A new year of Chat

Ok, seeing as it's a new year, I didn't want to get too far into it before updating you all on Chat's latest offerings. I know you miss it if I leave it too long.

The first thing to pop up on the Silly-o-meter is a photo of a woman wrapped in foil, reading Chat, and the caption, "All that foil didn't stop my friend enjoying her favourite mag."



Err...... Ok....

Next is the inevitable fat story. Lou, at 48st, was told she had a BMI of 93 and must have an operation to save her from her own fat. That's right, a BMI of 93! It should be between 18 and 25. You're counted as obese if you are over 30! There are the obligatory photos of her in clothes which look like duvet covers for double beds and then a photo of her at 'just' 38st. Fabulous.

I mean, I get confused by people who are so overweight they can't stand up or walk. At some point, one day, you noticed that you had stopped being able to get out of bed. At some point, that realisation occurred. And some small part of you must have thought, 'O god, this is bad. Maybe I should do something about it?' And you then, after thinking that, decided to do nothing about it. Why would you decide to do nothing? The woman in this story has a daughter. Even if she didn't like herself enough, surely she thought of her daughter when deciding not to do anything about her weight?

The next story is called 'Tall, dark, handsome and dangerous' and, even without reading it properly, I can see it's going to be quite mental. "My obsessed ex slashed my horse... I logged onto my internet dating profile..... I'd been single a few months after an eight year relationship.... He was jealous of my love for my horse, Jessie." Yeh.... I'm not going to linger too long on that page.

Next it's the medical pages. The best letter, by far, is called 'Big bum!' and is from Sandy, 34, who wants to know if buttock firming exercises will work. That's right. Instead of just trying the bum exercises because she hates her big bum so much, she has written to Chat about it, to check whether they will work. As if she's not capable of carrying out the basic daily functional of life unless Chat has okay-ed them first.

There is also a letter from a woman called MeLisa. I'm sorry, what's that? Do I say me, Lisa? Is it like a normal name with 'me' at the front? Should I change my name to MeLaura? Or is it just Melissa with a capital L in the middle of it?

And now it's time for the finale. The ultimate Chat story - a woman who is in love with a bus. Yes. A bus. In fact, she's not just in love with it, she's in a relationship with it.

She married and had three children. When her marriage broke up she realised the Routemaster bus called Ronnie, that she'd seen many times at the London Transport Museum, was who she was meant to be with!



Yep. Now her and Ronnie are in a committed relationship. "How could I ever cheat on my Ronnie?.. Our love is real," she says. "Ronnie and I are meant to be together. Christmas Cards from friends were written, To Ash and Ronnie."

And that is all I have to say about that story. It speaks for itself really, doesn't it?