and it’s important to debunk these trends – although we’re all for the promotion of services such as Samaritans.
While there’s no evidence to suggest a dramatic rise in suicides in lockdown, what we do know is that mental health issues continue to run rampant amid the coronavirus pandemic.
And a new report suggests that many Brits are bottling up their emotions as a result of being cooped up at home.
Research that involved surveying 2,000 UK adults in May 2020 found that eight out of ten of us are experiencing symptoms of poor mental health in lockdown – but half haven’t told anyone.
The report from Bupa suggests that the act of bottling up emotions and keeping issues secret is on the rise, finding that cases of suffering in silence have doubled since a similar survey was conducted in 2019.
While 82% of those surveyed in 2020 said they had experienced symptoms that may indicate poor mental health, such as continuous low mood, anxiousness, low self-esteem or hopelessness while in lockdown, yet almost half (44%) hadn’t told anyone – a sharp rise from Bupa’s report in 2019, which found that only 22% felt they had to keep their feelings to themselves.
So, why are people struggling in silence?
(Picture: Ella Byworth for Metro.co.uk)
Many of those surveyed (one in five) said they plan to delay seeking help for mental health issues until things are ‘back to normal’, with 43% saying they feel pressure to ‘grin and bear it’ and 23% saying they feel now isn’t the time to make a fuss about their mental state when the country is in crisis.
Older people are more likely to delay seeking help than younger people, and women delay seeking help by 15 days longer than men.
The team at Bupa are urging people to come forward about the concerns and warning against putting off treatment because of the pandemic.
Pablo Vandenabeele, Clinical Director for Mental Health at Bupa UK Insurance said: ‘There’s no getting away from the fact that this has been a really tough period for our mental health.
‘High levels of anxiety and depression have been reported while the country has been in lockdown, and as we remain in a period of uncertainty and change, mental health professionals expect these issues to continue.
‘But it’s extremely concerning to see that so many people don’t feel that they can come forward to discuss their symptoms – either with friends or family or with a health professional. We can’t simply wait and hope these issues will pass.
‘Early diagnosis is so important for improving outcomes, and with the number of services and resources available people shouldn’t suffer in silence or think that nothing can be done.
‘If you or a loved one are struggling with your mental health, it’s important to seek medical help at the right time. People should not be waiting nearly three months to come forward.
‘It can be hard to distinguish between what’s ‘normal’ for you and what may be a symptom of a more significant mental health issue, and I often recommend that people try to think about whether their symptoms have been affecting them for two weeks or more, and if so, to seek help.’
If you are struggling with your mental health, don’t feel you have to put off getting help.
Chat to your GP, talk to a friend, seek out therapy (which is absolutely still an option in lockdown), or call the Samaritans. You don’t need to suffer in silence.
Mark and Julie, and the ducklings in the paddling pool (Picture: Mark Hinks/SWNS)
At the beginning of lockdown, Mark and Julie Hinks were contacted by a friend who saw a cat chase a mother duck, causing her to abandon a nest.
The couple had previously kept chickens and still had an incubator so the friend asked if they could help.
The couple have spent weeks tending to the eggs and eventually welcomed 11 ducklings.
Sadly, two died and another two flew off but the remaining babies lived in a shed and pen in the garden in Bolton, Greater Manchester.
Police officer Mark, 45, said: ‘This whole duckling project has completely taken over our lockdown, we’ve become obsessed with them.
‘It’s been so lovely seeing them go from eggs to ducklings and how they are now, which is pretty much independent.
‘The whole process has been a joy to watch.’
When their friend called about the abandoned eggs, the couple set up their old incubator in their spare room for the eggs.
After three weeks of tending to the 15 eggs the couple and their three children had ‘lost hope’ and ‘nearly gave up’.
The ducks as they hatched (Picture: Mark Hinks / SWNS)
Mark said he couldn’t believe his eyes when, on Easter Sunday, 11 of the eggs hatched and a family of tiny little ducklings emerged.
Since then the curious creatures have enjoyed spells living in the spare bedroom, then downstairs, in the garage and eventually in the couple’s garden as they grew bigger and bigger.
11 ducklings hatched from the 15 eggs (Picture: Mark Hinks / SWNS)
Mark added: ‘The first thing we do when we wake up is look out to see if they’re in the garden, if they’re not we get quite worried.
‘It’s like they’re our babies and I don’t think that will change.’
They started out swimming in a litter tray (Picture: Mark Hinks / SWNS)
‘I’ll never forget the moment my son Emile ran downstairs and said, “they’re hatching”.
‘One came out and then another and the rest just followed, it was the most amazing thing to see.’
The adorable fluffy ducklings (Picture: Mark Hinks / SWNS)
When they first hatched, Mark and Julie went out and purchased a small polythene greenhouse for them to live in and a cat litter tray for them to use as a paddling pool.
After a week living in the bedroom the animals moved downstairs to a room with a tiled floor, which is when pooch Lilly became obsessed with them.
Unfortunately, disaster struck one day when a couple of the ducklings somehow managed to escape and Lilly played with the fragile ducklings a little ‘too forcefully’.
The pen and coop built by Mark (Picture: Mark Hinks / SWNS)
Mark said Lilly was then banished from the room, much to her dissatisfaction.
Soon the ducklings were too big for the greenhouse so Mark built a shed in the garden for them and they temporarily stayed in the garage with a new paddling pool.
Mark and Julie Hinks (Picture: Mark Hinks / SWNS)
In late May, the animals finally moved outside into their new pen and it was around this time they learned how to fly and two of them made off.
Despite their ability to fly, Mark and Julie still see seven of the ducklings, which have relocated just next door, where their neighbour has a big pond for them to play in.
Mark said: ‘It’s fantastic that so many of them have stuck around, Julie and I are so glad that we still get to see them even though they have grown up.
‘We now have a rather splendid, but empty coop and pen – if any readers have any chickens or ducks that are unwanted and need a home.’
Why has highlighting inequality and people’s lived experience caused so much controversy? (Picture: Black Girls Hike)
Who would have thought that when Countryfile decided to tackle the topic of race this week there would be so much outrage? Well, not me. In fact, I’m not surprised in the slightest.
The segment, delivered by Dwayne Fields, delved into the reasons BAME people often feel unwelcome in the countryside. It was well thought out and cited research from the Landscapes report by DEFRA, which revealed that it’s not only a predominantly white environment, but that those from BAME backgrounds make up less than one per cent of national park governing bodies.
It’s not just a theory that BAME people don’t feel like the countryside is for them, the statistics speak for themselves.
So why has highlighting inequality and people’s lived experience caused so much controversy?
According to some of the replies to the show on Twitter, by shining a light on this issue, the BBC are a Marxist organisation, shoving Black Lives Matter down Countryfile viewers’ throats.
However, we need to be able to have uncomfortable but constructive discussions about race. Gaslighting, being defensive and denying there is even an issue is not helping anything.
To me, Dwayne was trying to challenge preconceived ideas that the countryside is unsafe, to prove it’s been welcoming and show how it transformed his life, while also exploring why people may feel this way.
Back in 2019, I decided to take up hiking to reap the benefits of nature and explore what I’m lucky enough to have on my doorstep. I grew up believing that it would be another space that lacked diversity, and I was right. I very rarely see BAME people hiking and I’m surprised when I do.
Yet, like Dwayne, what I have found while discovering the countryside is that almost everyone is welcoming, and happy to see you there. There is a real sense of camaraderie, which was a refreshing surprise and makes it all the more disheartening that BAME people can feel so excluded.
Realising this also motivated me even more to get people involved and spread the message that walking and hiking is for everyone.
I have encountered slight microaggressions from people assuming it’s my first time (Picture: Black Girls Hike)
At the same time I started embracing my surroundings, I founded a walking group called Black Girls Hike to challenge the stereotype that Black people don’t enjoy walking among nature and also provide places for women to explore, in a non-judgmental environment.
Safe spaces are important for marginalised people, to come together free from judgement, unsolicited opinions and prejudice, where they are supported and respected.
For people new to the activity, being able to explore with a group like Black Girls Hike can give them the confidence to venture out alone or with other groups, once they’ve seen how it is for themselves.
While I haven’t personally found the countryside to be unwelcome, I have felt awkward at times when I can sense that others are startled by my presence. It feels like other hikers aren’t sure how to talk to me because all they see is my race, and not the fact I’m just another person trying to enjoy the experience.
I have encountered slight microaggressions from people assuming it’s my first time, or that I must be inexperienced, but I can also appreciate that these are unintentional and stem from the inherent misconception that BAME people don’t enjoy the outdoors.
It’s not that we don’t like the countryside, but there are barriers to entry. The Landscapes report found that BAME groups are disconnected from green spaces, with Natural England revealed that just one per cent of national park visitors come from BAME backgrounds.
So, what is causing the lack of participation? The BAME community is not a monolith and many of the obstacles we face are the same as everyone else: access, time, and resources.
I suppose it’s a bit of a catch 22: people feel uncomfortable going where they do not think they will be welcomed, or being the first to enter new territory. But if everyone decides to feel this way then no progress will be made.
I also feel much more can be done to make the outdoors more accessible in the first place. Having people from BAME backgrounds in senior roles at national parks, and outreach programmes to drive home the benefits of taking up walking in green spaces. Organisations also need to include minority voices in their decision making and not dismiss or pay lip service to our concerns.
People seeing themselves represented and feeling welcomed is the only way we are going to diversify the countryside.
Everyone should have the chance to experience all nature has to offer, it’s free therapy for your mind, body and soul.
Will hair dryers be off the menu when hairdressers reopen? (Picture: Getty Images/iStockphoto)
People in England are looking forward to getting their first haircut since before lockdown after hairdressers were given the green light to reopen from 4 July.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are observing different dates, with pubs and hairdressers opening up later in the month.
Announcing the news, the PM said: ‘And almost as eagerly awaited as a pint will be a haircut (particularly by me, Mr Speaker), and so we will reopen hairdressers with appropriate precautions, including the use of visors.’
However, your trip to the hairdresser could be a little different to usual, with the use of PPE and even a suggestion that blow dries could be off the cards.
Will you be able to get a blow dry and what PPE will hairdressers be required to wear?
Can hairdressers use hair dryers when they reopen?
There has been some concern raised over the use of hair dryers in salons, with some suggestions that it could raise the risk of transmitting Covid-19 due to the air particles being blasted around by the dryer.
Some salons in the US as well as in parts of Europe have ditched blow dries or reduced the number on offer as a result of this.
The safety guidelines in the UK have not recommended that they be banned, however – so you should still be able to get your blow dry, although you might want to double check just what your salon is offering when you make your booking.
What PPE will hairdressers need to wear?
Hairdressers will have to wear PPE while customers will also be advised to do so (Picture: Getty Images)
Hairdressers and barbers will be asked to wear face masks and visors while they work to decrease the risk of the infection spreading.
It’s also been suggested that customers wear a face mask during their appointment – with some chains offering them either for free or for a small charge – while some salons may introduce a surcharge to customers to cover the cost of the PPE equipment they now have to wear.
Kenneth Conniford of the Hair and Barber Council told the Telegraph: ‘It might only be at a cost of £2.50-£5 more for each client, but it’ll be down to the individual business.
‘Each salon will need PPE to protect staff and customers, and as some are saying they’ll keep prices the same or reduce customers that come in, it might not be financially stable.’
A wheelchair user who has cerebral palsy has become a qualified fitness instructor, and is shattering narrow expectations about what people with disabilities can achieve.
20-year-old Jay Moir, from Aberdeen, Scotland, says there should be no barriers to fitness.
As a teenager, he struggled with his mental health and coping with his health condition, but finding a love for fitness helped him overcome the worst of his symptoms.
‘What I love about training and fitness is how good it makes me feel,’ Jay tells Metro.co.uk.
‘When I’m in the gym, I can just zone-out and forget about everything – stress, worries, and just life in general is just completely forgotten about for a couple hours a day.
‘When I’m in the gym, I feel strong, full of energy, but most importantly, happy. The gym is my happy place and I feel like people underestimate just how powerful a gym session can be.’
And Jay says his focus isn’t always about lifting heavy weights, he says just 20 minutes on the rowing machine is enough to get the endorphins going,to help us feel great. He knows that working out is as much about mental well-being as it is about physical fitness.
Jay believes there shouldn’t be any barriers to a fit and healthy lifestyle (Picture: Jay Moir)
Jay’s anxiety and depression meant he was unable to complete his exams and he left school with very few qualifications. He was also comfort eating and devloped an unhealthy relationship with food – gaining three stone.
To get back on track, Jay started seeing a therapist, and that alongside physical activity and training helped his mental health to improve.
He says there’s nothing difficult about working out with cerebral palsy, it’s just a case of trial and error.
‘It’s about finding ways to adapt certain things to suit your own ability,’ says Jay. ‘I’m more or less able to do the same things in the gym as everyone else. I’m lucky enough that I can actually come out of my chair to go on the machines, so I don’t really find anything too difficult. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.’
‘I never really set out to inspire others, I do what I do for my own health and for my own well-being’ (Picture: Jay Moir)
The good thing is that Jay has never experienced any discrimination or judgement in the gym. He says people in the fitness world are nothing but encouraging and supportive.
‘People often come up to me and offer assistance if needed, and tell me that when they don’t feel like going to the gym, they think of me – if I can do it, so can they,’ he says.
‘I never really set out to inspire others, I do what I do for my own health and for my own well-being. But of course, if I do inspire people, that’s great.
‘Working out is extremely beneficial, not just physically but mentally, and the sooner people realise this, the better.’
Jay believes that we need to see more visible diversity in the world of fitness. He wants other wheelchair users to see that fitness is possible for them, and that it is actually really important.
‘It’s about finding ways to adapt certain things to suit your own ability’ (Picture: Jay Moir)
‘Being sedentary and not moving very often can obviously have a detrimental effect to overall health, so if there are more disabled fitness bloggers, or “influencers” on show; this could motivate other people with disabilities to get involved, and this will lead to them being in a healthier position,’ explains Jay.
‘I’ve always found that gyms are quite spacious – so this is ideal for getting around in my chair.
‘A lot of gyms have levers that you can pull that allow the seats to swing out of the way, and although I don’t require it – it’s great for those who are unable to come out of their chairs.
Jay says gyms are generally accessible spaces (Picture: Jay Moir)
‘It’s great to see things like this being implemented into modern gyms, as it makes facilities a bit more inclusive for everyone.’
Jay is blogging about his fitness journey and hopes to build a following online and become a fitness influencer. Not simply because he hopes to inspire others, but also because he is so passionate about his work.
‘I just love working out,’ he says. ‘I normally do five days of strength/resistance training and one day of adaptive CrossFit with CrossFit Aberdeen.
‘Anything that gets those endorphins going is great for me. Of course, at the time, it’s tiring and that burning/lactic acid sensations take over, but afterwards, it’s a feeling like no other and I honestly cannot put into words how amazing I feel afterwards.’
He says his advice for anyone – able-bodied or disabled – is to give a gym session a try, and challenge yourself.
‘People picture the gym as this big, scary place of showboating, and people with “perfect” bodies – it’s not that at all,’ says Jay.
‘Everybody in the gym is there for themselves. Everybody has their own goals, their own insecurities, their own strengths and weaknesses.
‘In my opinion, it is a community and in my experience, everyone’s always been super upbeat and positive towards me. And I hope that more people with disabilities can find a way to start their own fitness journey.’
Do you have a story to share? We want to hear from you.
Lhakpa Sherpa knows a thing or two about being on a high.
The single mum-of-three holds the world record for climbing Everest more times than any other woman, with nine summits under her climbing harness.
She was hoping to make her tenth summit this spring but instead, she is stuck in her small apartment on the east coast of America in Connecticut due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The unassuming mountaineer, who doesn’t have any big-name sponsors or endorsement deals, admits the pandemic has been tough and her minimum wage work has pretty much dried up.
She had left her job as a dishwasher at Whole Foods ahead of her trip to Everest so now she is just ‘waiting out the virus’ to find some employment to tide her through until the next climbing season starts.
Her CV in America, where she moved to in 2001 with her ex-husband in a bid ‘to have a better shot at life’, includes doing everything from construction work to a ‘more rewarding job’ caring for the elderly at a community centre.
A picture Lhakpa took while climbing Everest in 2018 (Picture: Lhakpa Sherpa)
On top of having no job currently, Lhakpa, says the racism she has faced during the pandemic ‘has been rough’ and an additional thing to battle.
‘People are really scared of my daughters and me because we are Asian. I’ve been confronted by people who think we are Chinese.’
Lhakpa points out that she is Nepalese, and she is proud of her heritage and being born a ‘Sherpa’.
She explains: ‘Sherpa means two things. I was born a Sherpa. It is my last name. There are about 300,000 of us worldwide.
Lhakpa pictured with a climbing crew 25 years ago when she worked as a porter in the mountains (Picture: Lhakpa Sherpa)
‘Sherpa is also the name most people use to describe high altitude mountain guides which is a common livelihood among the Sherpa people.’
The outdoorswoman remembers a simple life growing up in the ‘beautiful and rural’ village of Balakharka, with Makalu – the world’s fifth highest mountain – on her doorstep.
There was no electricity, her father ran tea houses, and she didn’t attend school as a child because she was a girl.
Asked how old she is, Lhakpa says that’s tricky as she wasn’t born in a hospital and there were no birth certificates but she estimates that she is 42 based on the information she has gathered.
She is from a large family with ten siblings and most of her brothers and sisters made ends meet by guiding or portering on the surrounding mountains. A more dangerous but more lucrative prospect than growing potatoes.
Lhakpa followed suit. She turned her attention to climbing after she started working as a porter and carrying supplies through the mountains.
The outdoorswoman remembers a simple life growing up in the ‘beautiful and rural’ village of Balakharka, seen above (Picture: Lhakpa Sherpa)
She recalls: ‘I was very curious and wanted to explore the lands beyond my village.
‘I ended up moving some tourists’ mountain climbing gear. I saw these people put on thick down suits and bring out their specialist clothing. I wanted to be like them. I felt strong and capable. I even saw another woman climbing, a British woman.
‘Another thing that inspired me to start climbing was my fatigue at always hearing that women weren’t capable of performing tough jobs.
‘I wanted to show everyone that women are just as capable as men. I then started mountaineering with tourists and just kept pushing myself.’
In the spring of 2000, Lhakpa became the first Nepalese woman to summit Everest and descend alive. Pasang Lhamu Sherpa summited in 1993 but died on the way down.
After achieving her first Everest summit, Lhakpa was hooked.
She simply describes the feeling of being on top of the world as ‘dynamic, deadly, and euphoric’.
While she has gone on to climb the 8,848-metre (29,030 feet) peak eight times since, including one time just eight months after giving birth, and another when she was two months pregnant, Lhakpa says her first summit was the hardest.
Lhakpa is currently stuck in Connecticut after her tenth Everest expedition was halted due to the coronavirus (Picture: Lhakpa Sherpa)
She muses: ‘That time was so scary. Everyone told me I’d get killed. I’ve come to know that Everest is no joke. It’s a tough job.’
Underscoring Lhakpa’s point, Everest claims six to ten lives per average season.
In 2019, 11 people perished, with a record number of climbing permits issued listed as a contributing factor.
Touching wood, Lhakpa says she has had no serious injuries to date but she says seeing people die around her in the death zone is the most pain she has felt.
On the training front, Lhakpa keeps fit with regular hikes. One of her favourite places to explore is Talcott Mountain state park in Simsbury, Connecticut.
She also used to walk to work instead of taking public transport and being on her feet all day washing pots was a good test of her stamina.
A photo Lhakpa took on one of her climbs (Picture: Lhakpa Sherpa)
Diet is something she has only recently paid more attention to. On the subject of food, she reveals: ‘I’m a stress eater. I only recently started looking at what I eat. I work hard and stay in shape usually by hiking.
‘You have to bulk up to climb Everest since it’s difficult to eat on the mountain. Also having more fat keeps you warmer.
‘Many Sherpas get chubby and then go climb. They eat a lot of food for about two months before they go climbing. I just get fat living in America.’
When it comes to gear, Lhakpa says things have changed a lot over the past decade but she likes to stick with what she knows.
She even wears a 50-year-old oxygen mask, because she thinks it is more reliable than the newer ones.
‘The gear has changed a lot,’ she tells us. ‘It’s gotten more technical and complicated. The gear was very simple back in the year 2000. Technical gear is no good in the death zone.
When it comes to gear, Lhakpa says things have changed a lot over the past decade but she likes to stick with what she knows (Picture: Lhakpa Sherpa)
‘Things have to be easily handled with thick gloves on. If you have to take your gloves off, you risk losing fingers. I love my old gear.
‘Most Sherpas prefer older gear. Simple and reliable. It can be the difference between life and death. I love my harness most of all because it keeps me safe.’
One of the most incredible things about Lhakpa is that she doesn’t blow her own trumpet about her achievements.
Many of her former colleagues have little idea what she gets up to when she’s not caring for the elderly or washing pots.
Touching on her dreams for the future before returning to help her daughters with their school work through online learning, Lhakpa says: ‘My ultimate goal is to get my tenth Everest summit in April 2021.
‘Then I would love to climb K2, the world’s second-highest peak in Pakistan, get a book written about my life and having a sponsor would be nice too.
‘For now, I have achieved one goal of setting up my website cloudscapeclimbing.com so can teach others about what I know about the outdoors and take people on expeditions with me.
The future of housing could be these snazzy homes that take just 22 hours to build.
The 3D-printed buildings are made up of three rooms – a bathroom with a toilet, a living room and kitchen area, and a bedroom – and can either be set up on land or made to float on water on a pontoon.
They’re produced at a rate of 15cm a second, using a concrete mixture enriched with nano-polypropylene fibres.
And as well as being speedy to make, the production of the homes is intended to be cost-efficient and low-waste.
Sculptor Michal Trpak, who worked on the prototype with architect Jiří Vele, said: ‘We are trying to reinvent the way we are building houses and the way they look.
The homes can sit on land or on sea on a pontoon (Picture: Pen News/Burinka)
‘I believe with 3D printing, architects will come up with new designs which would be too expensive to produce in the normal way.
‘Hopefully this will lead to more eco-friendly constructions, the possibility of printing with recycled materials in near future, more customized designs, and more curvy lines related to nature.’
A word of warning, though, before you have dreams of printing out your home and moving in a day later.
While the initial printing can be done in 22 hours, the concrete mix then takes 28 days after this to harden.
Here’s what they look like inside (Picture: Pen News/Burinka)
There’s a living and kitchen area, a bedroom, and a bathroom (Picture: Pen News/Burinka)
Then you’d need to sort out plumbing, electricity, and all the interior bits.
The builders reckon that a house could be ready for move in within two months – which is still considerably faster than your average house built by human hands.
Buying a 3D-printed home might also save you a bit of money, as the price tag is around £120,000.
‘That is significantly less than today’s market price,’ said Ondřej Čtvrtečka, from the company that built the prototype, Stavebni sporitelna Ceske sporitelny, part of Buřinka building society.
We think this is an artsy shot of the bathroom (Picture: Pen News/Burinka)
Michal adds that the price may drop in the future, after they’ve done plenty of tests on the prototype home, which will be opened to the public in Prague later this month.
The home that’s already been made has been stress-tested with a 50-tonne load and is said to be able to withstand an avalanche.
The designers reckon that each of the 3D printed homes should last at least 100 years.
Once everyone’s had a good nose around the home, it’ll be moved to a pontoon in the Vlatava river.
After finding out that I was to become a grandparent for the first time, I felt a mix of euphoria and sadness (Picture: Susanna Lewis)
I remember the day well. It was my 52nd birthday and, as was customary, my three daughters and their partners were celebrating with my husband and I at the family home.
But when I opened a card from my middle daughter, I saw something quite different from the usual birthday greetings.
Instead, there was a grainy black and white photo of a tiny human being. I raised my eyes to see my daughter grinning at me, while my mind tried to take in the enormity of what lay in my hands. I was, in fact, looking at the photo of my first grandchild.
I remember hearing screams and shouts of joy from the rest of the family. My heart felt like it would burst as I ran to my daughter and scooped her up in my arms.
As I gazed at her, memories of her childhood came flooding back and yet, she was no longer a child. My daughter would soon become a mother.
Some hours later, as the family left, I experienced a mix of euphoria and sadness. My daughters, all in their twenties, had left home some years agoand I was overcome with the feelings of loss associated with empty nest syndrome.
Although I was overjoyed to be welcoming a new baby into the family, my thoughts turned suddenly to my father who had died 18 months earlier. The news of a grandchild compounded my grief somehow, as I longed for my father to be with us.
I wanted to relive the halcyon days of my own children’s childhood, when they got to have a wonderful relationship with my parents. Now I realised that I was the grandparent – I had, in a matter of minutes, swapped roles with my parents.
I felt proud, but this came with a huge sense of responsibility. Would I live up to the task ahead, knowing how wonderful my childrens’ grandparents had been?
At the time, I was struggling with anxiety that had been triggered by the menopause and I knew that it was common for those aged over 50 to struggle with their mental health.
According to Saga, a company that caters to the over 50s, a third of people in this age bracket have suffered from mental health issues in their lifetime, while another survey by YouGov and Age UK has found that nearly half of over 55’s experience common mental health issues such as anxiety and depression.
But I desperately wanted to be free of these debilitating symptoms so I could concentrate fully on my new role as a grandmother.
The months leading up to the arrival of my grandchild passed by in a blur. My feelings of excitement and joy were tinged with apprehension – I had experienced difficult pregnancies with all three of my children and I silently prayed that my daughter would sail through pregnancy with no major hitches.
I continued to have low mood swings and I would daydream about the past, reaching for baby photos in order to feel better by recalling happier times. These unstable moments scared me as I was uncertain as to why I felt anxious like this.
I was trying and failing to recreate the past, and not accepting that my life was different
However, writing my thoughts and emotions down allowed me to see the conflict in my mind.
I was trying and failing to recreate the past, and not accepting that my life was different. Spending time journaling helped me to realise that and I was able to resolve my conflicting feelings.
By the time my beautiful grandchild arrived, I had made my peace with myself. I remember seeing my daughter and grandson for the first time, and with it came the most powerful surge of love I have ever experienced.
Here I was, stepping into the big shoes of my own parents and starting my own memories with my own grandchildren. Now, a few years on with two grandchildren and another due anytime soon, I can honestly say that my role as a grandparent is both fulfilling and heart-filling.
My mental health has vastly improved, along with my general health. The presence of my wonderful grandchildren has helped me to reassess my life and come to terms with the loss of my father and my children leaving home – my aim is now to be a healthy grandparent so I can enjoy my grandchildren’s company for many years to come.
I’m not the only person to feel this way. Another YouGov and Age UK survey found that the vast majority of grandparents who provide regular care for their grandchildren feel huge benefits, such as keeping physically and mentally active, not feeling lonely and having a sense of purpose.
Becoming a grandparent following the birth of my first grandchild also provided a catalyst for me to seek help for my mental health. After a consultation with my GP, I ventured into the world of mindfulness, meditation and yoga.
Within a few weeks of these gentle therapies I was feeling more relaxed and able to cope better with the symptoms that had been dominating my life.
My life as a grandparent is filled with love and I cherish every moment spent with my beautiful grandchildren. The circle of life keeps turning and I am truly honoured to be part of it.
Jammie Dodgers are vegan again (Picture: Jammie Dodgers)
Years ago, Jammie Dodgers were accidentally vegan but those on a plant-based diet were heartbroken when dairy was added during a recipe change.
Now, the biscuits are going vegan again and this time, the change is permanent.
The recipe has been changed to make them 100% free of animal products but still delicious.
For non-vegans, the brand promises you’ll hardly notice the difference to the shortcake biscuits sandwiched together with raspberry jam but it just means more people can enjoy them.
They’ll be available from 13 July and will be launched with a newly designed packaging.
The vegan recipe biscuits will be in a darker packet so you can spot when they are on shelves.
The new recipe will be used across the standard biscuits and the packets of mini Jammie Dodgers.
Speaking about the recipe change, Kate Needham, Marketing Director at Burtons Biscuits, said: ‘We have listened to our biscuit fans and are pleased to announce that we’ve moved once again to a dairy-free recipe.
‘Family fun is at the Jammie heart of our brand, so it’s important to us that the whole family – and families of all lifestyles – can share a pack. Thanks to the new recipe, we’re happy that will now be more possible.
‘But that’s not all, with our household classic seeing a surge in popularity, you can expect to see lots more fun and mischief coming from the UK’s favourite Jammie biscuit brand going forwards! It’s an exciting time to be a Jammie Dodger fan.’
The magical dresses (Picture: Allure Bridals/Disney)
The dream of looking like a Disney princess on your wedding day can now be a reality.
Disney has launched a new line of princess-inspired wedding dresses that are, quite literally, the stuff of fairytales.
The 16 magical designs have been brought to life by Allure Bridal and each garment is inspired by Disney princesses Aurora, Jasmine, Cinderella, Pocahontas, Rapunzel, Princess Tiana, Ariel and Belle.
Most characters have two different dress styles to their name.
The Ariel dress (Picture: Allure Bridals/Disney)
It features a mermaid-style tail (Picture: Allure Bridals/Disney)
The two Ariel-themed gowns, naturally, feature a mermaid-style tail.
Both have cascading layers of soft tulle and organza – designed to resemble the rippling waves of the ocean. One is more muted while the other is embellished with pearls.
True Disney fans will notice the Belle-inspired wedding dress resembles the character’s off-the-shoulder yellow gown from the film.
The Belle dress (Picture: Allure Bridals/Disney)
The Belle gown resembles the shape of the yellow dress from the film (Picture: Allure Bridals/Disney)
Similarly, both Cinderella dresses pay homage to her glitzy glass slipper, with a plethora of crystals and sequins.
The Jasmine dress, on the other hand, features a long detachable train that’s rather reminiscent of the magic carpet.
The Jasmine-inspired gown (Picture: Allure Bridals/Disney)
The magic carpet-like train (Picture: Allure Bridals/Disney)
Some of the dresses in the collection have a more modern feel to them, like the Pocahontas one – which combines a sweetheart neckline with detailed spaghetti straps.
The Pocahontas design (Picture: Allure Bridals/Disney)
A more modern take (Picture: Allure Bridals/Disney)
At this moment in time, the collection is only available in boutiques across North America, with the Platinum collection exclusively at Kleinfeld Bridal stores in New York and Toronto.
Each dress is available in US sizes 0 to 30 (UK sizes 4 – 34) , with prices ranging from $1,200 (£921) to $10,000 (£7,861).
The more detailed the dress, the higher the price.
Lucky hamster (Picture: Lisa Murray-Lang / SWNS.COM)
Pet owner Lisa Murray-Lang, 44, enjoys spoiling her Syrian hamster, Spud.
Lisa uses cardboard boxes and dolls furniture to recreate iconic scenes for Spud to explore.
She hand-crafts every element – including tiny bar stools and hamster-themed artwork on the walls.
Lisa – a former graphic designer – tweaked the logos for her latest creation, turning the pub from Coronation Street into the ‘Rodent’s Return’ and Hogwarts into ‘Hamwarts’.
It takes Lisa up to three days to complete each set but she doesn’t mind as it gives her something to do in lockdown.
Lisa, a professional dog walker, has had to temporarily stop working and turned to model-making to pass the time.
Spud’s adventures have also taken him to 10 Downing Street and the National Gallery.
Spud loves his own little pub (Picture: Lisa Murray-Lang / SWNS.COM)
Lisa, from Birmingham, said: ‘Spud loves it – he’s always excited for his next adventure.
‘Every time time I get him out and it’s just to go in his ball now he’s disappointed.
‘Finding miniature dolls furniture online has opened up a whole new world.
‘I found him a tiny pair of gold glasses so Spud could look like Harry Potter. It’s a bit of fun and it gives me something to focus on.’
Lisa got Spud, who she named after the character in Trainspotting, in June 2019.
She started making the tiny scenes in March when the UK went into lockdown.
Lisa was first inspired by a video of guinea pigs running around a miniature scene.
Spud doing a bit of sightseeing (Picture: Lisa Murray-Lang / SWNS.COM)
She said: ‘My job as a pet sitter and dog walker came to a grinding halt during lockdown.
‘I needed a way to stay busy and then my friend sent me a video of guinea pigs in a tiny art gallery.
‘I thought: “That’s it, Spud has to go too!” And I got to work making my own version.’
Lisa started creating the sets as a way to kill time in lockdown (Picture: Lisa Murray-Lang / SWNS.COM)
For the things she couldn’t craft, such as beer taps for the pub, Lisa ordered doll house furniture online.
She said: ‘Any cardboard from deliveries we got has been a new adventure for Spud.
‘After making the art gallery, his next adventure was going to be a pub.
‘But it couldn’t just be any pub – it had to be an iconic one like The Rover’s Return.’
Spud in Hamwarts (Picture: Lisa Murray-Lang / SWNS.COM)
Lisa, who also has four cats, is hoping to turn Spud’s adventures into children’s books one day and has launched a crowdfunding page to pay for it.
She said: ‘Looking at me, you might think I’m mad, but it’s a bit of fun.
‘I’ve not got many options during lockdown so it’s a nice way to keep busy.’
Getting these easy moves wrong can be dangerous (Pictures: Getty/Metro.co.uk)
Gym workouts are great for strength, stability and overall fitness – but only if we’re doing the exercises correctly.
We’ve all seen those clueless people in the gym who are sitting backwards on the machine, or trying to do a leg workout on an abs machine, but more of us are getting the basics wrong than you might realise.
In fact, more than one in five people have been injured while exercising due to incorrect form, according to a new survey.
The research, conducted by FitRated, has uncovered the simple gym moves that lots of people are getting completely wrong – and it includes moves that most people think they have mastered.
The lat pulldown is the exercise performed incorrectly most— fewer than 1 in 3 people know the correct form.
The standard squat is the exercise most people are injured performing due to incorrect form, and ranks as the second-most incorrectly performed exercise.
The other moves where people weren’t sure on the correct form included a deadlift with a barbell, a body-weight lunge, a standard press-up and a bench press.
When quizzed on the correct form of each of these moves, a surprisingly large number of gym-goers were unable to identify the proper way to perform each exercise.
People can't recognise the correct form on these moves
Deadlift with a barbell
Body-weight lunge
Standard press-up
Bench press
Traditional sit-up
Forearm plank
This is worrying because good form is so important – doing these moves incorrectly, particularly with heavy weights involved, can be a recipe for serious injury.
And you don’t even need to pick up weights to accidentally hurt yourself at the gym. 35% of people incorrectly identified how to perform a traditional sit-up (either by pulling at the neck while the body is in motion or by leaving the arms overextended), and 32% incorrectly identified how to do a forearm plank.
So, we asked the fitness experts at FitRated to provide top tips for perfect form on some of the most common gym moves – so get studying before the gyms open up again:
Lat pull-down
Keep your chest tall/bring your chest to the bar.
Keep your elbows pointed straight down.
Squeeze your lats/think of pulling from your armpits.
Lower to your chin or just below.
Grab just outside your shoulders or a little wider.
Also try using the ‘V-grip’ handle.
Barbell squat
Stand with the bar on your upper-back, and your feet shoulder-width apart.
Squat down by pushing your knees to the side while moving hips back.
Break parallel by squatting down until your hips are lower than your knees.
Squat back up while keeping your knees out and chest up.
Stand with your hips and knees locked at the top.
Traditional sit-up
Lie on your back with bent knees and your feet anchored.
Tuck your chin into your chest to lengthen the back of your neck.
Interlace your fingers at the base of your skull, cross your arms with your hands on opposite shoulders, or place your palms down alongside your body.
Exhale as you lift your upper body up toward your thighs.
Inhale as you slowly lower yourself back down to the floor.
Forearm plank
How’s your plank looking? (Picture: Getty Images)
Get in the push-up position, only put your forearms on the ground instead of your hands.
Squeeze your glutes and tighten your abdominals.
Keep a neutral neck and spine.
Create a straight, strong line from head to toes – a plank, if you will.
Hold that position.
Deadlift
Walk to the bar. Stand with your mid-foot under the bar.
Grab the bar. Bend over without bending your legs.
Bend your knees. Drop into position by bending your knees until your shins touch the bar.
Lift your chest. Straighten your back by raising your chest.
Pull.
Shoulder press
Setup. Stand with the bar on your front shoulders.
Lift Your Chest. Raise your chest towards the ceiling by arching your upper-back.
Press. Take a big breath, hold it and press the bar in a vertical line.
Move forward. Stay close to the bar while you press the weight up.
Lockout.
Body weight lunge
Even the simple lunge is easy to get wrong (Picture: Getty Images)
Stand tall with feet hip-width apart. Engage your core.
Take a big step forward with right leg. Start to shift your weight forward so heel hits the floor first.
Lower your body until right thigh is parallel to the floor and right shin is vertical. It’s OK if your knee shifts forward a little as long as it doesn’t go past right toe. If mobility allows, lightly tap left knee to the floor while keeping weight in right heel.
Press into right heel to drive back up to starting position.
Repeat on the other side.
Bent-over row
Walk to the bar. Stand with your mid-foot under the bar. Don’t touch it with your shins.
Grab the bar. Use a medium grip width.
Unlock your knees. Keep your hips higher than on the deadlift.
Lift your chest. Straighten your back.
Row. Take a big breath, hold it and pull the bar against your lower chest.
Standard push-up
Back straight, hips not lifted or sagging.
Keep your toes and heels together.
Hands at chest level, wider than shoulder width apart.
Eyes looking at the ground three feet in front of your head.
As you bend your elbows and lower toward the ground, your elbows should be at about a 45-degree angle to your body.
Go down until your chest is one inch off the ground.
Beginner push-up rhythm – down SLOW, up FAST.
Bench press
Lie on the bench with your eyes under the bar.
Grab the bar with a medium grip-width (thumbs around the bar!).
Unrack the bar by straightening your arms.
Lower the bar to your mid-chest.
Press the bar back up until your arms are straight.
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