Category Archives: Media

Jun 24 2013
16 Comments
Media

Like, Really?

stupid high heelsBless her diamond-encrusted heart. Shortly before her £7 million wedding, Tamara Ecclestone was sent five pairs of designer flat shoes by InStyle magazine – totaling £2040 – and ‘challenged’ (yes, they used that verb) to hang up her heels and spend a week in flats. Like, OMG.

Tamara informs us that she has hundreds of pairs of heels. Well, of course. She confesses that when the box of flats arrived, ‘I was worried; to be honest, my heart sank…they kind of offend me.’ Flat shoes offend her? Oh, to face Tamara’s totes tragic challenges.

But for the sake of the article and no doubt the hefty fee and the chance to promote her new beauty line available exclusively at Harvey Nichols, she bravely found a pair she could tolerate and went to dinner. Sadly, she ‘felt really unglamorous and I think people were probably shocked to see me not in heels.’ Tamara lasted just two days, claiming ‘the shoes didn’t make me feel good…I’m definitely not going to buy any.’  Ok then.

Sharing the same article, I was expecting more of Dawn O’Porter, the TV presenter and author who was flogging her new book, yours for only £7.99. However, she went to a business meeting in flats ‘looking like an embarrassing auntie. I felt ridiculous. The meeting didn’t go well.’ Because of a pair of flats?! What planet, etc, etc.

She rose to the challenge though, and soldiered on, despite cheating by wearing a pair of Marc Jacobs heels on a night out with her husband. The next day she had dinner with her girlfriends, in, gasp, a pair of flats, and splutters, ‘I felt like Nora Batty.’ One of her friends gleefully told her she looked like her gran.

What can we possibly take away from this insightful piece of investigative journalism? That wearing flats somehow morphs previously vibrant personalities into embarrassing aunties, grans or Nora Batty? Do these outgoing women really need a pair of heels to feel normal? I fear their psyches are more fragile than they would have us believe.

Anyway, before you chuck the flats in the bin, girls, send them my way. I’m a proud member of the Flat Shoe Club (TM) and we didn’t really want you as members anyway. So there. I’m also proud to be an embarrassing auntie and am more than happy to be stumbling in flats….

Tagged , , , , ,
May 16 2013
4 Comments
Media

Do You Suffer From MS? I Don’t.

suffering from MSGuaranteed to set my teeth on edge, the term ‘MS sufferer’ is up there with ‘But you look so well’ and ‘Oh, I get tired too.’

It makes for good copy – by starting an article with, ‘MS sufferer Mrs Jones….blah blah blah’, the reader is immediately directed to feel a certain way – pity, thank god it’s not me, poor thing.

Well, here’s the real news – I don’t want to be pitied. I don’t want anyone to look at me with big, sad eyes or vicariously imagine how my life is.

The media has a lot to answer for. Most of us who live with MS fly under the radar. We get on with life, we hold down jobs, we raise families, we cope. We don’t want to be lumped together in a mass of misery.

It’s similar to the pressure people with cancer can feel under to ‘fight back’ against their illness and if they ‘fail’, well, they fought a brave battle, didn’t they? Perhaps because MS is at present incurable, we are not urged to fight back, just suffer instead, hopefully in silence.

I am many things. A daughter, a mother, a colleague, a student, a friend. I also happen to have MS, I just don’t feel the need to qualify the term.

I’m not saying life with MS is easy. It’s anything but. Yet by labeling me a sufferer, I am instantly at a disadvantage, pushed into the role of a hapless victim, MS being the only defining feature of an otherwise fulfilling life.

So how should we be known? Well, it depends on the context. If someone is talking about me as a mother, then I’m a mother, not a ‘mother suffering from MS’. If it’s about my job, then I’d like to be known as an excellent worker, not ‘working despite suffering from MS.’

And if the conversation is simply about MS, then just call me a ‘person with MS’. Or if you want to be really kind, ‘that fabulous person with MS’….

Tagged , , ,
May 07 2013
4 Comments
Media

Would (Not) Like To Meet…

would like to meetTo cheer myself up at the weekends, I read the dating columns in the newspapers, especially the upmarket ones.

I also chortle over the birth announcements in The Times: Oscar-Theodore Chummingly-Wallop, a brother for Broccoli-Cressida and Seraphina-Arabella has a different ring to it than Kev, a brother for Chelsee and Kaycee.

My least favourite dating advert is the one that starts, ‘my secretary said, don’t mention the distant travel, restaurants and fine hotels, just say you are kind and successful and seeking a younger lady up to the age of 40.’

What decade is this guy living in? I bet he also loves Mad Men, where women knew their place and how to mix a mean Martini with a twist, whilst whipping up a three-course dinner when hubby’s boss unexpectedly invites himself to dinner.

I love the show-offs – the ‘Cambridge University educated gentleman, 70’s’ (get over yourself dear, you graduated half a century ago), ‘London or Paris, loves jazz’ (bless him, he went on a Eurostar day trip years ago) and ‘ohac, 80’ (honestly, I would hope he’d have his own home and car at that age).

Then there are the downright odd. ‘Attractive, professional businessman, lives near cliffs’. I’d be worried. ‘Divorced, 63, own teeth and hair, with no beard or tattoos or earrings but a gsoh’. There are no words.

There’re also the ‘humorous’ ones – ‘Detached and desirable and much sought after luxury property. All mod cons, in full working order, circa 1950’s. Early viewing essential!’ Gosh, I bet he’s a right barrel of laughs.

I have learned that most of the men go to the theatre and enjoy good food. Does anyone enjoy bad food? The majority of them are looking for someone slim and younger than they are. They like golf and classic cars and seem to be solvent, apart from the man who boldly states that ‘I believe the best things in life are free’. Ladies, steer clear.

To be fair, I have also ‘written’ my own advert – ‘Single, divorced parent to a sulky Teenager and bonkers cat, late 30’s. Tall, has MS’. I bet I’d be inundated…

Tagged , , , ,
Feb 27 2013
10 Comments
Media

It’s Official – I’m A Trendsetter…

It's fashion, darlingYes, that’s right, the fashion world has finally listened to me – flat shoes are bang on trend for 2013.  Totes amazeballs or what? Crack open the Bolly, dahlings! According to Roberto Cavalli, speaking from his Milan fashion show, flat shoes are ‘cool and it’s all coming from London.’

Well, ok, I may be 150 miles from London but obviously the fashionistas have heard my anguished pleas and are taking up my cause in droves. I was far too busy to be interviewed exclusively for Vogue, but luckily, the footwear buying manager for Selfridges was quoted as saying, ‘It’s a revolution…flats are selling out across every price point.’

After MS cruelly robbed me of my high heels and sashaying walk, I have been resigned to stumbling around in flats, head no longer held high. No one was happier than me when ballet flats briefly flooded the high street, but they’re not exactly statement shoes, are they?

Over the last couple of years though, I have slowly built up a nice little collection of smart flats and casual flats, with a pair of Converse thrown in for when I want to ‘hang’ with The Teenager. He may not let me borrow his SuperDry hoodie ( trying too hard to be cool), but he’s ok with the blue Converse.

Flats to one side, what other heel-less shoes are cool? Sandals, I don’t think so. Flip-flops – have you seen someone with MS trying to walk in flip-flops? Wellies? Er, no. A fellow Tweeter suggested Doc Martin boots and I did try, but they bring back far too many tragic memories of stomping round various teenage haunts, drinking cider and black (do NOT tell The Teenager) and wearing long skirts with mirrors sewn along the hem. The stripy tights I wore with them still haunt me.

This exciting news has therefore reconfirmed our true status – where us MS’ers lead, the fash-pack follows. Of course, they are down-playing my role in this and are suggesting it’s all thanks to the Duchess of Cambridge influencing the new fashion trend, but I reckon Kate’s read my blog and has kindly championed me, bless her.

So, I am off to put together some stylish outfits, accessorised with an array of dazzling flats. I may even do that fashion-y thing of putting them in boxes and sticking Polaroids of them on the front – how divine!

Watch out world, I’ve got my sassy flats on…

Tagged , , , , , , ,
Feb 07 2013
6 Comments
Media

Skydiving or an Adjustable Bed?

confused faceI love MS magazines. It’s important to keep up to date with latest developments, policy and research. That to one side, I am confused.

On the one hand, there are articles about ‘triumph over adversity’ – people with MS skydiving, firewalking, trekking the world despite all the odds. On the other, the adverts paint a very different picture – catheters, adjustable beds, respite care, Motability, bath lifts, etc. So which is it it be? Which camp do I fall into?

Well, neither. I’m not brave enough to triumph over my adversity. The nearest I got to skydiving was when the builder jumped out of a tiny plane over the Arizona desert on his 40th. I was so traumatised to see my friend suddenly drop out of a plane that I clung to the bemused pilot until we landed.

I’m also, thankfully, not at the stage yet where I need to consider a versatile, easy access shower or electric scooter. I know many of us are, don’t get me wrong, but where is the middle ground? I feel both inadequate and scared. Are these the only two ways to live with MS?

I’m probably a typical person with MS – in my 30’s, with a child, trying to hold down a job and worrying about things we all worry about, MS or not. The bills, the economy, hoodies, the NHS, the price of food. I haven’t got the time, or childcare, to set off for China or raise thousands and thousands of pounds.

I do what I can to support MS charities. I trained as a support volunteer. I’m in a working group. I attend meetings and rallies (‘I’m not a scrounger, I have MS’). In my own little way, I hope my blog too, can show that life goes on with MS.

I used to work in advertising, I know companies are particular about where they place their ads. So why do they ignore us? There’s 100,000 of us in the UK alone. I want to see adverts for restaurants, travel companies (not just insurance), sparkly flat shoes, make up, days out.

I will jump (carefully) off my soap-box now. Rant over. Is it just me?

Tagged , , , ,
← Older posts
Newer posts →