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UGG is best known for its super plush boots, whether it is the Ultra Mini Boot to the Classic Tall Boot, as well as the luxurious Scuffette II slippers. 

The fashion brand has continued to expand its array of footwear styles over the years to include the sell-out Tazz and Tasman boots, but there are some new kicks on the block. The latest drop comes in the form of trainers, which we were not expecting, but are pleasantly surprised by. 

The new release sees three new trainer styles, including the Lo Lowmel, Lowmel and Retrofi Low trainer. 

The 22-piece collection, which spans across the three new styles, are available in various neutral colourways, and available for women, men, as well as children. 

The price ranges from £90 for the Kids Lo Lowmel Trainer up to £140 for the Retrofi Low Trainer. 

The trainers range from ankle length trainers, to high tops, chunky platform soles, and some feature UGG’s iconic fur detail. 

Whether you pair with jeans, a chunky knitted top, a t-shirt and statement jacket, a full tracksuit, or leggings and a jumper is up to you. 

Trainers are all we live in from day to night, shopping sprees, running errands, to even some bars and pubs. The main dilemma is we can’t decide between the three styles, plus stock is selling out fast. 

Shop Ugg’s New Trainers

Women's Retrofi Low Trainer

The chunky trainer promises optimum comfort for hours of wear.Made from a molded foam footbed and responsive sugarcane EVA midsole, for the desired support and cushioning. The upper section has been crafted from suede and recycled textiles. The shoe has a lace up fastening on the bridge of the foot, while the rubber sole, which is elevated, provides support, flexibility and protection to prevent the wearer from slipping and sliding.Available in three colours, including chestnut, black and ceramic off -white, in UK shoe sizes 3 to 9.

BUY NOW FOR £140

Women's Lowmel Trainer

The Lowmel Trainer is a high top design that comes further up the ankle. The upper has been crafted from a suede and textile hybrid, while a mesh section has been added to help with ventilation. The collar hugging the ankle is padded for extra comfort. The molded EVA footbed, combined with the sugarcane EVA outsole, provides a comfortable fit. The platform sole adds extra height, while the base has grooves to keep you on your toes. These trainers also feature chunky round laces, which are a stylistic feature as well as practical detail; wearers can tie them up to keep their feet in place, or leave them open.

BUY NOW FOR £140

Women's Lo Lowmel Trainer

The Lo Lowmel are very similar to the Lowmel Trainer, but they are lower rise. We would liken them to Nike Dunks.The upper has been made from a combination of suede and recycled canvas that is lightweight and comfortable, while the base features the same sugarcane EVA outsole to mold to the wearer's foot. It also boasts a chunky platform sole to add extra height, as well as chunky laces. Available in four colours, including black, chestnut, grey and off-white.

BUY NOW FOR £125

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Pancake Day, otherwise known as Shrove Tuesday, is today, which only means one thing – pans at the ready. 

Some believe the family recipe, which has been passed down through the generations, is the key to tasty, and flippable, pancakes that won’t stick to the pan (or the ceiling). 

However, the real secret to the perfect pancake, and easy tossing, is the pan. 

A non-stick pan is a game-changer when it comes to Pancake Day, as well as when cooking other meals, as it helps to cook evenly and effortlessly, without leaving any remnants of your feast glued to the pan.  A non-stick pan also enhances your flipping availability, and makes for stress-free washing up as you don’t have to scrape and soak the pan for hours. Plus, it means less oil is needed to cook with.

The key to preserving your non-stick pans is to use gentle utensils, as well as cleaning tools and appliances, that won’t scratch the non-stick surface.

Non-stick pans are available in a variety of sizes, but when it comes to Pancake Day we strongly recommend a smaller pan to create the perfectly shaped design, too big and they can turn into a crepe, or it makes it harder to flip. 

Whether you like thin crepes or American-style thick pancakes, serve yours with lemon and sugar, maple syrup and bacon, Nutella, or maybe you opt for a savoury alternative, you need a non-stick pan to help you create the delicious morsels. 

From Ninja, Our Place to ProCook and M&S, we have found the best non-stick pans to stock your kitchen cupboards ahead of Pancake Day, which falls on 3rd March this year.

Shop The Best Non-Stick Pans

Our Place Mini Always Pan 2.0

A compact version of the cult-favourite Always Pan, the Our Place Mini Always Pan 2.0 is designed for effortless, multifunctional cooking. The mini pan measures 21.6cm, and though it may be small, it’s multifunctional. This design replaces numerous cooking appliances because it doubles up as a frying pan, saucepan, and steamer that you can fry, saute, grill, steam, roast and bake with. Crafted from aluminium with a ceramic non-stick coating, which ensures even heat distribution and easy cleaning, this pan is the perfect design for small kitchens or single servings. Compatible with gas, as well as induction hobs, and safe to use in the oven. It’s robust, durable, and has a longlife, so it’s worth investing in.

BUY NOW FOR £100

M&S Collection Stainless Steel 20cm Small Non-Stick Frying Pan

Perfect for everyday cooking, the M&S Collection 20cm Small Frying Pan combines durability with convenience. Made from stainless steel and M&S’ signature StayNew technology to provide a durable and long-lasting design. The riveted handle provides a secure grip, it has a diameter of 20cm and can hold up to 110ml. Plus, it is suitable for all hobs, including induction, and is oven and dishwasher safe. It is also available in larger sizes for those wanting a matching set.

BUY NOW FOR £19.50

Ninja ZEROSTICK Stackable 24cm Frying Pan

Built for durability, longevity and convenience, the Ninja ZEROSTICK 24cm Stackable Frying Pan is a space-saving piece of kit ideal for those stuck for storage space.More importantly, the Zerostick technology promises to be 20 times tougher than traditional non-stick pans, and makes it chip, scratch and flake resistant. Made from forged aluminium, with an anodised exterior, and cast stainless steel handles, which ensure an even temperature distribution and that the pan retains that heat. It is suitable for all hob types, is oven safe up to 260°C, and dishwasher safe, plus it looks sleek on the hob or packed away thanks to the dented handle to slot on top of other appliances.

BUY NOW FOR £49.99

Prestige Thermo Smart Frying Pan 24cm

The Prestige Thermo Smart 24cm Frying Pan is an innovative design. The aluminium design features a non-stick and ultra hard-wearing layer that has been crafted from real diamonds, which is durable, and scratch-proof. It also boasts a Thermo Smart heat indicator handle, which turns green when the pan is hot enough and ready to use. The soft-grip handle also provides comfort and control when cooking your feast. Safe for all hobs, as well as the oven and dishwasher for easy cooking and cleaning.

BUY NOW FOR £33.99

Jean Patrique Cast Iron Non-Stick Frying Pan

Designed for high-performance cooking, the Jean Patrique Cast Iron Frying Pan offers superior heat retention and even cooking. Made from cast iron with a non-stick coating, this pan combines traditional cookware styles with modern convenience. It is PTFE and PFOA Free, suitable for all stovetops, as well as the oven (up to 662°C).However, it must be hand washed.

BUY NOW FOR £28.99

ProCook Gourmet Non-Stick Mini Frying Pan

The ProCook Gourmet Mini Frying Pan features a durable aluminium body with a ceramic non-stick coating, which makes cooking, and cleaning, a breeze. The soft-grip handle ensures optimum comfort and a sturdy grip when flipping pancakes. Suitable for gas, electric and ceramic hobs, as well as the oven. Though the affordable pan must be hand washed after use.

BUY NOW FOR £8

Tefal Taste Twin Frying Pan Set

A versatile set for all your cooking needs, the Tefal Taste Twin Frying Pan Set includes two pans, one measuring 20cm and the other 26cm, which is ideal for those replacing existing appliances or buying brand new longlasting pans. The aluminium pans feature a PTFE non-stick exterior, while Tefal’s signature Thermo-Spot technology is useful to indicate when the pan is hot and ready to use. Also suitable for all hobs.

BUY NOW FOR £28.99 (WAS £36)

Tower Cerastone T81242 Forged Frying Pan with Non-Stick Coating

The Tower pan is available in six sizes, ranging from 20 to 32cm, so customers can shop one small design for their pancakes, or the entire set. The body has been crafted from forged aluminium, which, combined with the multi-layered ceramic stone coating provides a non-stick base, and durable design to cook any meal. The bonded steel base ensures even heat distribution, while the stay cool handle protects the budding chef from any injuries in the kitchen.

BUY NOW FOR £11.99 (Was £13.99)

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For years, Primark fans have begged for a nationwide Click and Collect option to make their shopping experience easier.

And now, the retailer has finally answered the call.

Following a trial where around a third of stores began offering the service on a limited range (and a rush of orders led the website to crash), it’s set to be launched across the country over the next few months.

Primark has confirmed it will offer Click and Collect in all 186 UK stores by summer, with 18 locations being added to the list last week as part of the staggered rollout.

Customers can browse and order from thousands of products across women’s, men’s, kids clothing and homeware on the Primark website, before picking up their items in store from two days later, at a time that suits them.

The service also gives shoppers access to buys they might not otherwise be able to get in their local store, including Primark’s new adaptive clothing range, specially designed around the needs of those living with a disability.

It’ll come as welcome news for the numerous X users who urged the brand to bring it to their local stores, with @abbigabbitalkswho writing: ‘Primark bringing click and collect?? Need that.’

‘Finally Primark are doing a proper click and collect,’ rejoiced @mxriepriv alongside a happy tears emoji, while @_akabambi added: ‘Primark offering click and collect is so dangerous for my bank account.’

Those who had tried the service sung its praises too.

‘Click and collect is game changing,’ said @JessCCorcoran. ‘No more fighting the folded shelves of either XS or XL.’

Kari Rodgers, UK Retail Director at Primark, commented: ‘We know that our customers love the convenience that Click and Collect offers, as well as the opportunity to access ranges otherwise only found in larger stores.

‘With the rollout now due to complete in time for summer, we hope this will help make summer holiday shopping that little bit easier.’

This follows a period of expansion from the brand, where £100 million was invested into upgrading existing stores and opening new ones.

As part of the plan, Primark Westfield Stratford will be doubled in size to a behemoth 81,000 sq ft – making it the second-biggest in the country – and branches in Epsom, Bury St. Edmunds, Teesside Park and Glasgow Fort are due to hit the high street.

The retail giant also announced its first-ever standalone homeware store, due to open in Belfast this month.

Fountain House will feature an even bigger assortment of Primark’s beloved interiors range at the same bargain prices, with reed diffusers for as little as 80p and towels from £1.80 alongside larger furniture items like £50 storage benches and £45 side tables.

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Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.

Three months after the birth of my second child, I was home alone with my three-month-old baby son, talking on the phone to my best friend, Melanie.

Ever since we’d bonded at work as administrators in the NHS over our love of all things Disney and a shared obsession with the movie Beetlejuice three years earlier, we’d become inseparable.

We often talked on the phone for hours so that day in July 2019, seemed no different. That is, until I couldn’t get my words out. 

Mel said my speech came out slurred and that all of a sudden, I wasn’t making any sense at all. She knew straight away it was an emergency. 

Mel had a close relative who’d had a stroke roughly five years earlier so, knowing garbled speech like mine was one of the signs, she knew she had to act fast.

Mel immediately contacted my mum (who lived close by), which meant she got to me within six minutes. 

However, when she arrived, my front door was locked. With no other option, because my partner wasn’t close by, and I was slipping away with every minute, she then called 999.

Police and ambulance services arrived and smashed the glass on my front door so they could get to me. By that point I was dead weight and unconscious.

The next thing I remember is waking up on the stroke ward at University College London Hospital on what was my 24th birthday.

When I fully came around the doctor’s told me what happened: I’d had a major stroke.

Apparently I’d gone into cardiac arrest in the ambulance, and then again when we arrived at the hospital. Frankly, I was lucky to be alive.

My first thought was of my kids, but Mel had arranged for my sister to look after my son and my daughter was staying with a friend. She saved them from being alone for what could’ve been a whole weekend.

Then the reality of what I’d just been through hit me, yet I simply refused to believe it.

Having worked in a hospital for so long I thought I knew what a stroke looked like; in my mind I couldn’t possibly have had one. I thought to myself: ‘I’m too young. Everyone else in the stroke ward is in their 70s and 80s!’

Of course, it was then explained to me in detail that a stroke can happen to anyone at any age.

In my case, doctors felt the most likely reason was due to something called a patent foramen ovale (PFO) – a small hole in the heart that exists in everyone before birth and most often closes shortly after being born. 

I understood but still couldn’t quite believe it. I’d been walking, talking, laughing and doing all my usual things right up to the stroke. What could’ve possibly changed?

Luckily I recovered well and, anxious to get home to my baby boy, was discharged from hospital two days post stroke. 

I was informed of the medication I’d now be on – blood thinners to prevent clots – and of my upcoming hospital appointments including something called a bubble echo study.

Also known as a bubble contrast echocardiogram, the test is essentially an ultrasound combined with an injection of microbubbles to assess the structure and function of the heart. And, as it turned out, I did have a PFO.

Suddenly a lot of things in my life made sense. Throughout my life I had continuously complained of chest pains, I’ve had countless ECGs and exams, and just a few months before the stroke I was told I had an irregular heartbeat.

Now we knew what the problem was, we could fix it. In the meantime though, I had to learn to cope with the after effects of my stroke.

Three months after I was discharged I lost my sense of taste. Then I developed weakness down my left side, which made walking difficult, as well as pain and fatigue.

Three months after I was discharged I lost my sense of taste. Then I developed weakness down my left side

My memory was also badly affected – I kept forgetting to do the exercises my physio gave me, or I would put food on to cook and forget about it, so it would burn – but I was determined not to let it beat me.

Six months after my stroke, I returned to my job (which, in hindsight, was too soon) and tried to keep up with the demands of looking after my health, family and other commitments like nothing had changed.

Of course, a lot had.

Going from a fully mobile, athletic and energetic mum to struggling with fatigue and doing my usual daily activities was a major change and I didn’t know how to balance it all.

Fortunately, both my family and Mel were extremely supportive – Mel was someone I could lean on, sometimes literally, without judgement – and I also found the charity Different Strokes.

They support working-age stroke survivors by offering peer support, providing a variety of services to help them and their families reclaim their lives, and a Facebook group where survivors can share their ups and downs as well as get support and advice.

Sharing my story to its 8,000 strong community, I received such a warm response and amazing support from other young stroke survivors. I realised I was not alone.

In fact, with their help, I also recognised that I’d been too focused on getting back to work and needed to turn my focus back to my physical recovery.

For the last year, I’ve been working on my health: I go to the gym three days a week and do exercises like hip abductions and grip strengthening for my hands. I also do 30 minute walks on the treadmill, and it’s all made a huge difference. 

Last summer I was even able to take my kids on outings to Thorpe Park and Kew Gardens, and recently we went on the London Eye and to Shrek World.

These activities would have been impossible a few years ago as I just wasn’t physically strong enough. But now I’m getting there.

As proud as I am of my progress though, I still want to raise awareness – especially as Black and Asian people are twice as likely to suffer from a stroke and often have strokes at a younger age.

That’s why I now volunteer with Different Strokes’ Black and Asian Stroke Survivors Project, to encourage people to raise their own medical concerns with their GP. 

I had chest pains for years, which I had mentioned to doctors, but I never got the attention I should have until my stroke. 

I’m fortunate that my PFO has now been fixed, but if it had been detected earlier and closed, I probably wouldn’t have had a stroke in the first place. All of us, doctors and the general public, must do more to be stroke aware.

I’m only here today thanks to Mel’s quick thinking. Without her, I could’ve been dead. There’s no sugarcoating that one. She saved my life and I’m thankful for that every day.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk. 

Share your views in the comments below.

Defeating my eating disorder has undoubtedly been the biggest achievement in my life to date.

I say ‘defeating’ – and that’s very much what I identify it as – but anyone with the illness will know that it never truly goes away.

That’s one of the things I was warned of when I began my fight back against bulimia nervosa, which I had suffered with since a light-hearted comment about my ‘chubby’ body from a friend when I was 13.

17 years later, after huge health implications including messed up electrolytes that landed me in hospital several times, I was ready for this crux in my life to be gone.

It was not easy, but then I never expected it to be. After a few failed attempts over the years to get a handle on it, this time I really meant it after a hospital doctor’s warning that it could end up killing me.

With an extremely supportive wife and family by my side along the way, I attended therapies, spoke to nutritionists and gradually began to hack away at the feelings of self-loathing.

I kept positivity diaries, I upended my diet and I repeatedly congratulated myself on every small step, even if this was just managing to keep a snack down.

For myself – and every lived experience is different – getting into the mindset of knowing how important this was to those who loved me became a driving force to success.

What started off as their reluctance to ‘guilt’ me turned into them being my biggest cheerleaders.

For my mum, who I had confided my eating disorder in just a year into the notoriously secretive condition, she has been on this hellish journey with me.

In many ways, it’s just as difficult for those around you. Every day feeling that this person who means everything to you is putting their life at risk must be all-consuming, yet there are so many fluctuating rules on what you can and can’t say.

How do you support someone through this without applying pressure, without using incorrect terminology sometimes, or without crossing lines that could set things back a stage?

It’s impossible.

So when I found myself at a place where I could finally eat three meals a day and consistently let them digest, the relief for my wife and my family was palpable.

I can’t lie, I basked in their joys, their congratulations, their compliments and their pride in me.

Being called amazing and an inspiration was like nectar – it meant the world and still does.

Drunk on this, it was everything I needed to keep going and regain normality.

For the next weeks and months, I would either boast about how this week had ‘no incidents’ and receive a similar response.

Other times, a family member or a friend might tentatively ask ‘and how is it all going?’

I would be able to then give them the good news.

Of course, that can’t last forever and nor did I expect it to. What I didn’t expect was how alone I started to feel a couple of years down the line when I no longer had this excitable cheerleading.

It’s no longer big news, why should it be?

But no matter how far you get into a recovery period, the voices in the back of your mind, telling you you’re worthless, pointing out a roll of fat or encouraging you just to treat yourself and have one binge – it’s always there.

Sometimes, it’s simply apparent and dormant, other times it’s screaming into your ears and you can think of nothing else.

And that’s why a recovery will still always be a fight. The voice is often easier to beat down, certainly moreso than when it had you in its full grip, but it’s an undeniably hard way of life when it creeps in again.

So that’s where the relapse came in. Relapses are all part of the recovery process, as medical experts will tell you. This is especially true in the early stages and, so long as you get back on that bike, they are expected and not a big deal.

However, this one was different. It took just one bout of depression induced by my bipolar disorder to spiral. I naively thought the voice was gone, but it was back with a vengeance.

My mind was telling me, ‘wow you really DID get fat again, didn’t you?’ Whether that was true or not meant little to the demon in my brain.

One incident became many and, terrifyingly, I feared I was back to square one. Were it not for the understanding and support of my wife, maybe I would still be there.

What no-one warns you about is the battle that comes into play when everyone has ‘lost interest’. The novelty of beating the eating disorder is gone. Everyone has moved on, but for me, I was still there sometimes.

Recalling the relief and elation from others that I enjoyed at the start, I couldn’t dare tell anyone I was relapsing. I didn’t want to break their hearts.

My wife knew, but for anyone else, I kept up the pretense that this was gone, I was ‘better’.

If anyone would have asked, I’d have downright lied.

It lasted a number of months and I had all but given up until an epiphany. I don’t know if it was a sudden fear for my health again. Or the change in medication for my mental health that appeared to be positive. Or the desire to make my wife proud.

But something snapped again – I knew it was now or never; if I let this continue one step further, I’d be back to square one and, at 35-years-old, I felt I’d be in no place to start all over again.

I am not fully back to where I was and this is the first time I will admit that to a wider circle. But I am getting better.

That determination is back and the nasty voice is waning.

Most importantly of all, I still beat my eating disorder. A relapse will never take that away from me. My status hasn’t changed – I am in recovery. I always will be.

I won’t let a blip beat me and, before long, claiming that I am totally fine will be the absolute truth again.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk. 

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Everyone knows about the dangers of black mould, but what about its pal, pink mould?

The pinkish-reddish-toned bacteria – yes, bacteria, not technically mould – loves the moist, damp conditions of an English winter. And while you may have spotted it and decided it’s an issue for another day, one doctor is warning that it’s actually a ‘now problem’.

Taking to TikTok, Dr Karan Raj warned his 5.3 million followers that if not dealt with correctly, the slime, also known as serratia marcescens, can have some pretty icky side effects for humans.

Explaining why you’re most likely to find it in and around your shower, he said: ‘It enjoys munching on fatty deposits like those found in soaps and shampoos, hence why it likes to hang out in the bathroom.’

And although it is mostly harmless, the doctor noted that it’s best to get rid of it as soon as you spy it, so you don’t accidentally get it in ‘your eyes or open wounds’.

This is because any contact with your eyes can result in an eye infection, including conjunctivitis, which the NHS describes as an inflammation of the conjunctiva and eyelid, causing redness, itchiness and sometimes pus.

Dr Suzanne Wylie, GP and medical adviser for IQdoctor echoes Dr Raj, saying this slimy substance can cause ‘opportunistic infections’ if not dealt with.

‘Skin infections, urinary tract infections (UTIs), and conjunctivitis have been linked to serratia marcescens, especially in hospital settings,’ she tells Metro. ‘Inhaling or coming into frequent contact with the bacteria may also contribute to mild respiratory irritation in some people.’

Thankfully, for the majority of people, these risks are short-term and mostly limited to skin or respiratory irritation. However, Dr Wylie warns if you or someone in your home with pink mould is immunocompromised, you’ll want to take your pink mould situation more seriously.

‘In vulnerable individuals, prolonged exposure or infection could lead to more serious complications, such as persistent respiratory issues, urinary tract infections, or, in rare cases, bloodstream infections,’ she explains, adding that in some cases, it has even been linked to hospital-acquired sepsis.

With this in mind, people undergoing chemotherapy, organ transplant recipients or people with chronic illnesses like diabetes should be extra cautious around the bacteria, and have it removed as soon as they notice it.

Elderly people, infants and young children, as well as people with respiratory conditions, should also follow these guidelines.

Everything to know about 'pink mould'

What is pink mould?

Pink ‘mould’ isn’t actually mould, rather a bacteria called serratia marcescens.

Where is pink mould found?

The bacteria thrives in warm and damp areas, so it’s most commonly found in bathrooms, particularly showers, baths, benches, sinks, and toilets.

What are the effects of pink mould?

The bacteria’s side effects aren’t typically too worrisome. However, if it ends up in your eye or an open wound, it can cause an infection.

If you are immunocompromised, elderly or suffer from respiratory conditions, it could also result in chest and gut infections, urinary tract infections (UTIs), and sometimes pneumonia, a lung infection, or sepsis.

So now that we know all about the bacteria itself, how does one go about getting rid of it?

Multiple cleaning products are on shelves that can help, but if you’re not up for a trip to the shops, this home remedy is just as effective.

The experts at Rubber Duck Bathrooms suggest mixing a slightly runny paste of washing-up liquid and baking soda in a bowl and using it with a scrubbing brush to remove the build-up of pink bacteria.

Alternatively, Dr Wylie advises using a ‘non-abrasive bathroom cleaner, white vinegar, or a diluted bleach solution’ and a damp cloth while wearing gloves and a mask to down the surface.

Once it’s gone, you can also do things to prevent its return, like regularly washing shower curtains.

Or, after every shower or bath, wipe down those surfaces and tiles in your bathroom with a towel or squeegee.

It’s also recommended to improve ventilation, which can be as simple as opening your bathroom window for 10 to 20 minutes after a hot shower or bath to let the damp air out.

And of course, you should regularly clean your bathroom and any other room with conditions that encourage the growth of pink mould.

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Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.

Shakily biting into a small spoonful of paella, I silently prayed that my partner, Piyus, wasn’t watching. 

Even though we’d been dating for a whole year, I hadn’t dared eat in front of him until now.   

I was too scared of spilling something down myself or getting food on my face and that he’d point or laugh at me for making a mess. A fear that I’d held onto for years.  

As a child, other kids at school had started teasing me for ‘walking like a robot’, and I became self-conscious about how I came across to others. So though I wasn’t a particularly messy eater, I became paranoid that it would become the next thing they’d pick on.  

That’s when I decided to give up eating in front of anyone entirely – even those closest to me.  

It was easy to get away with at first. My parents worked long hours in a shop, meaning we never ate together.   

But big family gatherings became a nightmare: I’d either go hungry or only eat foods that wouldn’t make a mess – like crisps, which could be broken up into tiny pieces. Even then, I’d nibble them in my room, or in the corner where no-one could see. 

I thought I was just self-conscious at the time, but years of training has helped me realise I was suffering from Social Anxiety Disorder.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) estimates up to 12% of people in the UK are affected by social anxiety at some point in their lives and I was one of them.  

It is described as a fear of doing everyday activities – like catching a bus, walking in public or filling the car with petrol – with those affected worrying they are being laughed at or judged by onlookers. 

My fear came with all of those activities but eating was the worst. Yet I hid my problem so well from my parents that they had no idea what I was going through and probably never will. 

Experts say that social anxiety often gets better with age, but by the time I was 18 and at university, things were getting bad.  

If I had no choice but to eat in public, I’d hide away in the corner and only eat items that were impossible to make a mess with – like chopped fruit or pasta. 

I received counselling through university, which helped a little bit, and the GP offered me antidepressants but never took them.  

Things got so bad that I attempted suicide. 

Around that same time, I met Piyus, who spotted my problem when I kept sending him away at lunchtimes. That’s when I confessed to him what was going on – the only person I’d told other than my best friend. 

To my relief, he couldn’t have been more supportive and our connection continued to grow.  

Eventually, after a year together, I finally let him take me on our first ‘proper’ date to a restaurant.  

I chose paella, a meal with ingredients that would stick together so it wouldn’t go everywhere and Piyus casually carried on eating, which allowed my fears to quickly fade away.  

It was a huge step and I knew then that Piyus was the one. However, it’d still be a long time before I’d ever feel truly comfortable eating in front of anyone.  

At our wedding, four years later, my disordered eating was still crippling me and I had to get Piyus to distract our guests so nobody would notice that I was barely touching my food. 

At my job as an optometrist, I felt forced to have lunch facing the wall at a nearby coffee shop as there was nowhere private I could eat.  

One time at a pizza restaurant with friends, I picked at a yoghurt dessert instead of a main meal as I was so paranoid about eating slices in front of people.   

Eventually, I decided enough was enough and paid for private Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) – a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave – in which I was set tasks to face my fears head-on. 

It started with small things like going alone to a café to people watch. That exercise alone taught me that others were too wrapped up in their own lives to pay me any attention.  

Gradually, my fears eased to the point where I was able to eat small meals in front of people, using a knife and fork to cut it into pieces first. 

By the time Piyus and I had our girls – Sienna, in 2011 and Isla, in 2013 – I was able to eat family meals with them at home, but I still couldn’t eat normally at meals out or big family parties. 

Worried about the impact my disordered eating could one day have on them, I became even more determined to do something about it. That’s why, in 2018, I decided to become a Rapid Transformation Therapy Practitioner.  

Rapid Transformation Therapy allows you to understand where these beliefs came from, why they arose in someone’s life and then works on letting go of what no longer serves us and rewiring the neural pathways for better beliefs.  

As part of my training, I had to have my own counselling and discovered my fears had stemmed from childhood – I never felt good enough and always wanted to fit in and belong. 

I had to learn to accept that I didn’t need to be perfect and that we all embarrass ourselves occasionally. And it really helped to remind myself that, half the time, no-one is paying any attention anyway.  

From that moment on, things got gradually easier and today, aged 41, I’m in a much better place.  

I still have to push myself to eat things in a way that might make a mess – like eating a burger in a restaurant last year with my hands. But on the whole, I feel a lot better.  

The biggest difference now is that I can go out to eat with Piyus and the girls and order what I really want to eat, not just what will make less of a mess. 

Just recently, I even faced my biggest fear of all when I bit into a bagel in front of my boss and the cream cheese filling spilled out everywhere. He didn’t so much as bat an eyelid and I felt elated.    

I spent years avoiding things and certain foods because I was scared of being embarrassed. But now I know I have nothing to fear.    

Life can be messy, and for once, I’m OK with that.  

As told to Carina Platt

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‘I don’t want you to feel insecure,’ my mum said, as she looked at me with pity, ‘we will pay for a hair transplant.’ 

I was only 18, which is young to be balding but the process had actually started a few years before that.

I had confided in my parents about it so that they could help me try to figure out a way to not be self-conscious about it – not to offer to pay for a hair transplant. 

I was not thrilled about the prospect of losing my hair but more than that, cosmetic surgery was not on the list of things I wanted to discuss with my parents. It felt embarrassing.

I knew they were still paying off their house at the time so $10,000 USD (nearly £8,000) to buy their son a rug was out of the question. 

After the initial outburst and insisting my mother to ‘just drop it!’, I gathered my emotions and said: ‘Mum, I appreciate the offer. I don’t want a hair transplant and I also don’t want to talk to you about this anymore.’  

The first person to notice I was going bald was actually my sister, who was a hair stylist.

At 14 in 1999, I had a routine haircut with my mum when my sister said: ‘Kevin, your hair is thinning, you are getting a bald spot.’ 

Mum rushed over as they combed through the crown of my head, both attempting to assess whether this was new or a development that could be slowed or stopped. Disbelief was my first reaction. 

Within one year, my mother booked a doctor’s appointment to see if there was anything seriously wrong. 

A doctor that looked like George Clooney entered the small sterile examination room with a sombre look: ‘Kevin, you have an incurable disease. Androgenic alopecia,’ He let out a deep breath, ‘I’m sorry.’ 

‘Oh no, what is that? Is he going to be OK?’ my mum worried aloud. 

‘I think he will be OK because that is just a fancy term for… male pattern baldness,’ the doctor made a face to punctuate his already failing joke. 

That was the joke – make a high schooler think he has cancer of some sort, then pull the rug out from under him. The worst part was how thick the doctor’s hair was. He didn’t know the life of a bald man, it wasn’t his place to joke about it. 

I felt deeply self-conscious for the first time in my life. My mother wanted to do anything to make it go away and the doctor – who surely saw much worse conditions every day – wasn’t crushing it with his bedside manner. 

He ran through my options – get a hair transplant, get on finasteride and rogaine (hair loss drugs) or go bald. 

Hair transplants were expensive and were not yet as perfected as they are these days, while finasteride can cause early onset erectile dysfunction. But going bald? Completely free! No impact on erections! 

After the doctor’s appointment, my mum would sheepishly bring up the hair transplant every few months, as she could see the process of my androgenic alopecia naturally taking its course. 

The doctor explained that hair loss drugs are best to retain the hair you have and they are only partially effective at growing hair back. So, the longer I waited the more the thinning would become permanent – it felt urgent. 

All of this was clouding my mind – I would’ve rather been thinking about graduating high school instead. 

I went into denial for a few years. By 18, reality was setting in. I was reaching a crucial decision point – and that’s when she seriously offered to pay for the hair transplant.

In the ensuing years, I wore various hats: baseball, beanie, fedora. I got used to wearing them to hide my scalp, as there was less and less hair.  

When I didn’t wear hats, the biggest enemies of my thinning hair were the elements – wind and rain. 

Then one incident when I was 22 changed everything. I was out to dinner with some friends, with no hat, a perfectly arranged head of hair, and hair spray to keep it in place. 

When we left the restaurant, the wind blew and the rain poured and by the time I got to the car my hair was a wet thin mess. My (poorly) but carefully covered scalp was exposed. 

That night, I wrote in my journal: ‘I want to feel joy and comfort in how I look. Every time I try not to care, I start caring. So after years of worry and self consciousness and my mind being focused on my hair, I pray that by buzzing it off and facing my head, and not trying to cover it up, God will just give me relief and happiness in who I am.’ 

Sure enough, I went to the bathroom and shaved my head. And I have never looked back. 

Before that point, I’d worried about everything from being attractive to women to getting cast in acting jobs, and – with hindsight – it honestly turned out not to make any difference. I’d taken control. 

Looking back, I can comfortably say that going bald is much harder than being bald. Whatever hair loss represents, it is difficult to swallow; it brings up thoughts of death, aging and a general loss of attractiveness. 

Not to mention the way it’s easily joked about. That was all a lot to handle for a teenager and young adult. 

Embarrassment, discomfort, frustration – they were overwhelming for me. But in the ensuing years, I found starting stand up comedy a huge help.  

It was cathartic to get on stage and talk about the doctor’s appointment or kids laughing at my bald head when I took my hat off. There is something that happens once an audience laughs and all that discomfort turns into a connection and conversation with the crowd.  

After performing my show, Diary of a Bald Kid, I’d get many audience members say, ‘Kevin, honestly, you look better bald. I can’t imagine you with hair.’  

I am 39 now and a happily bald man. In fact, I like the way I look. 

I look at that journal entry from when I was 22 and I understand that young man’s fears, so I am glad to be on the other side of the process. 

At the end of the day, what I longed for was to not care. To just like who I was and like my body for what it was. 

I have nothing against hair plugs, transplants, toupees, hats, Rogaine or anything else. Let a thousand flowers bloom but, for me, what I deeply wanted was to be my authentic self and I could feel in my heart that I was not comfortable. 

Lately, my social media algorithm floods me with ads for hair transplants, hair loss drugs, and all kinds of experimental therapies for male pattern baldness. They always begin with some sort of hook like ‘We all know going bald sucks’ – and that is true. It did. 

But choosing what nature intended was the best choice I could have made. I learned a lot about myself – mainly that I have a really well-shaped head.  

I can’t imagine myself with hair now either. My mum agrees – and is really happy to have saved $10,000.

Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing James.Besanvalle@metro.co.uk. 

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Our preconceptions of screaming kids and lobster-red boozers crammed into sun loungers put us off cruising. But we couldn’t have been more wrong.

I’ll be honest, my husband Tom and I are probably holiday snobs, and have these romantic notions of discovering wild beaches and the real, lesser-travelled nooks and crannies of a place. Rules, be gone, all we need is a dogeared Lonely Planet and a damp finger in the air.

Well, that’s more my style anyway. If Tom had his way we’d be working to a tightly-planned, laminated (preferably) itinerary with complete adherence to everything on it throughout the trip. But, marriage is a partnership.

To put our usual holidays into perspective, before lockdown, we stumbled on a beach whilst travelling around Goa. It could only be accessed via a clapped out SUV that took us down a steep and treacherously rocky path – I’m talking neck dislocation from being flung around as the car slowly descended the boulder-strewn track towards the shore.

With only had a couple of tiny hotels, a deserted beach and a lagoon, it was so remote that even the beach dogs had bailed to a resort-heavy strip some way away. We, on the other hand were so captivated by our discovery that our plans to visit the rest of Goa were instantly binned. This place felt like Alex Garland’s book, ‘The Beach’, only less murdery.

So, you’ll understand how anxiety-inducing the idea of spending a week on a ship bigger than your average London five-star hotel – shoulder to shoulder with three and a half thousand people – could be.

It’s a world where shore days are booked in advance, orderly queues are formed, eye contact and conversations with strangers happen in the lifts and timings are a thing if you don’t want to be stranded in St Lucia (though I could think of worse things).

In short, our comfort zone was last seen at Heathrow Airport and would take two working weeks to relocate.

But for all our fretting, it has to be said, we acclimatised quickly once we’d clocked that there wasn’t a single child on board the P&O Britannia, and got checked into our balconied cabin with sea view and complementary bottle of bubbly. Funny, that. It turns out that having a deluxe cabin in easy reach of restaurants, bars and the pool is actually pretty reassuring. Spoiler alert, we ended up having a fantastic week, but this isn’t a cruise review.

Once we’d had a sharpener and explored the insanely large vessel on the first night, we got our bearings and headed down the ship to eat. And, here’s where the magic happened…

The Glasshouse isn’t just any tapas bar, it’s helmed by Spanish celebrity cooking powerhouse, José Pizarro. This same restaurant can also be found on board P&O’s other ships; Arvia, Azura, Iona and Ventura. The dishes are elevated-Spanish (if that’s even a category) but luckily they weren’t venturing into deconstructed haute cuisine. They still bore a strong likeness to their descriptions on the menu, thank goodness – we’re talking fan favourites like pan con tomate, lamb chops with patatas bravas, king prawns a la plancha, Iberico ham and my favourite, squid croquetas filled with their own ink.

Being handed the wine list was like receiving the keys to Willy Wonka’s boozy chocolate factory, thanks to TV’s wine whisperer, Olly Smith. He’s curated a fascinating list, full of classics, icons and lesser-known, discoverable treats. It’s adorned with fine wines from Tignanello by Antinori at the market retail price of £225 a bottle to Pintia by legendary Spanish producer, Vega Sicilia is £65 a bottle (its currently £75 in Threshers).

Without giving too much away, here were a few of Olly’s wines that made waves with us during our cruise. And since there are so many superb contenders, it was tough to only choose a selection.

Sparkling

Breaky Bottom, Cuvée Grace Nichols, England

• 175ml: £8.50
• Bottle: £38

I love that Breaky Bottom is front and centre on Olly’s wine list. It’s a lesser-known and beautifully eccentric sparkling wine producer from East Sussex.

Unusually, this cuvée is made from 100% Syval Blanc, not the triumvirate of Champagne grapes you’d expect to find in an English sparkling. The resulting flavours of Golden Delicious apple, river stone and lip smacking preserved lime will have you yearning for a second (and third) helping.

*£36 in Waitrose

White

Anhydrous, Santorini, Greece 

• 175ml: £13.95
• 250ml: £19.50
• Bottle: £52.50

Ah, Santorini; all blue rooftops, alabaster-white buildings against that turquoise sea. Aside from looking like a Zoom background, Santorini also produces some of the finest white wines in existence, counterintuitively due to its hostile growing conditions of aridity and a fierce wind that batters the vines.

This is an exceptional example, headed by their signature grape, Assyrtiko (ass-ear-tick-oh), giving preserved lemon and dried oregano with a lick of sea salt on the finish.

Or try: The Best Assyrtiko White Wine, £10.25, Morrisons

Orange

Naranjo, Torontel, Chile

• 175ml: £6.25
• Bottle: £24

Strikingly copper in colour, this is an orange wine that’s been fermented in giant concrete eggs for eight months.

The juice has been in contact with the pinkish skins of old-vine Torontel grapes, which is how you make a red wine though unusual for white grapes. This process brings in exotic notes of orange peel, cardamom, apricot and lychee and beautiful, mouth filling texture.

Or try: Côté Mas Orange Vin De France, £8.99 (£1 off), Waitrose

Red

Bedoba, Saperavi, Georgia

• 175ml: £7.50
• 250ml: £9.50
• Bottle: £28.50

Hands down the highlight wine of the trip for me. Saperavi is Georgia’s answer to Malbec, with a hint of Syrah about it. A percentage of the grapes are left to dry on the vine until November, then aged in underground, earthenware amphorae called ‘qvevri’. All of which adds oodles of intensity and concentration to the wine.

Interestingly, Saperavi is one of a handful of ‘teinturier’ grapes, red-pigmented in the flesh and skin. It’s savoury, spicy, inky-coloured and tasted of spiced blackberries, dried Mediterranean herbs and a quick twist of a pepper grinder.

Or try: M&S Found Saperavi, £11

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Don’t forget your Lotto ticket with your Aldi shop.

The grocery giant has announced that it’s making a major change to self-checkouts, giving shoppers the opportunity to purchase their National Lottery tickets directly at the till.

By the end of spring, a range of tickets, including Lotto Lucky Dip, EuroMillions, Thunderball, and Set For Life games, will be available to purchase at the self-checkout, making the supermarket chain the first in the UK to offer the service.

And it doesn’t stop at just purchasing your tickets, either.

Punters with a National Lottery Fast Pay card are in for a sweet deal, as they can scan their card to generate their bespoke tickets, too.

In a statement, Richard Thornton, communications director at Aldi, said the grocery giant is always looking at how to improve the shopping experience for customers and believes this is yet another way of doing so.

‘As the UK’s cheapest supermarket, our shoppers know they’ll always find amazing value at Aldi, but we hope some lucky customers manage to find the winning numbers at our self-checkouts too.’

Meanwhile, Jenny Blogg, operations director at Allwyn, explained that part of transforming Allwyn’s retail presence means adapting what’s on offer in stores – including Aldi.

‘However Aldi customers choose to shop – whether at the main tills or via self-checkout – they’ll always have the option to pick up a National Lottery game,’ she said.

‘This project has been a massive effort by the teams at both Allwyn and Aldi, and my sincere thanks must go to everyone involved.’

As with all lottery ticket purchases, customers will be subject to an age verification check to ensure they meet the age restrictions, and just like with restricted items such as alcohol, Aldi staff members will carry out these checks before shoppers can pay for their goods.

It’s a huge win for punters as the National Lottery is currently sold at most large Post Offices, supermarkets and newsagents but never before at self-checkouts.

The self-checkout lottery marks the second major announcement by the retailer this week, after Aldi revealed plans to upgrade all its supermarkets, with a particular focus on improving the bakery section. 

The business is going to be splashing a whopping £67,000,000 to upgrade its stores across the UK this year, and in addition to improving the bakery fixtures, they’ll also be making changes to health and beauty sections, as well as the fridges in the chilled aisle, where they’ll be upgrading the units to reduce carbon emissions (equivalent to heating over 6,500 homes).

These are all big changes Fulham Broadway in London, Billericay in Essex, and Cheadle in Stoke-on-Trent are getting to be a part of as Aldi is opening stores in the three locations.

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