Why I love Wayward Women

Victorian women are often pictured as docile, delicate creatures who could barely pick up a handkerchief. But several books on women travellers pop this stereotype. My favourite is Wayward Women by Jane Robinson. It pulls together brief biographies on women explorers such as:
Ida Pfeiffer was a dutiful daughter, wife and mother in 19th century Vienna when, at 45 and bored, she set out to see the Holy Land. She came home after being robbed but felt exhilarated by her adventures. After that, she left the tourist trail and headed to South America and Africa, where her story of her time in prison is almost hilarious.
Susie Rijnhart travelled in Tibet in the late 1800s with her husband and baby. On the journey to Lhasa, their servants ran away and their son died. After burying him in a medicine chest, they were caught in a blizzard. Her husband left her in a tent while he set out to find help. He never returned. Susie made the two month journey back to China by following a river and meeting a friendly tribe.
Cornelia Speedy went on safari in Sudan and made a tent on her sewing machine - what is not to admire in that?
Another book that gives more detail of women travellers is Not Just Bonnets and Bustles - Victorian Women Travellers in Africa, which contains edited first-person accounts of three women:
Annie Hore travelled with her husband and baby along the same route Stanley took when looking for Livingstone 11 years before.
Helen Caddick was carried through southern Africa in a hammock by 25 bearers and accompanied by a boy who spoke only biblical English.
Eliza Bradley was shipwrecked off the Barbary Coast. She travelled through the desert until being captured and held as a slave. She was finally freed when the British Consul paid a ransom.

Today, we travel with guidebooks and mobile phones. I bow to these women who set off knowing each trip could be their last.

Forget losing weight - think about the gains

Special K has come out with a terrific new advertisement that has turned away from the leggy brunette in the red dress - let's face it, none of us could look like her. Instead, the ad focuses on what women will gain from losing weight - words such as 'happy', 'joy', and 'vitality' flash up on the screen. I love this ad and its positive message. So much so that it inspired me to give up the biscuit I'd been nibbling while watching TV.

Fleeting fame for X Factor celebrities

I have just passed the little Irish twins, Jedward, hanging outside a London hotel. A few months ago, after their fame from X Factor, they were running away from fans. It is a sad reflection on the brief celebrity status of these young people that they are now hanging out with the girls who once chased them. As though they can't quite let go of the lifestyle that was wafted briefly before them. Where do these young men go after this experience? To an apprenticeship, college or work like other young men? Hmm, I can imagine their dissatisfaction with an ordinary night at the pub, and the teasing they will have to take about their television exploits. It will take a very strong ego to move on and build a life not based on fame. I hope, for their sake, that the best of part of their lives is not behind them.

Reading groups and wine

Book groups are great fun - a chance to discuss characters that have absorbed you or even left you disappointed. They are not like school where there were prescribed answers to motivation and character development. Instead, we get to decide for ourselves what drives a character.
Book groups are also becoming trendy with manufacturers and publishers who aim their marketing at these reading sororities.
A particular bag has made me smile. It's sold by a very funny woman, Sally Beerworth, and her wonderful website, The Joy of Ex foundation - www.joyofex.org

Am I fat?

Having written thoughts on being fat, I should add that I am a size 10 (a size 6 in the USA). Many would think this far from overweight, but that would depend on your environment. In London, I look like I ate every single pie in the supermarket. The women I pass on the street have thighs that don't meet when they walk. Their stomachs look airbrushed flat, and I stare at them enviously while I suck in my tum. When I go out to the country, however, I lose weight. Not in pounds, you understand, but in perception. I feel slim because the women who surround me have a healthy supply of flesh over their bones. So am I really fat? Probably not! Do I feel fat? Silly question!

Why am I getting fatter?

I have done nothing that merits earning extra weight but I have gained 10 kilos (20 pounds) in the last five years. That is a whole dress size and a bit more. Yet I don't eat more than I used to - probably, I eat less.
So why these extra pounds? It hangs like pock-marked lard - I don't think I deserve this.
Older friends warned me about weight gain, but I would roll my eyes thinking it would never happen to me - how wrong! I've had to give up all tight-fitting t-shirts, tops and dresses - so that you can now say my wardrobe now flows, hiding all those rolls.
I recognise that some weight gain is good for the face area as you age, but I don't recognise this body in the mirror, I'm still not sure it is mine.