HOLIDAY FUN IN THE SUN

For the first time ever I have spent a week in the sun, with my best gal, no kids, in a totally private villa (don't be getting any ideas - it was WAY cheap - I'm not Rockafella you know!) with a private pool, NOT OVERLOOKED!  So I spent the week in my birthday suit - and what a complete liberation that was.  Now I know why the Naturists do what they do - not that I could do it "in public" but just the feeling of the sun warming ALL these old bones without worrying about where my strap lines were going to be - let me tell you, I highly recommend it!  

I now have freckles in places where I guarantee you don't even have places.

We made a conscious decision not to book a holiday in a place where anyone else was going to be - from my own point of view, I no longer care when someone looks at me in a swim suit and tells me I am fat - sniggers behind their hands, tells their family to come look at the fat lady, calls their teenage friends over to find out who ate all the pies......YOU know just what its like - but my poor other half hasn't really experienced this very often - so she asked especially if we could be away from everyone, hence the private pool, not overlooked etc.

And I have to say, it's done us the power of good.  Not least because we were in the mountains where the phones didn't work, not least because we managed to spend quality time together and not least because we're not concerned by our nudity - NOW THAT'S FREEDOM! 

I’m sitting in my dressing room, pre gig.  My hair is done, my make-up is done, earrings in place and I’m wearing my pre-gig dressing gown. (I’ll get into my good clothes in a minute; for sure I’ll spill my tea down my front!). The least exciting aspect of my job is “hanging around”!  Sometimes there can be a good few hours to hang around in.  Often it’s difficult to put your mind to any major matters.  I’m supposed to be concentrating on my performance but often I read.  I’m an avid reader.  Used to read every night when I got into bed but I fall into bed so tired these days that I was missing out on my lovely books – so I take a book with me where-ever I go, in the hope of grabbing a few pages.  I’m currently finishing Running with Scissors which has been made into a film – great story – I would recommend it. I digress – tonight I am singing with my band The Mandrills (I know, the name is dreadful – we won it in a raffle – really!)  We’ve been together about 6 years, although I have been singing with bands in one form or other for about 20 years now.  I LOVE IT!  We rehearse together every week but I give my lungs a work out just about every day- probably why my boobs are so big and my chest so broad - , going through my scales and so on.  We’re a musical family, the kids all have guitars and my partner plays the drums, our lovely old piano sits in the hall and we all tinkle the ivories to varying degrees.  Back to singing tonight: I’m running through the lyrics in my head as I write which makes for lots of errors both in my writing and in the lyrics.  I am SO bad at remembering those songs and yet for the most part some of them I have sung once a week for those 20 years!  I’m a rock, soul and blues singer so there’s plenty of songs to get to grips with.  We are opening with a Temptations number, Get Ready which is a great start, followed by Knock on Wood, so I’ll be using up a fair bit of energy in those two numbers alone.  I love to chat to the audience between songs and usually have them singing along.  It’s a beer and wine festival tonight, should be a good crowd but I won’t get to sample the goods – I need to keep a clear head for those lyrics and for my onstage performance. I’ve had a busy week this week with three or four radio shows and an interview with The Observer newspaper.  The Observer telephoned whilst I was working on the Fat Is The New Black website and asked me my opinion on a story they are running about Duncan Bannatyne.  Get this: - he’s the Scottish chap on Dragons Den, a BBC 2 programme where people are encouraged to try to get the Dragon’s to invest in their growing companies.  I am a great fan of this show and I have always felt Mr Bannatyne to be a fair and honest chap……….NO LONGER!  I am told by the journalist at The Observer that our Duncan has said he won’t employ fat people and I have to be honest I am truly astounded.  This man apparently really believes that fat people are lazy and unlikely to perform in his company as well as the lean, mean fighting machines he takes on.  He has gone so far down in my estimation.  Of course, as an employer he is entitled to employ whom he wishes but and it’s a big BUT, this man’s company is partly made up of gyms where people go to work out.  NOW, since we are always being encouraged to “go to the gym” if we’re fat – how on earth are we going to feel if we are met by his staff who presumably will also have his opinion.  It is almost too hard to comment on a story such as this.  To me, he is showing his ignorance.  I was both surprised and disappointed in this man.  There is no science to suggest that fat people are less intelligent than thin people – is there? Speaking of fat and thick – I had a great debate on Radio 5 Live the other night.   Ostensibly we were discussing the new work that has been released proving that there is a genetic base to our fat – I have long believed this and I am delighted that this information is now based in scientific research.  It makes sense I think – one only has to look back at pictures of our families in years gone by and there they are – the ones we look just like.  Personally I am the image of both my great-grandma’s – so I don’t think I stood a chance.I hope the research is used to good effect for the future.  However, during the course of the debate my opposite, a Scottish journalist, whom I have never met but who claims to be a size 8, suggested that we, Fat People, will use this genetic research as an excuse for our fat and not even try to remain fit.  As I said to her – we’re FAT NOT THICK – we know we’ve got to be as healthy as we can be.  She even had the gall to say that she finds fat people unattractive – as I pointed out, she’s never met me and I’M GORGEOUS!!!! 

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I've just started writing for a new magazine called Just As Beautiful - log into their website and subscribe - it's FREE and comes to you via email once a month when you are on their mailing list. I write a column called ASK VICKI and will endeavour to answer any questions you send in.  This month I was asked about Weight Loss Surgery - well as you can imagine this is one of my absolute pet hates, but I hope I have given an honest appraisal of the subject.  Get in touch with me via email or via Just As Beautiful magazine - can't wait to hear your questions! 

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Happy New Year.....I start the New Year with paper cuts all over my hands...the reason? Assembling packages to distribute the DVD FAttitude - the response has been huge and here I am with my "cottage industry" going crazy and still only me at the helm!  So if your DVD takes a bit longer to get to you than you thought it would, I apologise!  I am doing the best I can to get all the orders out in a timely manner, my entire office is full of DVD's, yellow workout balls, water bottles, t-shirts and envelopes!  There is barely space for a fat gal to get into the chair.  I must offer my special thanks to the girls in my local post office - they have not yet shirked the task of me turning up with a huge bag full of post, each which needs an individual postal receipt - I was 45 minutes at the counter the other day which you can imagine enraged some of the other "Christmas Post Only" customers.  But we bore the stares with fortitude and your DVD's are winging their way to you as soon as the Royal Mail will allow.

Thankyou so much for letting me know your DVD's arrived.....I love to hear from you and to know how you are getting on with the workouts....of course, if you are struggling at all with the programme, or even if you just want to chat with any of us, please don't hesitate to get in touch.  One of the greatest things we can do is work together - much more fun! 

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A big HELLO and WELCOME to our new visitors - The Daily Mirror ran a piece about Fattitude today and oh boy!  the response via email has been somewhat massive - so I am sorry I won't be able to respond to you all individually but I do read all your mails myself and do the best I can to stay in touch with you - we love to hear from you - your experiences - your joys and your failures - it is great to know you are not alone - being fat does not mean you are any lesser a person than anyone else so come join us!   

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The saddest tale I believe I have heard to-date emerged during the last few days - a 12 year old child has just had surgery to remove unwanted and excess weight.  Two separate surgeries were performed on this child who originally weighed 15+stone - around 3.5stone was removed using liposuction.  I cannot begin to imagine what is going on in that childs' mind - let alone in the minds of the parents and the doctors who performed the surgery.  PLEASE STOP.  Children need to be educated to include sport and exercise in their lives - not surgery.  They should be out having full and fun lives, not sitting at home waiting to recover from visits to the hospital.  I can't bear it.......can you?

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Often we receive messages here in the office from all over the globe - frequently from the medical profession.  One arrived yesterday which again proves something we have been saying for a long time - that artificial sweetners, those in fizzy diet drinks and diet foods are now being tested to prove the theory that these artificial sweetners are actually making us eat more - my advice to you is to drink water!  My skin and general health have improved no end since drinking more water.  I used to work with a 50 year old girl who looked 35 - she drank boiled water instead of tea and coffee................it's worth thinking about!

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Up at 6.00am again, this time to throw myself into the back of a BBC car to join a show on the Asian Network discussing these very thin models - these boys and girls on the catwalk are now a size 00 - and apparantly it's OK for them to be there but it's not OK for someone my size to be there.  Apparantly more clothes will be sold on the high street because we can all aspire to be a size 00 but we can't aspire to being PLUS sized - well, FAT by any other name - because FAT is unhealthy but skinny ain't. 

Surely this cannot be true.  This is just too awful.  I don't want to look like them but that doesn't mean I don't want to look great in my clothes.  It does not mean that I don't have an interest in fashion, because I do.  In fact, last year I got "moved on" when I was looking longingly in the window of the Christain Lacroix shop in Cannes whilst on my holidays.  I adore Christian Lacroix and have always said, if I ever end up with bucket loads of money, then I would ring the designers personally and ask for something in MY SIZE.  But you know what.......the shop assistant came outside and asked me to move away from the window because I was giving the shop a bad image.

 Well, fashionistas!  Let me warn you........40% of the people you are marketing to can never wear your designs, not because they can't afford them, simply because you don't, can't and won't make them to fit.............sounds like a marketing gaff to me - you wanna sell your stuff or don't you???