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HEALTH

MONEY

TRAVEL

JANUARY 2018 £4 SAGA.CO.UK/MAGAZINE

Just hang up!

New phone scams you need to know about

Join Possibilities Fabulous exclusive offers and events

HOME

M O N T H LY

Stop working start living Janet Street-Porter on making the most of retirement

Kings of the road Living the life in a motorhome

20 pages of health and money advice

Monty Don How his garden helped him grow PLUS Zoë Wanamaker, Phyllis Logan, Miranda Richardson, Jayne Torvill, Bill Bailey, Jo Brand

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EDITOR’S LETTER Editorial Write to us at Saga Magazine, Enbrook Park, Folkestone, Kent CT20 3SE Email us at editor@saga.co.uk Join our community at facebook.com/saga Follow us on Twitter @SagaUK By phone (Editorial) 01303 771523

Your subscription Subscription Sales 0800 056 1057 Subscription Renewals 0800 904 7332 Subscription Queries 0800 904 7214 Overseas Subscription Queries 0044 1303 773527 Email subs.enquiries@saga.co.uk Telephone services operate Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm Other Saga Services 01303 771111

Welcome to a new year!

Our resolution? To help all of you to have a happier, healthier and wealthier 2018. Here’s how…

F

rom transforming your health to heading off around the world – or

simply switching your energy supplier – we’ve got a January issue filled with great articles and advice to get 2018 off to a flying start.

TV doctor Dr Rangan Chatterjee, star of BBC One’s Doctor in the House, reveals his Four Pillar Plan for a more holistic approach to keeping healthy, p48. It isn’t about just treating your symptoms – the way you relax, move, eat and sleep have amazing effects on your body.

If a winter break in Tenerife isn’t quite exciting enough for you, be inspired by the couple who’ve spent the past two years on a permanent holiday, travelling around Europe in their motorhome, p38. Meanwhile, writer and broadcaster Janet Street-Porter tells you why finishing work is a time

to grab life by the horns and enjoy new experiences, p26.

It seems that 2018 is going to be a big year for gardening guru Monty Don, with a new book and TV series about Islamic gardens and our perennial favourite Gardeners’ World back on screen soon. Amid all the hustle and bustle of filming and writing, he tells us how his garden has always been his refuge, especially in times of personal setback, p32.

Finally, if you think you’re paying too much for your gas or electricity, follow our quick, easy guide to changing supplier – and check out our new switching service, Saga Compare, p110.

We hope you enjoy the issue and wish you the very best for 2018.

Simon Hemelryk, Deputy Editor Katy Bravery is away

There’s lots more on our website Great advice for a fabulous January at saga.co.uk/jan-mag Keep your health resolutions

Get a great holiday deal

Defrost your car Scandi-style

Tips from psychologists on how you can stick to a better lifestyle.

Follow our top tips for bagging a bargain.

How to get going on winter mornings.

Go on a debt diet

Quick and easy soups

High blood pressure: get the lowdown

Fix your inances with our seven-step plan.

Fed up with turkey?

Try these simple recipes.

Expert advice on keeping your levels in check.

2018

I S AG A .C O.U K /JA N - M AG 3

COVER PHOTOGRAPH JASON INGRAM

Contact us

THIS MONTH

Contents January 2018 3 6 14 16 18

20 25 26

Ed’s letter Welcome!

POSSIBILITIES Saga’s exciting membership programme Keep doing Fixing the fells People we love Jayne Torvill.

Plus, Decade Busters FYI Strictly on tour, a new CD from Katie Melua, Gary Oldman stars as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour, and the Big Garden Birdwatch Books How to live well in 2018 Saga Survey The UK’s most inspirational over-60s Opinion Janet Street-Porter says yes to new experiences

88 Cheer up chicken

Features

79 4

Health – your guide to statins

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32 Monty Don This year looks like the busiest yet for the Gardeners’ World star, who relects on how his upbringing forged his character 38 There’s no place like motorhome Meet the couple who sold up and set off for a life on the open roads 44 Three’s company The stars of new TV drama Girlfriends on life over 50 – on and off-screen 48 New ways to be healthy A holistic approach to wellbeing 52 Phone fraud How to recognise a telephone scam when you hear one – and how to deal with it

57 14-PAGE CANADA TRAVEL SPECIAL From the Eastern seaboard to British Columbia, we pick out the highlights of this must-visit country, from stunning rail journeys to breathtaking scenery, and the wildlife to watch out for along the way 75 Travel surgery Your Q&As 79 Health Everything you need to know about statins 82 Dr Mark Porter Health Q&As 86 Jo Brand Our agony aunt sorts out your dilemmas 88 Food Try a menu makeover with these simple but tasty tips 90 Style A reader’s favourite coat 93 Driving Petrol station know-how 95 Paul Lewis What’s on offer at NS&I – and is it for you?

99 Subscribe to Saga Magazine 100 Money 2018 Get a grip on your inances in the new year 103 Money clinic Your inancial queries 107 Tax tips Our guide to iling your self-assessment form online 109 Savvy Shopper Is your duvet cruelty free?

110 Energy switching How to get the best deal and save £££s 113 Property John Conlin’s Q&As 119 BTW Readers’ letters 124 Puzzles Our £100 prize crosswords 130 Bill Bailey New Year’s resolutions

ILLUSTRATION: JESSIE FORD. PHOTO: NATASHA BREEN/PICTURE PANTRY

Take Away

Take Note

ILLUSTRATION: LUCY ROSE. PHOTOS: ©NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/PAUL HARRIS, GETTY, JLPPA/ABACA/PA IMAGES, JASON INGRAM, ITV

14

Looking after the Lake District

16

Ice queen Jayne Torvill

25

Inspirational Helen Mirren

32

Monty Don – gardening guru

38

Motorhomers on a mission

48

Improve your wellbeing

44

Girls just want to have fun

57

Canada – what not to miss

90 Style – my 1970s vintage coat 2018

I S AG A .C O.U K /JA N - M AG 5

Have you joined Possibilities yet?

Thousands have – and are already enjoying the many benefits Possibilities is the name of Saga’s fantastic membership programme – completely free for Saga customers. There are amazing offers on Apple products, exclusive VIP member-only events, discounts on eating out around Britain, ways to help you love getting fit and healthy – and much more.

We’ve sourced a huge range of ways to enjoy life just a little bit more – and save money along the way!

All you need is to hold an active product with Saga – from a magazine subscription to house insurance, for instance. Or maybe you have booked a holiday with us in the past three years? If so, just get in touch and start seeing what’s on offer – it’s our way of saying thank you for choosing Saga.

We’ll have regular special opportunities too, such as the chance to win a luxury holiday to Mauritius.

Not sure you’re eligible? Just get in touch at saga.co.uk/ membership. We’ll tell you all you need to know.

VIP events There’s only one way you can get the chance to take part in some great events like these – and that’s by joining our new Possibilities membership programme. So sign up FREE today and let the fun begin!

Here’s just a taster of what’s on offer.

Member-only event

Concert

See Mica Paris live at St Paul’s Cathedral Hurry! Ballot closes 31 January

HOW TO JOIN POSSIBILITIES It couldn’t be easier to join and start enjoying all the member-only offers and events that Possibilities will give you. Just get in touch, and it’ll all be done for you.

Online

By phone

This is the quickest and easiest way to join up. saga.co.uk/ membership

Our dedicated team will talk you through how to join Possibilities.

Call 0800 092 3898

Exclusive features

Pre-release screening

Join Possibilities to enjoy a range of member-only online articles The best voice on radio

Film preview

Eddie Mair

Finding Your Feet

‘I’ve heard that my tones are soothing.’

See the feelgood film of the year before its general release at one of our nationwide screenings

Win a luxury holiday

Get away from it all!

Mauritius Win a seven-night trip for two to Tamassa Resort. Hurry! Ballot closes 31 January.

Learn a new skill

Be creative

Paint like a pro with Joan Bakewell and Frank Skinner Follow their tips

50% discount

Step-by-step guide

Be inspired

Wellbeing

At the Adventure Travel Show, London

Easy yoga with Aggie MacKenzie

20 and 21 January.

Get a discount on general admission tickets – and enjoy researching your next trip

What are you waiting for?

Join today at saga.co.uk/membership or call 0800 092 3898 2018

I S AG A .C O.U K /JA N - M AG 7

£10 off

20% off membership Health and wellbeing

Eat out for less!

Join a Nuffield Health gym

Prezzo

Get the best possible support for your health and fitness with Nuffield Health clubs. 111 gyms nationwide.

Spend £30 at Prezzo, everyone’s favourite Italian, and you’ll save £10 on the bill

Exciting offers Once you join, you will have access to a range of exclusive offers – from health and wellness products to a great night out or that break you keep promising yourself.

Special rates Short break

There is such a thing as a free lunch – at Warner Leisure Hotels Enjoy a free lunch when you book a hotel break

They are all designed to help you enjoy life just that little bit more!

Join for £10 less

Great offer

Culture Technology

Member-only exclusive Apple offers from our online store

Northern Ballet Become a Friend of Northern Ballet and enjoy ticket discounts and member-only behind-the-scenes access for just £60

Join today at saga.co.uk/membership or call 0800 092 3898 8

S AG A .C O.U K /JA N - M AG

I 2018

Member event

Join up today, then go online to see even more great VIP events coming up in the future....

Love historic motorsport?

Watch legendary Group B rally cars and others show off their prowess under power on the live rally stage and see hundreds of stunning competition cars and bikes from Formula One to hill climbing, and from rallying to GT cars.

Didn’t we have a lovely time ...with Northern Ballet!

One of our first exclusive events saw 20 Possibilities members meeting the dancers and creatives of The Little Mermaid at our pre- and post-performance reception

Plus! A member-only ballot to drive a fab classic car at the event. So join now – you’ve got to be in it to win it!

From welcome canapés and glass of bubbly to great seats and the chance to meet Northern Ballet dancers and artistic team, a good time was had by all at Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre recently.

Possibilities member Penelope said: ‘Meeting the choreographer before the show made the evening really special. From start to inish it was a fantastic event.’

Join today at saga.co.uk/membership or call 0800 092 3898 2018

I S AG A .C O.U K /JA N - M AG 9

RYAN COX. PREVIOUS PAGE: CHRISTOPHER KENNEDY, BILL COOPER, CHARLIE HOPKINSON, © SKY UK LTD.

ABIGAIL PRUDAMES AS MARILLA WITH NORTHERN BALLET DANCERS IN DAVID NIXON’S THE LITTLE MERMAID, PHOTO EMMA KAULDHAR. CHRIS WYNNE

Coming soon...

Give a free issue to a friend…

E x c lu s iv e of fer

and make it a happy new year! What’s more, if your chum subscribes to the magazine, they’ll be eligible to join our unique membership programme, Possibilities We love spreading the word about Saga Magazine. But as it’s not in the shops, it’s hard for us to show it to potential new subscribers so they can try before they buy. So we thought you might be able to help both us – and a friend.

If you know someone who might like our unique magazine, do please offer them a free copy*.

If they love it and choose to subscribe, they’ll be able to access all the amazing discounts, offers and VIP experiences offered by our new membership programme, Possibilities, entirely free.

This is because holding a magazine subscription is one of the easiest and cheapest ways to become a member of Possibilities.

And if you do, thanks very much!

Chief Sub-Editor Rhona Kyle Sub-Editor Sharon Amos Digital Managing Editor Melody Rousseau Digital Editors Rebecca Elliott, Julia Legge, Amanda Angus, Aimee Spicer A hint of what’s on offer If you subscribe, and join Possibilities, you’ll be eligible for great deals, including a ten-day free gym trial with Nufield Health for you and your partner, plus a free health MOT worth £100.

Dear I thought you might enjoy a free copy of Saga Magazine.

All you have to do is ring this number…

Freephone 0800 302 9741 quoting EFJ18 …and they’ll send you a free copy of the magazine. * Offer for friends and relatives of subscribers or newcomers to Saga. One free magazine per voucher. Cannot be claimed by subscriber for someone else. Allow ten days for delivery.

S AG A .C O.U K /JA N - M AG

I 2018

EDITOR KATY BRAVERY Deputy Editor Simon Hemelryk Features Editor Gillian Rowe Homes & Gardens Editor Tiffany Daneff Travel Editor Guy Pierce Art Director Paul Hayes-Watkins Art Editor Jess Hibbert Picture Editor Jasmine Perry

Here’s what to do: 1 Give the voucher below to a friend.

2 Get them (not you!) to ring the number and quote the code EFJ18.

3 They’ll get an issue of the magazine sent to them – absolutely free!

4 If they decide to subscribe, they can join Possibilities straightaway and start accessing all the goodies.

10

Meet the team

To Advertise 020 7233 1157 adsales@saga.co.uk Commercial Director Seumas Grey Agency Account Managers Kyra Willis, Fraser Whitby Acting Head of Marketing & Subscriptions Denise Richmond Subscription Manager Luke Chadwick Marketing Executives Vicky Brown, Charlotte Gambling Management Accountant Anthony Marsden Accounts Assistant Gillian Smallwood Director, Publishing and PR Matthew Bath PA to the Publishing Director and Editor Nikki Evans

286,525 Jan-Jun 17 Saga Magazine is published by Saga Publishing Ltd. Available through personal subscription. January 2018 issue. Publication date 29 December 2017. Printed by Prinovis UK Ltd. Colour reproduction by Williams Lee Tag. Care is taken to ensure that advertisers adhere to advertising codes of practice and are of good standing, but no guarantee can be given by Saga Magazine.

The fact that an advertisement has been accepted in good faith does not imply that the advertiser has the magazine’s endorsement. The publisher accepts no responsibility for any statement, error or omission in any advertisement. Readers responding to advertisers are advised to seek professional advice before entering into any inancial commitment. ISSN 0956-3903.

PRICES: BASIC ANNUAL RATE. Subscriptions UK £48; ROI £48; Rest of World £48. We regret that we cannot acknowledge receipt of unsolicited material or return it unless an SAE is supplied.

Please do not send original photos and make copies of articles before sending. Views expressed in the magazine are not necessarily those of the Editor or of Saga Group. Prices/ availability of products correct at time of going to press.

40 years of outdoor clothing experience, now up to 40% off.

There’s a huge range of men’s and women’s jackets, trousers, leeces, waterproofs, knitwear, shirts, shoes, travel luggage and accessories.

Starts Wednesday 27 December 2017.

PLUS 12% OFF† ALL FULL PRICED ITEMS from 27 December to 6 January ends Sunday 28 January

HOW TO BUY In-store at one of over 50 Rohan shops Online visit rohan.co.uk/sale Mail order freephone 0800 021 4774* †12% of ofer applies to full priced items only and is not valid in conjunction with any other promotion, ofer, discount or purchases of Gift Cards. Ofer is only valid between 27 December 2017 and 6 January 2018. *All calls to our 0800 numbers are free, including calls made from mobile phones.

Great cruise deals, with a great deal included too.

This New Year is the best time to try our award-winning boutique cruise experience. Not only can you enjoy low prices and exclusive subscriber savings, there’s a great deal included too. All cruises come with our complimentary chauffeur service to the port, all meals, wine with lunch and dinner, free Wifi, on-board gratuities and much more. Better still, all 2018 cruises on Saga Sapphire are now all inclusive#, offering our best-ever value.

Find out more today at saga.co.uk/cruise Call now on 0800 051 3355 quoting MA363

h Land by launch or tender. †Private chauffeur service up to 75 miles each way or shared chauffeur service from 76-250 miles. § A reduction of £36 applies to Flavours of Amsterdam, a reduction of £72 applies to Scenic Summer Fjords and a reduction of £98 to Mediterranean Adventure applies if you do not need the optional travel insurance and additional cancellation rights - please call for full details. ‡Fares are per person for the lowest Inside cabin available at the time of going to print. All fares shown have the relevant discounts already applied. *Saga Magazine Subscribers save £300 per person. Savings are off the current fare at time of booking and cannot be combined with any other offer. Offer is only applicable to Saga Magazine Subscribers and one travelling companion. Please call for full details of the offer, full details of the cabin guide and deck plans. #All inclusive includes selected wines at lunch and dinner, Saga house-branded spirits, cocktails containing house-branded spirits, draught beer and lager, non-alcoholic cocktails, all mixers and soft drinks.

Cruise all inclusive from

£499 per person

Flavours of Amsterdam 4 nights all inclusive from £499‡ per person Including optional travel insurance provided

by Cigna Insurance Services (Europe) Limited, or a reduction if not required.

Cover is subject to medical questions.§

Sailing November 9, 2018 from Southampton aboard Saga Sapphire • Southampton, England • Zeebrugge, Belgium • Amsterdam, Holland • Southampton, England.

Scenic Summer Fjords 6 nights from £999‡ per person Including optional travel insurance provided

by Cigna Insurance Services (Europe) Limited, or a reduction if not required.

Cover is subject to medical questions.§

Sailing July 6, 2018 from Dover aboard Saga Pearl II • Dover, England • Flåm h, Norway • Stavanger, Norway • Dover, England.

Mediterranean Adventure 17 nights from £2,571‡ per person Including optional travel insurance provided

by Cigna Insurance Services (Europe) Limited, or a reduction if not required.

Cover is subject to medical questions.§

Sailing April 28, 2018 from Portsmouth aboard Saga Pearl II • Portsmouth, England • Gibraltar • Mahon, Minorca • Sete, France • Roses, Spain • Tarragona, Spain • Valencia, Spain • Motril, Spain • Huelva, Spain • Lisbon, Portugal • Dover, England.

• Return chauffeur service • Included wine with lunch and dinner • Free Wii • 24-hour room service and much more…

Please note: All excursions mentioned are optional, at an additional cost and are subject to availability and change. Some of the highlights detailed may only be seen on optional excursions or by exploring independently. Saga’s holidays and cruises are exclusively for the over 50s (but a travelling companion can be 40+). Saga Holidays is a trading name of ST&H Ltd (registration no. 2174052). ST&H Ltd and Saga Cruises Ltd (registration no. 3267858) are subsidiaries of ST&H Group Ltd (registration no. 0720588). All three companies are registered in England and Wales. Registered Ofice: Enbrook Park, Sandgate, Folkestone, Kent CT20 3SE. With respect to general insurance products sold in the UK, ST&H Ltd is an appointed representative of Saga Services Limited, registered in England and Wales (company no. 732602), which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. For more information about inancial protection and the ATOL Certiicate, visit www.atol.org.uk/ATOLCertiicate NHM-SC8093.

WHERE TO GO, WHAT TO DO

Take Note

©NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/PAUL HARRIS

Track maintenance Barry leads a team of Lake District volunteers.

Right: keeping the fell paths clear

14

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Word s Joy Per s aud

A lifelong fan of the outdoors, and particularly the Lake District, walker Barry Capp is dedicated to preserving the beautiful Cumbrian landscape

Fixing the fells A

fter decades spent walking the undulating paths that

stretch over the dramatic Lake District, around ten years ago Barry Capp decided to help preserve the countryside that had given him so much pleasure.

‘I heard a piece on Radio Cumbria one Sunday, asking people to get involved with an organisation called Fix the Fells,’ he recalls. ‘It helps to maintain and repair our upland footpaths. I looked into it.’

Barry, 65, from Ulverston in Cumbria, trained in navigation and first aid with the project, then joined one of its volunteer teams. Their job is to keep the paths across the fells attractive and in good repair – clearing drainage channels, for instance, so people don’t veer off track and inadvertently damage open land.

‘We now have more than 100 volunteers,’ says Barry, who worked in the aerospace industry. ‘There is great camaraderie among the groups. I spend two or three days outside a week and have made lots of very good friends.’

Joanne Backshall, Fix the Fells’ programme manager, agrees: ‘The volunteers have such fun when they go out there. They’re like a big family and all feel like they’re achieving something.’

Barry has now helped to maintain more than 200 sections of path and Prime Minister Theresa May recently awarded him the Points of Light honour, which recognises outstanding volunteers.

‘It’s a chance to put something back into a landscape we love and enjoy,’ he says.

Fix the Fells is backed by the National Trust, Nature England and the Lake District National Park Authority. See fixthefells.co.uk

Extra online Fancy volunteering? Lots more suggestions at saga.co.uk/jan-mag

2018

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Take Note People we love

At Sarajevo in 1984 Torvill and Dean won gold with the only perfect score in Olympic skating history. Below: the duo today

our performance to Boléro led to endless rumours that you and Chris were in love for real…

Y

If Chris and I were going to get married, we would have done it by now! We will always have a bond between us and we really enjoy performing together.

There are times when I spend much more time with Chris than with my husband, but Phil is not remotely jealous – it’s all part of the business because he manages both of us. When I met him, I was already working very closely together with Chris, so Phil got used to it early on.

GETTY

Have you had many injuries?

16

Loads, though Chris has had more than me. I fractured

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Jayne Torvill More than 30 years after that Boléro routine, she’s skating back into view with Christopher Dean – as judges on ITV’s Dancing on Ice. By Maureen Paton my shoulder blade in the 1980s and had back surgery because of my over-arched positions on the ice. Chris has had knee and back problems as well as surgery on his shoulders.

How did you feel about turning 60 last October?

If 60 is the new 40, I’d rather be 40… I didn’t make a big deal of it. But when Chris, who lives in the States, came over to prepare for Dancing on Ice, he took me to London’s Shard for a belated birthday present while Phil was at home with the children.

How do you stay fit now?

I play tennis and I do three gym sessions a week. I’ve taken up boxing to build up strength in my arms.

Are you always the first to get up on the dance floor?

Any tips for staying fit as you get older? Going to the gym

No way – I even feel a bit shy on social occasions because there’s that expectation that I’ll lead the dancing.

is definitely more important.

I see a lot of older people at mine, particularly during the day. Years ago, our parents

Turning 50 Heather Mills model and activist

Decade Busters

Turning 60 Jools Holland musician Alan Milburn politician Eddie Cheever racing driver Ellen DeGeneres actress

Turning 70 would start to slow down at 60 but nowadays people my age are much more active.

Ever worried about slipping over on icy streets in winter like us ordinary mortals?

Yes, always – I feel much safer in my ice-skates! I don’t even like walking across the Dancing on Ice rink in shoes or boots…

You started to suffer asthma attacks in your late 20s.

Does that get in the way?

My asthma is well-managed and I carry a blue inhaler with me during training. I was going to run the 2017 London Marathon but I pulled a hamstring. The only reason I won’t be able to run it this year is because I’ll be on the Dancing on Ice tour.

Anthony Andrews actor Derek Hatton politician Mikhail Baryshnikov ballet dancer

Any secret ambitions?

I would love to have been Ginger Rogers for a day and dance with Fred Astaire, but at least Chris and I did a RogersAstaire routine on ice.

What’s the most challenging thing you’ve done recently?

We’ve done panto on roller blades in Manchester and Bristol. Learning lots of lines was the hardest work of all!

Any other plans?

Turning 80

I brought out a fitness video in 2009 after I shed two stone, so maybe I should bring out a boxing video next!

Arthur Scargill trade unionist David Bailey photographer Jack Jones singer

Extra online Dancing on Ice on ITV, see listings. Live tour 23 Mar-15 Apr, dancingonicetour.co.uk

For a longer version of this article, go to saga.co.uk/jan-mag

Turning 90 Desmond Morris, zoologist Michael Barratt, broadcaster

2018

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JACK ENGLISH / FOCUS FEATURES, ANDY HAY/RSPB-IMAGES.COM, BBC/GUY LEVY, ROYAL COLLECTION TRUST/© HER MAJESTY QUEEN ELIZABETH II

fyi

Great things to see and do

EXHIBITION

FILM

Charles I: King and Collector

Darkest Hour

In Winter

Nationwide Barely recognisable, Gary Oldman is brilliant as Winston Churchill, the new PM in 1940, confronted by politicians bent on appeasing Hitler.

Oldman plays him as irascible, stubborn and courageous. The events leading up to Dunkirk are intriguing. Kristin Scott Thomas is a superb Clementine, but it’s Oldman who seems a contender for awards.

From 12 Jan

Katie Melua A 2-CD re-release (including a live disc) of 2016’s gorgeous recording the singersongwriter made with the Gori Women’s Choir.

Inspired by childhood memories of snowscapes, the original songs are as spellbinding and icily atmospheric as the Ukrainian folk tunes, the Rachmaninov choral work and her lightly frosted cover of Joni Mitchell’s classic, River.

London A landmark Royal Academy exhibition to herald its 250th anniversary year, with masterpieces acquired and commissioned by Charles I, from Titian to Van Dyck (above) and Dürer.

Following the king’s execution in 1649, the collection was sold off, but now some 100 important works are reunited.

From 27 Jan, royalacademy.org.uk, 020 7300 8090

Don’t miss

Spend an hour watching the birds in your garden from 27-29 January, and take part in this year’s Big Garden Birdwatch survey. It’s a great way to enthuse the grandchildren and help the RSPB find out more about our garden wildlife.

Around 500,000 people took part in 2017. Grab the binoculars, sit back and enjoy!

To register, visit rspb.org.uk/ birdwatch or text ‘bird’ to 70030

Big Garden Birdwatch

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MUSIC

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OUR P IC K OF THE MONTH

Cirque du Soleil: OVO London

The grandchildren will love this year’s extravaganza, which features a host of colourful crazy crickets, amazing ants and flexible fleas! All the many favourite signature acts are back, including a breathtaking 14m-high trapeze act, to amaze and entertain. You’ll come out buzzing with excitement after witnessing this extraordinary extravaganza.

From 7 Jan-4 March, royalalberthall.com, 020 7589 8212

Culture Take Note

Something new...

Online, we’ve created a whole lot of new articles for Possibilities members only – great stories we just don’t have room for in the magazine. Here’s a taster…

TV

The Birthday Party

The Biggest Little Railway in the World

London Almost 60 years after its premiere, Pinter’s classic opens at the theatre named after him.

Toby Jones stars as Stanley, the sole lodger at Meg’s (Zoë Wanamaker) boarding house.

Their humdrum lives are disrupted as a party turns into a nightmare.

From 9 Jan-14 April, thebirthdayparty. london, 0844 871 7623.

See p44 for more on Zoë Wanamaker

PS

Channel 4 Most men never really grow up, they just want to play with model trains.

So this series, from the makers of The Great British Bake Off, should prove a big hit. Dick Strawbridge leads a team of engineers, and enthusiasts attempting to build the longest model railway in the world, 74 miles coast-to-coast, across Scotland.

See listings

Strictly – Live Tour

Nationwide The coveted glitterball trophy has been won for another year, but you can see some of your favourites in the flesh and witness their finest routines as the national Strictly tour takes to the road. With judges Darcey Bussell, Craig Revel Horwood and Bruno Tonioli and celebrity dancers, including Jonnie Peacock (right). 19 Jan-11 Feb, strictlycomedancinglive.com

THE ’S E D IT O R K P IC Alison Steadman on her first kids’ book, Spider!, and her dismay that creepy crawlies get such a bad press!

‘If you’re living in Australia or Africa you’ve got good cause to be scared of some species, but the house spiders we get here can’t harm you. They couldn’t bite you even if they wanted to, and they don’t – they’re terriied of humans. It’s the whole thing of, “Are they in our territory, or are we in theirs?” Human beings have got this idea that we’re the only species that matters on this planet, and I just don’t think that’s true.’

Find out more about why you should join Twitter.

To reject Twitter because there are a fair number of people having virtual squabbles on it is like refusing to go to a library because you don’t like some of the books in there, or never watching TV because Jeremy Kyle is sometimes on.

Sir Michael Parkinson chooses his favourite songs from the Great American Songbook.

‘The late 1920s to the early 1960s was the richest time for music,’ with the likes of Gershwin and Irving Berlin. Sinatra’s You Make Me Feel So Young proves he was the greatest male singer ever.’

Join up now!

To read all these interviews and more, join Possibilities at saga.co.uk/membership

2018

I S A G A . C O . U K / J A N - M A G 19

THE SUNDAY TIMES/NEWS SYNDICATION

THEATRE

Take Note Books New ways to live well

It’s all about you, you, you!

Help yourself from our selection of guides that will make sure you get the most out of life and feel good into the bargain. Chosen by Sue Price Gordon Ramsay’s Ultimate Fit Food

The Longevity Diet

Gordon Ramsay Healthy eating needn’t be faddy and dull.

Gordon wants us to cook lavour-packed food to improve health and itness, whether we’re exercise fanatics or simply leading busy lives.

There are three recipe sections – Healthy, for wellbeing; Lean, for sensible weight loss; and Fit, for fuelling workouts. What’s more, it’s lexible; you can mix dishes to suit your goals.

Dr Valter Longo From a world leader in the ield of ageing comes a plan for a longer, healthier life.

It’s based on a regime low in proteins and sugars and rich in healthy fats and plant-based foods, plus a FastingMimicking Diet, which limits calories for ive days up to four times a year. It takes dedication, so you may prefer to adopt just a few beneicial changes. The interviews with centenarians are eye-openers.

The 28 Day Alcohol-Free Challenge Andy Ramage and Ruari Fairbairns If you’re doing Dry January, this could be just the motivation you need from the happily teetotal founders of oneyearnobeer.com. Organised day by day, it encourages you to reset your drinking habits for a more productive, healthier and happier life. Although slightly ‘blokey’ in style, its fresh, contemporary approach makes it a winner.

“

Try Marianne Stewart’s Strawberry and Basil Tart for a shot of antioxidants and vitamin C How To Be Human

Sit Strong

Ruby Wax We’ve won the evolutionary race and should be the happiest species on earth, says author and comedian Ruby Wax. But we’re not – why? With the help of a neuroscientist and a monk, she delves into what makes us who we are, discovers how we can learn to love ourselves and explores inding happiness in a modern world.

An insightful manual, backed by mindfulness exercises and humorous anecdotes from Ruby’s life. (Published 25 Jan)

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Harriet Griffey According to research, sitting for more than six hours a day may be as dangerous as smoking a packet of cigarettes. Yet it’s estimated many of us clock up a whopping 13 hours daily.

These gentle exercises are designed to strengthen the body and improve lexibility while countering the health risks. Also great for improving loss of muscle mass, which accelerates as we get older, leading to aches and pains, says Harriet. (Published 11 Jan)

Nourish Cakes Marianne Stewart This is all about baking your cake and eating healthily. The recipes use natural ingredients, nothing processed – think vegetables, fruits, spices, nuts and seeds – and many are intolerance or allergy friendly. Try the Courgette, Coconut and Lime Layer Cake for a protein and fibre boost, or the Strawberry and Basil Tart for a shot of antioxidants and vitamin C. Just the modern ideas we want. (Published 11 Jan) Z

Take Note Books Simple Secrets For Keeping Your Brain Young

Ageless Soul Thomas Moore Growing older can be wonderful, says septuagenarian psychotherapist Thomas Moore. The secret is to accept ageing for the natural process that it is, embrace it wholeheartedly and see it as a series of stages to pass through proactively in order inally to arrive at our true selves. Consider it ‘a fulilment of who we are’, he encourages, not a diminishment or wearing out. A truly uplifting meditation.

Harry Lorayne Where are my keys? I just had them in my hands. Why am I staring into the fridge? You no longer have to accept senior moments and memory loss as an inevitable aspect of ageing.

This practical book advises on how to memorise just about everything and sharpen your mind. Proof that memory really can improve with age!

The Wild Dyer Abigail Booth The physical and mental beneits of craft are well known, especially if there’s a link to the natural world. The author fell in love with textiles and natural dyes for these very reasons. She shows how to forage for dyeing materials in our gardens and in the countryside to produce fabrics that can be turned into gorgeous projects found here. Inspirational!

A Monk’s Guide To A Clean House And Mind Shoukei Matsumoto The Buddhist monk author of this quirky bestseller in Europe and Japan sets out the traditional cleaning methods used in Buddhist temples that will help cleanse both your house and your soul. Of all the spiritual books available, this could be the one that inspires simple adjustments to your routine for a calmer, more mindful life.

The Clever Guts Diet Recipe Book Dr Clare Bailey This is the companion recipe book to The Clever Guts Diet, a huge success in 2017.

It summarises all the information you need to follow the eating plan with recipes that are designed to reboot your microbiome, an army of microbes in your gut that inluences your weight, mood and immune system. Keep the microbes happy and improved health will follow, it claims.

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Energy Bites

Buy online To buy these books with a discount of up to 30%, visit the Saga Bookshop at wordery.com/saga

Christine Bailey Changing an unhealthy snacking habit is one of the best things we can do for our wellbeing. These on-the-go nibbles crammed with superfoods such as turmeric, matcha and acai berries can be whizzed up quickly with no cooking required and are designed to lift energy without upsetting blood sugar levels.

Some ingredients may involve searching your health food store, though tips for tweaking recipes to suit special diets mean no one has to miss out.

Your say...

SURVEY An exclusive Saga poll reveals the older well-known names that Brits really admire

The nation’s most inspiring over-60s e’s set up an airline, owned a chain of record shops, and claimed the world record for flying a balloon across the Pacific. Now Richard Branson has also been voted the country’s most inspirational over-60-year-old.

He beat broadcasting treasure David Attenborough and the Queen in a Saga nationwide poll of more than 2,000 people across all age groups.

He is one of three businessmen in the top ten, along with Alan Sugar and James Dyson, which also featured theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking. Unsurprisingly, our poll revealed that 48% of people think hard work an important inspirational characteristic, followed by dedication and contribution to society (both 40%).

Creativity got fewer votes at 18%, but it’s clearly still important: five of the six women in our top 20 are actresses, and the list also includes Paul McCartney and Stephen Fry. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn got almost three times as many votes as Theresa May, who was seen as inspirational by just over 1% of respondents – only marginally more than rocker Ozzy Osbourne.

POPULUS QUESTIONED 2,101 PEOPLE, NATIONWIDE, 15-16 NOVEMBER 2017. JLPPA/ABACAPRESS.COM, GETTY, DAVID SILPA/UPI/PA IMAGES

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Top 20 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Richard Branson David Attenborough The Queen Alan Sugar Judi Dench James Dyson Helen Mirren Stephen Hawking Julie Walters Paul McCartney

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

Billy Connolly Jeremy Corbyn Maggie Smith Joanna Lumley Stephen Fry Sean Connery Michael Caine Prince Philip Mick Jagger Anthony Hopkins

Do you agree?

Join the debate at facebook.com/saga

2018

I S A G A . C O . U K / J A N - M A G 25

This month...

OPINION Life after work is now a time of massive opportunity.

So make 2018 the year you say YES to new experiences, says Janet Street-Porter (who does it all the time…)

Best years of our lives tarting a new year doesn’t mean setting goals at which to fail.

Far more rewarding to spend a bit of time thinking about whether we are getting the maximum enjoyment out of life, and if not, why not?

That’s not about buying more stuff. It’s more about focusing on what to stop doing (such as seeing people who are negative) and, more importantly, what new challenges to try. It’s OK to say no to things that don’t bring any rewards, but it’s three times as important to say yes to anything that could make life more enjoyable. Instead of saying no, say yes at least once a day.

At my age (71), it’s important to make the right choices, because – I’ve finally got the message – personal happiness is down to me and no one else. For starters, that might involve re-balancing my relationship to work, something I find extremely difficult, with the demarcation between earning a living and retirement more blurred than ever.

For many, giving up work brings fears of loneliness, a narrowing of our horizons. No wonder more older people are working than ever before – it’s not just for the money. Once, compulsory retirement was the norm, foisted on women at 60 and men at 65 whether they were ready or not; now, it’s

GETTY

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easier to choose how to spend what should be the most productive years of our lives.

The answer might include a different kind of job, or a new skill: growing something, sewing, learning a language. In my case, finally learning how to drive a car with gears! The only way to stay young is not by using some magical cream or taking fancy pills – it’s by keeping our minds active and consciously

The only way to stay young is not by using magical cream or taking fancy pills – it’s by keeping our minds active

extending our world, mentally, socially and physically.

Over the past 30 years, retirement has turned from a time to wind down and relax into a massive opportunity, if you are willing to rise to the challenge. By the time my parents retired they were very set in their ways, going on holiday and visiting the same friends they’d had for years and pursuing the same interests.

The familiar routine was comforting, but ultimately I think it made them lonely.

It didn’t help that they moved 200 miles from me and my sister.

They’d come from workingclass backgrounds and left school at 14. Dad started as an Z

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OPINION electrician’s apprentice, then went to evening classes to learn his trade. And Mum worked as a nanny in a posh house, later telling a few fibs about her qualifications to land a clerical job in the civil service.

In their sixties, they retired for good. Dad played a lot of golf, and my mother went to Welsh poetry classes, when she wasn’t topping up her tan in the Canary Islands. Neither had any inclination to work part-time, or broaden their horizons.

Just as we redefined youth as a separate social group with immense spending power, my generation of baby-boomers has changed the whole nature of retirement. We can pre-retire, gradually reducing the time spent at work, or decide to take up a less demanding job that’s more of a hobby. Some retirees are choosing to return to work full-time, after taking a break.

OPINIONS EXPRESSED MAY NOT BE THOSE OF THE SAGA GROUP.

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To be honest, I don’t know where I stand on the issue of work/life balance. When I turned 70 at the end of 2016, I swore I would not spend the rest of my life working (I admit to being a workaholic freelance writer and broadcaster).

I work a bit of the time for six and maybe seven days a week.

It keeps me on my toes and stops my mind sinking into a rut. But I now spend two blocks of time a year (January and summer), when I do no work whatsoever.

No emails, no phone calls, no newspaper reading or listening to the Today programme.

I’ve given up stuff that exhausted me – I stopped cooking Christmas lunch, stopped catering for my birthday with huge dinner parties and stopped celebrating

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Two-thirds of people over 70 say it is the happiest time of their lives, and they no longer care what people think

Agree?

Disagree?

Let us know

Write to us Saga Magazine, Enbrook Park, Folkestone, Kent CT20 3SE

Email us editor@saga.co.uk

Join our community facebook.com/saga

New Year’s Eve. Instead, I’ve learned to be alone for hours and even days at a time.

I go beach walking and eat a bag of prawns out of the paper.

I read from morning till night.

I have been re-reading all Len Deighton’s Berlin novels. I swim alone in giant dams in the Australian outback and fish in shallow estuaries where huge stingrays glide by my legs, in search of something more interesting. I want to be slightly frightened: it’s good for me, after weeks in the media world where everyone is too bothered about how they look and who has said what.

I’m not begging you to follow my example with extreme downtime – we’re all different – but to enjoy and get the most out of ageing you must set your own agenda, extend your horizons and not let them shrink.

It’s not necessarily about physical mobility; the internet allows us to visit places, look into new worlds, and learn new things, without ever leaving our living rooms. We can talk to people on the other side of the world for almost nothing. We can feed the most wonderful organ in the human body, our brain.

Physically, older people say they feel four years younger on average than their real age, and mentally a whole decade younger. Even better, two-thirds of the population aged over 70

say it is the happiest time of their lives, and they no longer care what other people think.

‘Positive Ageing’ requires constant self-monitoring, otherwise you’ll sink into a rut and slide into nostalgia.

My Positive Ageing means doing something new on a regular basis, no matter how small. For the past year, I’ve cooked a new recipe once a week (from Thai curries to Israeli baked fish) and once a month read a book by an author I’ve never heard of, chosen from a newspaper review – if I find it hard-going I have no guilt about taking it to a charity shop or passing it to a friend. I even say hello to a stranger in the street once a day. I know it sounds bonkers, but it seems to work; I’m determined not to slide into the same rut as Mum and Dad. Ageing is in the mind, not the body. I’ve cut back on moaning about my creaking knees, instead playing tennis differently and not walking 10,000 steps a day when 5,000 achieves the same result. Instead of sitting on my backside and ordering everything online, I go to a shop and talk to a person. It might sound a bit feeble, but it’s really important. And at any event, from a farmers’ market to a jumble sale or an art exhibition, I try to talk to someone younger than myself: they are going to tell me stuff I don’t know.

So if a lanky red-haired pensioner in a fleece hat said hello to you this morning, it was probably me!

Janet Street-Porter CBE writes columns for The Independent and the MailOnline and is a regular panellist on ITV’s Loose Women

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When snooty ‘Lady’ Sandra Abbott (Imelda Staunton) discovers that her husband of 40 years is having an affair with her best friend, she seeks refuge with her bohemian older sister Bif (Celia Imrie).

Timothy Spall, Joanna Lumley, John Sessions and David Hayman also star.

Who knew that Sandra’s old love, dancing, could bring back so much that was missing in her life?

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Monty bustin’ out

is...

all over Word s T i f f a ny Da nef f

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It may be winter, but Britain’s favourite gardener Monty Don is blooming. With a new TV series and more books out this year, he’s never been busier. Here, the hardy perennial reveals how his upbringing forged his driven nature – and how his garden has eased the blows of many personal setbacks

ALAMY, JASON INGRAM

Interview

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he ground may be rock solid and shrubs rimed with frost, but even the harshest winter is unlikely to stop Monty Don from doing a spot of gardening. He arrives

ALAMY, JASON INGRAM, DAFYDD JONES, GRAHAM STONE / RETNA PICTURES

dressed, as ever, in rugged linen workwear, even though this interview is being conducted in the monochrome confines of the publisher’s office. We are here to discuss his latest book Down to Earth – unbelievably, his 19th – the garnering of 50 years of gardening experience.

Plenty of people infinitely less busy than Monty (his parents named him Montagu) might congratulate themselves after writing a single book. But 2018 looks like it is going to be a humdinger for the nation’s favourite polymath, author, broadcaster and – absolutely not forgetting – owner of four dogs, notably Nigel, the golden retriever who has more Twitter followers than most humans.

This month, Monty is presenting Paradise Gardens on

BBC Two, which is about Islamic gardens and has taken him from Bradford to Morocco, around the Middle East and as far as Kashmir. There will be an accompanying book.

Spring and summer will hurtle straight into the seasonal whirlwind of filming BBC Gardeners’ World, appearing at countless garden shows, giving hours of talks and writing a monthly garden column.

As if that wasn’t enough to leave a grown man wilting, somehow he will scratch together the time, between pulling tulips and planting out lettuces, to write a memoir exploring the role animals play in our health and happiness, a subject that is understandably close to his heart.

And, we’re not finished: he is also contracted to write a third memoir, this time taking the reader back to his childhood, growing up in Hampshire.

He seems remarkably at ease, though, the sun shining on those famously chiselled cheekbones. You’d never guess that he has been so busy this

Potted Monty

1980s With Sarah, a jeweller, he opens Monty Don Jewellery, designing and selling costume pieces to Princess Diana, Boy George and Michael Jackson from their Knightsbridge shop.

1955 Born in West Berlin where his father, a soldier, is stationed, but grows up in Hampshire.

1960s and 70s Despite failing his A-levels irst time, he reads English at Magdalene College, Cambridge where he wins a blue for boxing and meets his future wife, Sarah.

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From the boxing ring to the potting shed, despite a series

I 2018

1990s After ‘Black Monday’ and the stock market crash in October 1987, the business goes bust.

The Dons lose everything, including their home and furniture.

He publishes his irst book The Prickotty Bush about moving from London to Herefordshire.

1991 A ‘painful and dificult’ time in which depression hits Monty badly.

1994 Starts writing for newspapers and magazines and gets his irst TV work presenting gardening on This Morning.

Interview past fortnight that he has barely had time to garden.

‘Week before last I had two parties to go to, one in Kent and one in London, then I had a meeting with the BBC, so Saturday, Sunday, Monday, I was away. I filmed Tuesday, Wednesday. I then had to write all Thursday. I then had to go back to London on Friday to get a visa. I was writing all Saturday, filmed all Sunday and Monday, and then I went to Iran Tuesday to Saturday. Then a photoshoot Monday, filming Tuesday, Wednesday and a talk yesterday and came up here last night.’

It afforded him about an hour or two of gardening on one of those writing days and an hour the day before we meet. This clearly pains him.

‘On a very basic level, the garden is my constant point of reference, so when I put my hands in the soil – and it does always have to be hands and soil – I am grounding myself, and no matter whether I’m angry or I’m sad or bewildered or tired, or whatever I might be, it

Shear bliss Monty grabs a moment’s breather from his hectic horticultural schedule

“

recharges the bits that need recharging and soothes away that which needs salving.’

Unlike most of us, Monty does have help in the form of two full-time gardeners with whom he remains in constant touch via text. But then his garden at Longmeadow in Herefordshire isn’t just his garden, it is the backdrop for his Gardeners’ World filming. Which begs the question, isn’t this rather like living above the shop?

‘The truth is,’ he says, ‘I don’t know whether I should say this,

I used to be a very driven person and very competitive, not surprising given my upbringing as it breaks a myth – home is work, and the only time it feels like not work is occasionally at the weekend – about one weekend out of three or four, when I just garden all the time.’

It might be tempting to say, well, tough luck, that’s a small price to pay for the devotion of

the two and half million loyal fans who regularly switch on to Gardener’s World. But this seems ungenerous towards someone who has publicly talked about his debilitating depression and who has battled through more than his fair share of setbacks. At the age of 19, his twin sister was severely injured in a horrific car crash that affected the whole family.

Then there was the collapse of his jewellery company in the 1980s and a minor stroke.

His way of managing has always been to throw himself into projects. He’s a large man, tall and broad shouldered, built to be a boxer (he won his blue at Cambridge) and to slice a shovel clean into hard soil.

His friend and fellow gardener, Sarah Raven, recalls that when he was making his first big country garden in Herefordshire he actually hired floodlights so that he could continue digging at night. Yet stirred in with the sturdy loam from which he’s made is a lighter, more unexpected layer, an elegance of thought Z

of personal setbacks throughout his life, the gardening guru always springs up again 2003 To the shock of many, Monty takes over from Alan Titchmarsh as the irst self-taught presenter of Gardeners’ World.

2006 On Desert Island Discs he picks the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night as his favourite record, plus works of the 17th-century metaphysical poet Henry Vaughan and a Rembrandt.

2008 Following a minor stroke, Monty stands down from Gardeners’ World.

2011 After viewing igures tumble, Gardeners’ World asks Monty to return. He agrees on condition he broadcasts from his home garden, Longmeadow in Herefordshire (another irst for the show).

2014 Monty’s Nigel, below, joins Twitter! @montysdognigel now has more than 32,000 followers and counting.

2016 Ends eight years as President of the Soil Association.

2018 Look out for Paradise Gardens book and TV series.

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Interview Y and notable felicity of style.

ALAMY

In Down to Earth he sums up what it is to garden in cold weather in a couple of simple sentences: ‘Mud becomes solid.

You can walk dry-shod and push wheelbarrows full of muck or weeds over it.’ Immediately, we’re there, too, feeling the hard ground underfoot.

Monty is both illuminating and passionate while not losing his train of thought.

‘I used to be a very driven person,’ he says, ‘and very competitive, not surprising given my upbringing. I had to get up and get out and do things.’

He talks freely about his childhood. He and his brothers grew up with a five-acre garden at the family home in Hampshire that was tended by a full-time gardener until Monty was about seven or eight, when the gardener fell off a ladder and damaged his back.

‘Mr Roberts lived in a tied cottage and my parents, of course, didn’t kick him out, but nor could they offer a cottage for the replacement, so they didn’t get one.’

Monty’s mother, who had been brought up in the house, determined that the garden would still be maintained to a certain level. And the family would do this. Duty called.

‘I don’t remember any aesthetic, cultural, sensual appreciation of the garden – it was entirely practical. We grew vegetables and fruit to eat, we had a big lawn, we had a grass tennis court – you mowed it in order that you could play tennis.

I remember sieving leaf mould to make potting compost for chrysanths. It was horrible.’

He recalls endless digging and a lot of shearing, and edging and mowing. ‘No one seemed to

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A Don deal Monty and his wife Sarah – they married in 1983 – in the garden of their Herefordshire home, Longmeadow

“

have any love of plants. For my parents, particularly my mother, it was completely and utterly dictated by duty. Duty to everything – duty to the church, duty to God, duty to the community, duty to the garden.

It was a kind of neurotic sense that you had to pay your debt – the great mantra was, “God first, others next, self last”.

That was absolutely the motto.

‘The “self last” was as important as the “God first”.

It wasn’t a sort of “be one with God”, it was “don’t get above yourself. Make sure everything else is done before.

You are the least important person in every situation. You are the person that deserves and receives the least.”

‘That was absolutely their credo – my father, who was

When I put my hands in the soil, I am grounding myself.

It recharges the bits that need recharging and soothes that which needs salving

an Army officer, was absolutely “horses first, men next, self last”. So, in honesty, the whole culture was one of jobs and duty. The upside was they completely inculcated into all their children a work ethic, which is useful if you automatically can get up at any time and go to work and get it done. I don’t resent that at all.

A lot of people never have that.’

He says he is much changed now and this comes across in his new book – gardeners are not bullied into seasonal tasks but gently enthused and encouraged through the year.

‘I used to have a kind of muscular Christianity – the garden was something that could be made and tamed and brought to heel.’ He talks with obvious passion about turning that around, of being less prescriptive and having more humility. One suspects that this is a reaction to those endless gardening tips he must deliver.

The motto now is: forget the how and when and think more about the whys of doing what you do: ‘Rather than hands-on gardening, fingertip gardening.’

Perhaps this explains why he is creating a private garden, to be kept secret from the world.

‘We have a farm as well, where I do spend as much time as I can, and that is completely private. It’s in mid-Wales, in the Black Mountains. I’m making a garden there. But I’ve never written about it; I’ve never photographed it; I’ve never filmed it because I know from experience once that door is opened you can’t go back.’

Down to Earth, £17.99, is out now; new series Paradise Gardens starts this month on BBC Two and the book is published in March; Gardener’s World returns in spring

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Freedom is a motorhome named Charlie Thousands of us are now buying motorhomes, many to escape Britain’s winter. Like Wayne and Angie Parker, who decided in 2015 to follow their dream of exploring Europe – and haven’t slept in a proper house since. They tell Rachel Carlyle how they’ve done it, and how you could, too

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Adventure

ighty years after Captain Francis Scrivens Dunn invented the motorhome by customising his Pontiac, record numbers of us are taking to the open road. Motorhome registrations in the UK shot up 32% from 2015 to 2017, and show no signs of slowing down.

‘Many are empty-nesters and the recently retired, who see it as their time to go off and explore after a lifetime of work and raising families,’ says Nikki Nichol of the nownamed Caravan and Motorhome Club.

One such couple is Wayne, 51, and Angie, 49, who set off in Charlie the Chucklebus in 2015 and haven’t looked back. Here’s a glimpse into their MoHo life...

E

commercialisation loop. Within four years we’d saved £10,000, which was enough to buy a motorhome when added to our existing savings pot.

How we chose Charlie

We’d both been working since we were 17, we had the four-bedroom house, we had two children who were growing up fast – we were on that ‘work-eat-sleeprepeat’ treadmill. But it all changed for us one day in 2011 when Angie’s mum, Pat, died suddenly from an aneurism. There was no warning. One day she was there, the next she wasn’t.

We sat down and wrestled with a massive question: if your number was up tomorrow, what would you regret most? The answer?

Not travelling enough. We could see that some day our kids would leave home – our oldest, Laura, was already 18, so what would we do then? Rattle around in the big house in Norwich we’d worked so hard to pay for?

No. An idea began to emerge.

When buying a motorhome, you almost need to see what you don’t want before you can work out what you do. We did the rounds of motorhome shows, joined MoHo Facebook groups (Motorhome Madness, Motorhome Adventures, Practical Motorhome), then sketched out our ideal layout on paper. A fixed bed was a must: who wants to be pulling down a bed every night and packing it away every morning?

We also wanted left-hand drive as we’d be mainly driving abroad.

By now we’d worked out that prices were 20% lower in Europe, so we scoured the market until we found Charlie, a year-old Bürstner 715G being sold by a couple in Picardy who’d never had enough free weekends to make use of him. We fell in love instantly and paid the asking price of €40,000. Five days later we were back home to make use of my background as an engineer to start modifications (an LPG gas tank for heating and cooking, and solar panels for power).

All this time, we were selling what we no longer needed, eventually whittling down all our worldly goods to half a small bedroom’s worth. By August 2015, our son Chris had left home to train as a chef, we’d sold our house in Norwich for £230,000, bought a smaller house, and invested the rest.

Our five-year exit plan

How we decided where to go

This is what we decided to do. We’d earn enough over the next five years to pay off the mortgage and buy a motorhome to travel around Europe. We’d sell the house and buy a smaller one to rent to Laura, and still have a nest-egg in the bank.

Over those years we worked hard and never let a spare pound go: no takeaways, no Costa coffees, no Sky TV. When you examine the figures, it’s amazing how much of your working day you exchange for ‘stuff’– and we wanted out of this

On 24 August 2015, we moved out of our house and straight into Charlie. We haven’t spent a night in a proper house since. We knew we wanted to see every corner of Europe, but for our first outing we pootled through France, down through the Spanish Mediterranean towns, then to Morocco.

Our second year-long trip began in June 2016 and took us to Germany, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Austria, Slovenia, Croatia, Albania, Z Greece, Italy and France. Charlie’s MoT

How it all began

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Wayne & Angie’s Travelling routes 2015-2017 is the only thing that brings us back: you can’t get it done in Europe. Our current trip began in September 2017 and we’ve been zig-zagging across Atlantic Spain and north Portugal.

Our planning meetings are short: we look at the map and our Lonely Planet guide and say, ‘Let’s head in that direction’. We’ll move on quickly if we think the place is overrated (Bergen in Norway and most of the Spanish Med) or spend longer if we’re pleasantly surprised (the Polish lake district).

Z

Sept 2015 - April 2016 June 2016 - May 2017 June 2017 - November 2017 Countries we loved Places we wouldn’t bother with again Best places for winter sun

Our ‘Yes, we’ve done it!’ moment About a month into our first trip, we were sitting on a campsite just outside Lourdes in the foothills of the French Pyrenees. The week’s washing was hanging on the line, drying in the late-afternoon sunshine, we were enjoying roast chestnuts from our barbecue with a very acceptable bottle of red – then it hit us. We’ve escaped! We live in a bus! Since then, whatever time we wake up on Monday morning, wherever we are, we have a little smile to ourselves.

Home

We’ve met some characters…

There are distinct camps: the motorhomers who go to the Algarve or southern Spain for the sun and the ex-pat life and don’t stray far (we met one couple who’d been in the same car park for three months). Then there are those who want adventure: we’ve met couples who have been on the road for 15 years and never stayed on a campsite.

There was a guy in a tiny Suzuki van who had to move half the contents of his home before he could go to bed, and a bloke in Norway who lived in a Mitsubishi Shogun with Korean plates. We once got chatting to an elderly lady walking her dogs in an aire-cum-boatyard in Spain and found out she’d travelled the world with her husband on their yacht but he’d died at this spot ten years before. She scattered his ashes in the harbour and had lived ever since on their yacht in the dry dock.

Our worst decision Our hairiest experience in Charlie was in Z one of the white hillside villages of

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Valencia and Tarragona, Spain Anywhere along the Med coast is fantastic for sun, but if you want to get away from the crowds of Brits, Valencia and Tarragona are less busy, and have culture and history.

Nafplio, Peloponnese, Greece Unspoilt, quiet and steeped in history. It can be 200C in November and December.

Zagora, Morocco An intrguing town, which is the gateway to the Sahara, in southeastern Morocco.

Nordkapp, northern Norway After all the dramatic landscapes further south, this was bleak and a little boring.

Almeria, Spain Just mile upon mile of polytunnels growing salad: necessary for the local economy, but we could live without seeing them again.

Any of the ‘white’ hillside villages in southern Spain They may be picture-perfect but the narrow roads can be a nightmare, proving almost inaccessible for motorhomes.

Adventure

Norway Greece Morocco

Gibraltar

Hungary Morocco

Slovenia Lake District

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Adventure

southern Spain, where we made the mistake of following the sat nav, which directed us down ever narrower roads until the only way we could get through was by pulling in the wing mirrors. At the end of the road was a T-junction with an old Renault 5 parked on the left. We inched forward, half on the path, trying to turn right, then heard a twang. Our light bar had lodged underneath the Renault’s wheel arch and we were trapped.

By now, cars had backed up all around us, and about ten old ladies were on their doorsteps, enjoying the show. The crowd grew to about 30, then one of them yanked off the light bar and insisted we take the left turn and keep going until we were out of town. We’ve not been near a little Spanish white town since.

Y

Our best memory (so far) It’s difficult to beat a camel ride into the edge of the Sahara at Erg Chebbi, southern Morocco, then to sit on the top of a huge sand dune and watch the sun slowly go down over Algeria. Morocco was a revelation: you’re truly out of your comfort zone, yet the people are incredibly friendly and want you to enjoy their country and its awe-inspiring sights: the mosque at Casablanca, the drive south to the Sahara, the endless Roman ruins.

How we fund our travels We reckon it costs about £15,000 a year to live this life. We have the rental income from our house in Norwich and Angie’s mum’s house in Doncaster, plus some

Tempted?

Take a look at these inspiring blogs

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money from our investments. Some MoHo bloggers monetise their blogs and earn money from readers clicking on links on their sites, or from sponsorship and endorsing products, but that’s not really us.

We only started our blog (see MoHo blogs, below) because it was a good way of remembering where we’ve been.

We spend about a third of our time camping ‘wild’ (countries have different rules on this: it’s a right in Norway, illegal in England and Wales, and tolerated in France and much of Spain, but not on the Med).

We’ve parked in some odd places: Lidl car parks, beachfronts. Graveyards are good as they’re quiet and there’s always water.

There are also thousands of free aires – motorhome stopover points – around Europe. If our laundry bag is full, we spend a couple of days on a campsite – but probably no more than five to ten nights a month. We recently spent five weeks in Scotland, where wild camping is legal, without a single campsite.

Fancy a free cuppa?

Possibilities members can get a discount on tickets to The Caravan, Camping and Motorhome Show 2018 at Birmingham NEC on 20-25 February, with exclusive access to our members’ lounge for a free cup of tea or coffee. So join our wonderful FREE membership programme now at saga.co.uk/ membership

What’s next for us We feel a pull towards Morocco, where we spent five weeks in 2016, so we’re aiming for a three-month stint in early 2018. After that, who knows? We may spend some time back in the UK next year, but I don’t see why we couldn’t carry on like this for another five or ten years. Other motorhomers have said travel fatigue eventually sets in – some say after three years, some say seven. But we haven’t felt anything like that so far. The more you do it, the more it doesn’t feel like a holiday – it feels like a life, but a lovely one.

charliethechucklebuss.com Wayne and Angie Parker’s story of their never-ending (so far!) European adventures. ourtour.co.uk Jason and Julie Buckley have been touring Europe and North Africa for six years, on and off. This is the ‘big daddy’ of motorhome blogs. theworldisourlobster.com One couple’s three-year successful mission to visit all 47 countries in Europe, from 2009-2012.

For Wayne and Angie’s essential kit list, go to saga.co.uk/ jan-mag

woollywanderers.wordpress.com A year-long trip across Europe and Russia by one couple and their three poodles. gillandpete.blogspot.co.uk A retired couple’s European travels in Maisy the motorhome – four years, and counting… ourbumble.com Craig and Jo’s travels in Vin, a Hymer motorhome, over four years. bevisonwheels.blogspot.co.uk Maggie and Pete’s summer motorhome holidays.

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Kay Mellor’s new TV drama Girlfriends profiles the lives of old friends facing the highs and lows of life over 50.

Here, stars Zoë Wanamaker, Phyllis Logan and Miranda Richardson tell Nicole Lampert how the show reflects their own lives – from giving up high heels to gaining new mates

Best of friends Worst of times..

Collectively, Zoë Wanamaker, Miranda Richardson and Phyllis Logan are among our most lauded actresses, famed for their roles in both serious dramas and award-winning comedies. But trying to get the three leading stars of ITV’s new prime-time drama Girlfriends to stop giggling together is a bit like trying to calm down a group of excited schoolgirls when they’ve just caught sight of their favourite pop star.

Yet before they started working together on Girlfriends, Miranda, 59, and Zoë, 68, had acted together only once before, nearly 30 years ago, while neither of them had ever met Downton Abbey’s Phyllis, 61.

But five months of intensive work on the Leeds set of the new drama, by Fat Friends and The Syndicate’s Kay Mellor, has turned them into firm friends and they are a hoot.

Sexual politics, social media, varicose veins and high heels – they have opinions on them all. They finish each other’s sentences and the punch lines to one another’s jokes.

The characters in Girlfriends are plagued by troubles many of us recognise. Looking after children, grandchildren and elderly parents; how tough it is when you realise there should have been more to your life; the pain of losing a lifelong partner and, of course, the joy and solace of old friends.

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Zoë

Wanamaker Plays Gail Gail has worked hard all her life. She should be enjoying her retirement but inds herself constantly struggling to make ends meet. On top of that, she is the main carer for her grandson because his mother is a drug addict and she also has to look after her ageing mother.

Relationships but when we see each other there is no awkwardness at all. I think you need your friends all of the time.

Miranda

Richardson Plays Sue To the outside world, Sue is a glamorous and successful magazine editor. Married to her job, she has never wed.

Instead, she’s had a 30-year affair with her magazine’s publisher, John, who has constantly let her down, and the relationship is now on its last legs.

irlfriends is about a close group of friends who have known each other since they were teenagers. Do you have similar friendships?

Phyllis: I have a really old friend

G

Phyllis

Logan Plays Linda Linda married school sweetheart Micky and gave up her job to raise their children. But when Micky mysteriously disappears when they’re on a cruise, she inds her seemingly idyllic life was a sham; Micky was in debt – and she wasn’t the only woman in his life.

from school and we see each other a lot. Sometimes you think, ‘Oh, for goodness sake,’ about some of the things your friends say. But other times you just think, ‘Oh, I do love you!’

Miranda (pouting): I am still quite petulant with my friends.

I might stop trusting them for about ten minutes. They have no idea what is going on in my head. I am still quite childish and then I have to have a word with myself and think, ‘Don’t be so stupid’. In my head I fall out with them all the time, but I don’t tend to carry through with it.

Zoë: The women that I know very well live in different geographical locations. One’s in New York, one’s in LA, I’ve got three great friends in London; it is hard to get everyone together,

Do you recognise anything of yourselves in your characters?

Miranda: I always say, ‘I am

playing my mother’. It’s never me. Possibly I am a bit bossy like her. She’s funny and I hope that I am too, sometimes.

Phyllis: You make me laugh.

Miranda (nods): Yes, I think I am funny.

Zoë: Well, I am not a lollipop lady.

Not yet. I think everybody tries to get into the person that they are playing. Psychologically you are thinking, who is she? You are trying to find the element that connects you to that person and I do feel her pain. She’s in an extraordinarily difficult situation.

Phyllis (shaking her long, luxuriant curly red hair that she sports for the show): Linda

and I have the same hair. But it’s not all mine. And I think she can be a bit ditzy like me.

The show is about women of a certain age and the challenges they face. What would you say are the challenges of being older?

Miranda: Remembering the

lines – that is a challenge.

Phyllis: Yes, there is that. And my legs are starting to ache.

Can I mention my varicose veins? (The other two nod.)

Zoë: The older we get, the stiffer we get. I have had two hip replacements but now look at me, sitting all cross-legged.

Miranda: I wear high heels in this show. I used to be able to wear them all day. How? Get them off me! They’re agony.

Zoë: ‘F*** me shoes’, they used to be called.

Phyllis: Now it’s all about the ‘f*** me pumps’ (they collapse Z

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Relationships Y in raucous laughter). Zoë is

Phyllis: Now the off-colour jokes

trying to get me to get my eyes done. My eyes are getting worse and worse. I am having to wear see-ers as well.

come from us (they all laugh knowingly).

Miranda: I feel a bit bad about it.

Sometimes I think maybe I shouldn’t have said this or that.

It’s nothing too crass, maybe a bit flirtatious. It’s a bit of banter with the guys in the crew. Do you think they’re OK with it?

Phyllis: It’s sexual harassment!

Zoë: No, but maybe because the show is about three women we feel more powerful.

Phyllis: Even in our crew we have quite a lot of females, the gaffer [head electrician], the lighting, even the ‘best boy’ [the gaffer’s assistant] is a woman.

It’s a really nice mix.

Miranda: This morning a fire alarm went off and there was even a woman fireman.

Apparently, she was just one of the boys, whatever that means. But she was their equal.

Zoë: That’s all we want.

See-ers?

Phyllis: You know, seeing

glasses? I already had the ageing reading glasses, but now I have these seeing glasses as well to watch the telly and go to the theatre. When I put them on it’s like, ‘Oh wow, I can see! It’s like a miracle!’ Zoë is telling me to get them lasered.

Zoë (nods knowingly while tapping her nose):

Eye implants! I think that’s the way forward.

Friends both on-screen and off Zoë, Miranda and Phyllis smile in the face of adversities in Girlfriends

What about the challenges emotionally?

Miranda: It’s hard to generalise.

You can be more pragmatic about certain things, but it just depends on how you are feeling. And when it’s down to the hormones, who can say?

One minute you can be thinking that you are dealing with this, you are dealing with that.

And then, all of a sudden you can’t pick up your shopping bag and you are thinking (she sobs dramatically), ‘I just can’t do this’.

Phyllis: You might be more mature in terms of life experiences, but I don’t know if you become more mature emotionally. It depends on the situation thrown at you. You might react in a way where you know, from experience, that is the best way of doing something practically, but emotionally you might still be exactly as you were 20 years ago or even 50 years ago.

Zoë’s character, Gail, is a prime example of what is happening to a lot of women our age; they end up being unpaid

childminders for their grandchildren and carers for their elderly parents. She has really got the short straw.

Miranda: My character is supposed to have got what she wanted. She is a modern woman, a career woman, but nothing is working.

Zoë: I think a lot of women were doing that 20 years ago. Saying, ‘I can do it all. I can juggle.’ It’s hard for women when they’re working all the time.

Miranda: Women thought they had to be deadlier than the male in the workplace and ride roughshod over their female colleagues. I’d like to think that has changed.

Has the world changed?

Phyllis: My father died in 1966.

Have you got lifelong friends?

Write to: Saga Magazine, Enbrook Park, Folkestone, Kent CT20 3SE Email us at: editor@saga.co.uk

It is not that long ago, but he wouldn’t recognise the world today. It has changed out of all proportion.

Zoë: For us, having the Pill changed society. And now the mobile phone has changed it all over again.

Miranda: I think there is more respect now, mutual respect between the sexes. There is a different type of joking around than there used to be. On set there are not so many off-colour jokes any more, are there?

Zoë: No, that’s true. I hadn’t thought about that, you’re right.

Has it been harder finding work as you’ve got older?

Have you ever experienced any age discrimination?

Miranda: I feel very lucky. We

have had the benefit of the generation before fighting for us.

When it comes to work, I have never felt male or female, which I know might seem a weird thing to say. I mean, I know I am a woman...

Phyllis (dead-pans): We’ve never thought of you as female (all three cackle). But no, I have never felt discriminated against. People, fortunately, do write parts for women in their forties, fifties, and even their sixties and seventies. As long as we are still breathing, there will be a story to tell.

Kay Mellor’s new ITV drama, Girlfriends, starts in early January. See listings for details

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I l lu s t r at ion s by Luc y R o s e

health

PHOTO BY PAUL COOPER/REX/SHUTTERSTOCK

The new ways to be

Want to keep well in 2018? TV’s Dr Rangan Chatterjee says the body is one interconnected system. We use steroid cream for eczema, say, but it could be caused by gut bacteria or stress. We need to take a more holistic approach to our wellbeing. Adopt at least two of the tactics in each of his Four Pillars to boost your health this year…

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hy

Wellbeing Dr Rangan Chatterjee, a pioneer in the emerging ield of progressive medicine, takes a whole-of-life look at the causes of illness. The star of BBC One’s Doctor in the House, he lectures around the world.

Four Pillars is his irst book

Pillar 1

Relax

The health problems of many of my patients are exacerbated by how busy they are. At no point are they just chilling out. Relaxation is vital The screen-free Sabbath The ping of a new email or social media notification activates rewards signals in your brain. You become addicted, so there’s no downtime with a smartphone in your pocket.

Try a digital detox. Switch off notifications on your phone, put your device in a box during meals, unsubscribe from redundant email lists and leave your devices alone completely on Sundays.

Create ‘me’ time For at least 15 minutes every day, stop everything. Listen to your favourite music, say, or sit in a room with the lights off.

A break can switch off our overactive stress response. I’m seeing patients who are constantly in fight-or-flight mode.

Their body prioritises the production of the stress hormone cortisol, impacting hormone balance and things such as muscular strength and energy levels.

Digestion switches off, too, which can lead to weight gain.

Your immune system also goes into a prolonged emergency state, causing inflammation, which over an extended

period underpins everything from heart attacks to Alzheimer’s.

Keep a gratitude journal Before you go to sleep, list all the things that have gone well for you that day, for which you’re grateful. One study found that people who employed a similar tactic saw their life satisfaction increase and depression lower.

Practise stillness daily One way to achieve this is by inhaling for three seconds, holding for four, then breathing out for five. One stressed patient who did this for 15 minutes a day quickly saw improvements in his anxiety levels.

Reclaim your dinner table We evolved as tribal creatures, so the brain interprets social isolation as a major problem and cortisol levels tend to go up.

But if you eat with your family at a table, you can combat this with more togetherness. Recent research has also found that if we eat in front of a TV we’ll probably remember less of our meal and start getting ‘I’m hungry’ messages Z from the brain sooner.

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Pillar 2

Eat A child has different health and diet priorities from an octogenarian; a bodybuilder from an expectant mother. But the following principles apply to everyone De-normalise sugar If you’re eating processed food, there’s a good chance your intake of the sticky white stuff is through the roof. In modern life, we’ve started to crave it.

Since 1996, the number of Britons diagnosed with diabetes has more than doubled.

To retrain your taste buds and help cut down, include some protein in every meal so you feel fuller for longer. Carry non-sugary snacks, such as nuts, for when you get a craving, or try drinking two glasses of water instead.

A new definition of ‘five a day’ Trying to eat five portions of fruit and veg daily leads my patients to concentrate on super-sweet fruit and juices.

Instead, I’d recommend five different vegetables of different colours. The variety of nutrients will boost gut bacteria, which make serotonin, control our weight and much more, and help guard against everything from cancer to poor eyesight.

Introduce daily micro-fasts Try consuming food only within a 12-hour window. Give it a break from constant gorging

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and, six to eight hours after eating, the body will use up its glycogen fuel stores and start to burn its own fat. After 12 hours, it’ll have started focusing on ‘autophagy’, a series of cellular and immune-system repairs and other essential internal maintenance projects.

Drink more water Losing just 2% of body weight in fluid can reduce our physical and mental performance by up to 25%. I’ve seen a host of different ailments clear up when people started having more water, from dry skin to tummy aches and headaches.

Go for eight glasses a day.

Many people find that difficult, but if you implement strategies such as two glasses when you wake up and a glass 30 minutes before each meal, you should be well on your way.

Pillar 3

Move According to the World Health Organisation, one in 20 deaths are caused by physical inactivity. We need to design our lives around movement Walk more Aim for at least 10,000 steps a day. It sounds like a lot, but 1,000 steps is only ten minutes on your feet. At my previous practice, just walking to reception to greet each patient added up to 3,000 steps daily.

Unprocess your diet

Become stronger

When you’re eating poorquality food, the mucosal cells that line your digestive tract become loose and morsels of food slip through, triggering the immune system, causing chronic inflammation and conditions such as bloating, heartburn, joint pain and even depression.

Muscle plays any number of roles in the running of our bodies. When we’re strength training, for instance, it releases the chemical interleukin 6, which switches off inflammation. Muscle cells also have a high concentration of mitochondria, which are energy-producing factories.

But once we pass 30, a process called sarcopenia means we increasingly lose muscle mass. The best way of reversing this

Wellbeing

Pillar 4

Sleep When you sleep well you crave less sugary food, you’re more physically active, you have a reduced risk of Type-2 diabetes, less stress and many other benefits Create a dark bedroom environment

is strength training. Even five squats and lunges at home each day can help.

Begin regular high-intensity interval training This is exercise sectioned into lots of small sessions that should leave you out of breath. One simple workout involves going to the end of your road, then walking along it as fast as you can for a minute.

Look to see which number you’ve arrived at. Repeat five times, trying to get further on each occasion.

Darkness signals to our bodies that it’s time to rest and triggers the production of melatonin, the hormone largely responsible for helping us get to sleep.

Smartphones or tablets emit the same wavelength of light as the morning sun. So my wife and I try to switch them off at 8.30pm and don’t bring them upstairs. Remove TVs from your bedroom, install blackout blinds and use an alarm clock without an illuminated digital screen.

Spend 20 minutes outside every morning

One of the reasons we find our health deteriorating as we grow older is that we’re no longer running around having bite-sized bits of fun, such as playing tag or kicking a ball about. Grab a skipping rope, do star jumps or race your colleagues around the office. At my house, sometimes we just put some music on and start dancing.

Full sunlight gives us about 30,000 lux (the unit of measure for light). If we take this information in, early in the day, it helps to set our body clock. In a brightly lit room, we’re unlikely to get more than 500.

So for better sleep and other benefits, have your first tea of the day in the garden, or go for a morning walk.

Wake up your glutes

A bedtime routine

A lot of back pain is caused by sleepy buttock muscles. They help to hold our skeletons up and are linked to a chain of muscles from our shoulders to our feet. Keep the glutes firing with step and hip-extension exercises to avoid stress on other parts of the body.

We wind children down at bedtime with the likes of

Movement snacking

a relaxing bath and a story. Why should adults be any different?

Set an alarm for 90 minutes before you retire and switch off e-devices. I’ll then do some light stretching followed by listening to music or some deep breathing.

Manage your commotion Reduce tension or stimulation in the hours before bed by not discussing emotive subjects, cracking into some work or checking your bank balance.

I’ve let people know I don’t want to be contacted after 8pm, unless it’s an emergency. A racing mind is one of the biggest causes of suboptimal sleep.

Enjoy your caffeine before noon Caffeine disrupts sleep by blocking adenosine receptors.

Adenosine builds up while we’re awake, so the more we have of it the sleepier we feel.

Caffeine’s half-life (the time it takes for your body to eliminate half of the drug) is about six hours; if you consume it in the afternoon, it’ll probably be in your system when you’re in bed.

The Four Pillar Plan: How to Relax, Eat, Move and Sleep Your Way to a Longer, Healthier Life by Dr Rangan Chatterjee is out now. Buy it at a discount from wordery.co.uk/saga. More at drchatterjee.com

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Scamwatch

The new phone scams you need to know about – and how to avoid them There’s a lot of media attention and public worry about financial fraud via computer hacking or dodgy emails.

But phone-based scams are also common, making up a big chunk of the

£768 million of UK financial fraud in 2016.

They are also every bit as harmful.

Chris Torney shines the spotlight on some of the latest and most damaging phone cons so you know how to

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Protect yourself

Scam 1

Never call a number back just because it called you. If a phone call is genuinely important, the caller should leave you a voicemail message.

The fake tax grab How it works One of the most pernicious recent cons involves criminals calling people to say that they are getting in touch on behalf of HM Revenue & Customs. The fraudsters claim you owe HMRC thousands of pounds in taxes and ask for your bank details.

One 85-year-old woman was threatened with arrest if this supposed debt was not settled. The call was made even more frightening – and convincing – by the fact that the conman knew the victim’s address. Luckily, the woman in question decided to contact her accountant rather than handing over any information.

On other occasions, fraudsters may claim that you’ve been sent a number of reminder letters, which you have, apparently, ignored.

Protect yourself HMRC says that it will never contact taxpayers by phone to obtain unpaid taxes. If someone contacts you claiming to be from an official body (or a bank), tell them you will call them back – but use the number on its website or on official correspondence, such as a tax reminder.

Make a note of the call details and number if possible and report any suspicious activity to the police’s Action Fraud service on the number below.

Scam 3 The urgent PPI claim How it works

“

Never agree to any sort of financial deal with a cold caller.

As soon as you realise someone is trying to persuade you to make an investment, hang up

Scam 2 The missed-call con

ALAMY

How it works Fraudsters call your mobile, but hang up as soon as it starts ringing. This then shows up on the phone as a missed call. Many people will ring back, in case it’s urgent.

In fact, the number used by the criminals incurs premium-rate charges that can be as high as £15 a call, according to the police.

These payments can be applied just for connecting the call, regardless of how long you stay on the line. But, in some cases, you will also hear a long recorded message to keep you on the phone for as long as possible so that the charges mount up.

You get a call from a criminal who says that he or she is getting in touch on behalf of the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the regulatory body, because you are eligible to make a claim for mis-sold payment protection insurance (PPI), but you must do so urgently. The fraudster then says that an upfront fee needs to be paid before the claim can be processed. They either ask you to transfer money to a dodgy account, or take your bank details and then raid your account.

In fact, the actual deadline for claims is 29 August 2019 and the FCA has recently run a TV awareness campaign to make sure those with genuine cases don’t miss out.

Protect yourself Cold-calling about PPI claims is nothing new, but pretending to be from the FCA certainly seems to be. The FCA would never contact individuals in this way.

Even legitimate PPI claim companies are worth avoiding as they tend to charge high fees that are often payable upfront.

If you think you have been mis-sold PPI, visit the Money Advice Service website (moneyadviceservice.org.uk) for Z details of how to claim compensation.

Police Action Fraud service 0300 123 2040 24 hours a day

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Scamwatch to a ‘safe’ account – which is actually controlled by the criminals.

Scam 4 The too-good-to-be-true investment opportunity

Protect yourself The police would never call suspected crime victims to ask them to confirm their bank details. If your bank card has genuinely been stolen, contact your bank on an official number – one you obtain from its website or a recent bank statement, for example.

How it works Criminals cold-call people whom they believe have large sums of money to invest – typically those approaching retirement or current pensioners. They’re taking advantage of new Government rules that allow easier access to pension savings to persuade you to invest in assets – for example, foreign property or fine wine – which they promise will increase dramatically in value.

These assets either don’t exist or are hugely overpriced – and you lose some or all of your cash. Recent Government figures suggest that scammers have taken £43 million of pension cash in this way in the past three years.

Protect yourself Ministers have said they plan to ban cold-calling relating to investments in the near future, but there is no timetable yet.

Even if the practice were outlawed, some criminals would no doubt continue targeting people. So you should never agree to any sort of financial deal with a cold caller. As soon as you realise that someone is trying to persuade you to make an investment, just hang up: no genuine financial firm would market their services in this way.

Scam 5 The stolen card con

ALAMY

How it works You get a call from someone claiming to be a police officer. They say they have found a stolen bank card that appears to be yours, and ask you to confirm your account details.

You are then told to call another number, supposedly your bank’s anti-fraud team, in order to prevent any losses. You’re asked for more information on this second call so that eventually the fraudsters have all the details they need to raid your account.

Alternatively, the fake anti-fraud team will tell you that you should move your cash

Scam 6 The post-accident text message Filter calls on your landline BT customers can sign up – free – for Call Protect. It automatically diverts calls from numbers on BT’s blacklist of nuisance callers, allows you to create your own blacklist, and to choose certain calls to send straight to junk voicemail, such as international numbers, withheld and unrecognised numbers. For more info, visit bt.com and search for Call Protect.

How it works British police have uncovered a scam in which individuals receive a text message on their mobile phone – it comes from an unknown number, but appears to have been written by a close relative, typically a son or daughter.

The message says that the sender has been involved in an accident and is now in hospital, but has had to borrow a mobile phone to let you know.

You’re asked to respond to the message urgently, then you’re asked if you can pay for credit for the sender’s mobile phone so that the ‘accident victim’ can make a voice call. However, the entire thing is of course a hoax and the criminal gets a free mobile top-up.

Protect yourself According to Action Fraud, anyone who had really been involved in an accident would never be forced to pay for mobile-phone credit simply in order to speak to a close relative. In fact, any text message you receive from an unknown number that claims to be from someone you know should ring alarm bells. Call your relative’s actual phone number to check that their mobile genuinely is out of action.

Extra online For more information on phone scams, visit saga.co.uk/jan-mag

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With our great travel insurance your only concern will be the temperature of the pool Whether you book last minute or like to plan months ahead, when it comes to your holiday make sure you sort out your travel insurance straightaway. That way you can get on with the exciting things like researching where to eat, explore or relax. With Saga Travel Insurance you’re covered immediately with up to £10,000 for cancellation, which means if anything gets in the way of you travelling you won’t be left out of pocket.

Saga Travel Insurance is provided by Cigna Insurance Services (Europe) Limited, which meets our high standards of quality and service.

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Advertisement feature Canada

Welcome

anada is famed for its vast open spaces, craggy mountain ranges and spectacular wildlife, from orcas to grizzly bears and, of course, moose. But there’s so much more. During your visit you might take in a ballet in cultural Montréal, or feast on Atlantic lobster, Paciic salmon, amazing sushi (in Vancouver) or Alberta beef. You could learn about the battle that shaped North America in Québec, or graze your way round Vancouver’s Granville Island Public Market on a foodie tour.

You could relax in the luxurious carriages onboard the Rocky Mountaineer, one of the world’s most famous trains, or hit the highway in wild Yukon Territory, driving

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Travel to Canada with the experts Award-winning specialists in escorted tours, Saga Holidays offers a number of wide-ranging trips around Canada, from tours of the east and west coasts to epic rail journeys through the Rocky Mountains.

See the choice at travel.saga.co.uk or call 0800 092 4677.

across the Arctic Circle, or following in the footsteps of the early gold prospectors.

Wherever you go in Canada, you’ll encounter friendly people. And whatever the time of year, you’ll quickly ill your camera’s memory card, with snowy landscapes in winter, bears scooping salmon out of rushing streams in summer and those glorious colours in the autumn months. Canada is so close to home, too, not just culturally but geographically – in just under seven hours to the east coast.

Come for two weeks and scratch the surface of this vast, magniicent country, or stay longer and get to know this beautiful place much better.

You’re always welcome.

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Contents 60 Incredible moments 62 Eastern Canada 64 The Rocky Mountaineer 66 British Columbia 68 Yukon 70 Atlantic Canada

Air Canada operates more nonstop daily flights to Canada than any other airline – with 77 flights per week to seven major cities, including two flights a day to Vancouver. You can also upgrade to premium economy or business class – featuring a flat bed – so there is something for everyone. Air Canada operates flights on most of Saga Holidays’ Canada tours.

Heathrow Vancouver

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1 Yukon Fly over the ice See the Northern Lights dance across the sky, pan for gold, see a grizzly – or take an amazing road, boat, train or ‘lightseeing’ trip to see ice ields and glaciers.

It’s all in the vast and beautiful wilderness of the Yukon.

2 Banff

Cosmopolitan Toronto On Lake Ontario, Canada’s largest city has a buzzing food and cultural scene.

Browse the mouthwatering produce in St Lawrence Market, tour the craft breweries and, for the best views, ride the glass elevators up the awesome CN Tower.

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Whitehorse

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Natural high Much of the jagged spine of the Rocky Mountains is National Park, where you can explore towering waterfalls, glassy lakes, dense forest (keep an eye out for bears) and deep canyons. Take it all in from the comfort of the famous Rocky Mountaineer train.

Anchorage Exit Glacier

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Kluane National Park

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Wine and whales Nature is the main attraction in beautiful BC, from whale- and sea otter-spotting off Vancouver Island to the lush vineyards on the slopes of the sunny Okanagan Valley.

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Incredible moments Wherever your travels take you in Canada, here are the eight sensational highlights every visitor should experience

SASKATCHEWAN

Lake Louise An implausible shade of turquoise, Lake Louise shimmers against an amphitheatre of towering, snowy peaks in Banff National Park. Hike the trails, cycle, kayak, ride a horse or simply soak up the views from the luxury of the château hotel.

Advertisement feature Canada

6 Niagara The Niagara Falls Vast plumes of mist billow skywards as the Niagara River plunges 167 feet over three towering waterfalls. Admire the spectacle from a helicopter or don a waterproof poncho for a drenching experience on the Journey Behind the Falls observation decks.

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7 Québec City The Old Town Wander the cobbled streets of the atmospheric, 17th-century Old Town, packed with gourmet stores selling anything from local cheeses to French patisserie, the whole scene presided over by the majestic Château Frontenac.

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nd dla n u CK ewfo sland I N I W W Québec City NERUNS Prince B Edward Island Ottawa NOVA Toronto Montreal SCOTIA Niagara Falls

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Lobster for lunch Miles of pristine coastline means abundant seafood in Canada’s Atlantic provinces, while swathes of deciduous forest rivals New England for its iery autumn colours.

The Great Canadian Train Journey Travel overland from the Atlantic to the Paciic, crossing ive provinces in 18 nights and taking in Canada’s vast landscapes, from Montréal to Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, Jasper and Vancouver. Four nights of this epic journey are spent on the Canadian, a sleeper train that will take you from the drama of Niagara Falls, across the prairies and the snow-capped Rocky Mountains to the Paciic.

Flights with Air Canada.

From £4,399; for details, visit travel.saga.co.uk or call 0800 092 4677.

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ILLUSTRATION BY SUE GENT

NUNAVUT

Eastern delights Immerse yourself in the food, culture, history and natural beauty of Canada’s eastern provinces

anada’s eastern provinces of Ontario and Québec arguably have it all: cosmopolitan cities, an outstanding cultural scene, fabulous food and thousands of square miles of raw nature: lakes, forests, coasts and rivers.

Either province makes a good base from which to explore. In Ontario, the buzzing city of Toronto is the perfect launch pad into Canadian culture, whether you’re listening to buskers and sampling local craft beers in the old Distillery District or braving the glass elevators of the spindly CN Tower for jaw-dropping views of Lake Ontario.

Don’t overlook Ottawa, though. Canada’s understated capital combines a small-town feel, with its lovely architecture and outdoor lifestyle, and some

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big-hitting museums and galleries, not least the wonderful Canadian Museum of History and the Canadian War Museum.

Ontario’s bucket-list sight is, of course, the thundering Niagara Falls. But beyond Niagara there are 250,000 lakes and great expanses of forest to explore. Algonquin Provincial Park is especially lovely in autumn, when the trees turn dazzling shades of scarlet and orange.

With its French heritage, it’s no surprise that neighbouring Québec province is all about the food, and there are plenty of opportunities to sample local wine, cheese and chocolate. One of the best places to graze is the bucolic Île d’Orléans, near Québec City. This artisan foodie paradise is famed for

Top: Dining by night in Montréal.

Above: Experience the Niagara Falls by boat

its chocolates, blackcurrant liqueurs and cider. You’ll want to visit a sugar shack, too, where Canada’s legendary maple syrup is boiled down from sap and poured over anything from ham and chicken to pancakes.

Québec has a fascinating military history. In Québec City, visit Battlefields Park and the Plains of Abraham, scene of the 1759 battle between the French and the British that changed the history of North America.

For the arts, though, Montréal is Canada’s powerhouse, with more than 250 theatres and dance companies and a world-famous jazz festival all taking place in a gorgeous setting that combines the charm of 18th-century Old Montréal with the contemporary architecture of downtown.

Advertisement feature Eastern Canada Canadian culture and French heritage

Highlights of the east Cities, waterfalls and a grand river to explore Waterfalls and wineries You’ll want to listen to the thundering water and feel the mist of the Niagara Falls, but just a 20-minute drive away is Niagara-on-the-Lake, a pretty town with intriguing shops and restaurants. Make this your base from which to explore the region, home to more than 90 wineries, many offering farm-to-table cuisine.

Canadian treats World-class cuisine is easy to come by in Canada. But don’t overlook the local specialities. Poutine, for example – chips in a meat gravy and topped with cheese curds. ‘Canadian’ bacon is back bacon, cured and rolled in cornmeal, served with maple syrup.

Tourtiére is a savoury pie from Québec filled with

Culture in the capital Ottawa is home to six national museums and some impressive architecture, not least the stunning, neo-Gothic Parliament buildings. The city sprawls along a stretch of the Rideau Canal, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where you can join the locals on cycle rides, kayak trips, hikes and, in winter, ice-skating.

Cruise the Thousand Islands More than 1,800 islands dot the St Lawrence river as it lows northeastwards out of Lake Ontario. Some of them are uninhabited rocky outcrops while others house grand, turreted 19th-century summer homes. Join one of the many boat trips on offer to explore this mistily beautiful region.

Stroll the streets of Old Québec One of the oldest settlements in North America, Old Québec packs in the charm with its cobbled, 17th-century streets, chunky fortiications and grand buildings such as the Château Frontenac. Walk the ramparts, browse the antique shops on rue Saint-Paul, join a foodie tour or simply people-watch from a pavement café.

minced meat and spices, while a Montréal sandwich comprises layers of beef brisket in rye with mustard.

Nanaimo bars (above) are a treat – chocolate ganache, a creamy filling and a crushed biscuit base.

Butter tarts are flaky pastry with an egg, sugar, butter and vanilla filling.

Beavertails don’t include actual beaver. They’re like a squashed doughnut, shaped like a beaver’s tail, and topped with sugar, Nutella, banana or nuts.

Take a city break in Toronto Some 140 languages are spoken in the melting pot that is Toronto, so immerse yourself in a buzzing city of diverse culture, entertainment and food. Do the galleries, have a night at the ballet, shop for quirky fashion on Queen Street West or catch a live band in one of the historic Distillery District’s many pubs.

See it all Saga’s 10-night Highlights of Eastern Canada tour will show you Montréal, Québec City, Toronto and the Niagara Falls. From £2,149; visit travel.saga.co.uk or call 0800 092 4677.

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ould there be a more civilised way to explore the dazzling mountains, lakes and rivers of the Canadian Rockies? With scenery so beautiful you could almost swoon, the luxurious comfort of the glass-domed Rocky Mountaineer train is the only way to take it all in.

Sink into your comfortable seat, raise a glass of British Columbia’s finest wine and gaze out at the mountains and forests as the train clickety-clacks its way through rock chasms, over spindly bridges spanning raging torrents and along tracks that cling to vertiginous slopes.

Ribbons of waterfall tumble over cliffs, while streams from ancient glaciers feed aquamarine lakes, with a constant backdrop of towering, snow-clad mountains.

This is true wilderness. Back in the days of the Gold Rush, traversing the Rockies was a treacherous endeavour.

Nowadays, it’s pure pleasure. By day, you feast on gourmet meals and soak up the scenery, with stops for excursions that might include bashing over a glacier in an all-terrain vehicle, or a thrilling helicopter flightseeing ride across the peaks. Nights are spent in comfortable hotels along the way.

Rocky Mountaineer’s blue-and-gold trains operate four routes, each with many permutations, from a day trip to a 14-night adventure. Coastal Passage takes you from Seattle to Vancouver along the shores of the Pacific, and then into the mountains; Rainforest to Gold Rush crosses the coastal forest to the ranchlands of the Cariboo Plateau, traversing the Rockies via the gold-panning city of Quesnel, to Jasper, Alberta; Journey Through the Clouds

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Sit back and enjoy… …a great rail journey through the Canadian Rockies – along the Pacific coast or into the Gold Rush region follows the foaming waters of the Fraser River, BC’s biggest salmon run, across the mountains to Jasper; while First Passage to the West stops at Kamloops, on the Thompson River, and beautiful Lake Louise before ending in Banff.

Each route has its own highlights but a constant theme is the amazing wildlife. In spawning season, foaming rivers are heaving with sockeye

salmon, which in turn draw hungry bears to the water’s edge. You might see bears in the trees alongside the tracks, or foraging on the shores of the lakes; if the driver spots one, the train slows down.

By night, wolves howl at the moon. Keep an eye out, too, for Sasquatch, Canada’s answer to Bigfoot. Some claim to have seen him – these mountains harbour many a secret.

Advertisement feature Rocky Mountaineer Wild frontiers

Never miss a sight Rocky Mountaineer trains travel all day but stop at night – after all, you wouldn’t want to miss anything, would you? You’ll stay in some of Canada’s inest hotels, not least the legendary Fairmont Château Lake Louise (right). Breakfast and lunch are taken on the train and you’re free for dinner in the evenings.

Sweeping views Every carriage has a domed ceiling or extra-large windows so you can enjoy uninterrupted views; gazing up at the towering mountains is all part of the attraction. Best of all, GoldLeaf Service carriages have outdoor viewing platforms so you can stand outside and take in deep breaths of spruce-scented mountain air.

A whole new train experience onboard

Rocky Mountaineer Relax in comfort and enjoy the views

Many Rocky Mountaineer journeys begin or end in Alberta, east of the mountains, with a chance to explore Canada’s oldest national park, Banff, and adjacent Jasper. Here you can paddle a canoe on the turquoise waters of Lake Louise or ride the gondola up Sulphur Mountain. From Jasper, follow the trail of the gold prospectors and fur traders on a raft ride down the Athabasca River.

Jasper and Banff are pretty mountain resorts but the city of Calgary, where the Rockies flatten out into vast prairies, has a real frontier feel. Rich on oil money and famous for the

Choose your level of service Choose between GoldLeaf Service and SilverLeaf Service. With SilverLeaf Service, breakfast and lunch are served at your seat (not to mention a steady low of delicious British Columbian wines and local snacks). GoldLeaf Service guests have a separate dining area in their bi-level carriage and stay in more luxurious hotels.

Fine dining Rocky Mountaineer’s chefs have trained in some of the world’s top establishments, and it shows: eggs Benedict or cranberry apple French toast for breakfast, for example, followed by a gourmet lunch of roast wild salmon, or Alberta beef ribs, delicious desserts and tasty regional cheeses, with the inest BC wines or beers.

Storytelling all the way The train’s onboard Hosts are selected for their storytelling ability and their eagle eyes, so they can spot that brown bear ambling into the forest before you miss it.

Along the route, they’ll regale you with tales of local folklore and point out highlights and photo opportunities, from tumbling waterfalls to craggy glaciers.

Calgary Stampede cowboy carnival, the city has a thriving arts scene, as well as a bustling boho quarter.

Journey Through the Clouds Saga offers a 10-night tour of the Rockies, with stays in Vancouver, Jasper and Banff and two days onboard the Rocky Mountaineer. Flights with Air Canada. From £3,299; visit travel.saga.co.uk or call 0800 092 4677.

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he first thing that strikes you about British Columbia (BC) is how beautiful it is, from the flower-filled alpine meadows and vast, creaking glaciers of the Rocky Mountains to ancient rainforests and pebbled shorelines where bears forage undisturbed. With abundant hiking, kayaking, mountain biking and world-class skiing, it’s no wonder that British Columbians are such an outdoorsy crowd.

The starting point for most visitors is Vancouver, a cluster of glassy skyscrapers set against a dazzling backdrop of mountains on one side and the sparkling Pacific on the other.

Vancouver is constantly voted one of the world’s most desirable places to live and you’ll see why, as you picnic alongside locals in lush Stanley Park on a sunny day, or join a walking tour of the Granville Island Public Market, snacking on local cheeses, charcuterie, seafood and berries. The city has a bohemian feel, too, in the craft shops on Granville Island and the galleries and boutiques of atmospheric Gastown.

There’s plenty to do using Vancouver as a base, not least a scenic drive along the Sunshine Coast, just north of the city, where the big skies and ocean vistas have inspired painters, sculptors and woodworkers.

Vancouver Island, 290 miles long, lies just off the coast. Its pretty capital, Victoria (actually the capital of BC itself), exudes old-world charm with its double-decker buses, horsedrawn carriages and tea rooms.

Explore gorgeous Butchart Gardens, BC’s answer to Kew, or head to the Cowichan Valley, where you can sample the wares of the many wineries and

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Out west British Columbia has it all: pristine wilderness, cities where culture and creativity thrive, and some of Canada’s inest food and wine

The modern city of Vancouver can be seen across Georgia Strait from the gentle beauty of Vancouver Island

Advertisement feature British Columbia organic farmers – and at Ladysmith, the oysters.

There are more gourmet treats in store in the Okanagan Valley, 250 miles east of Vancouver and one of Canada’s warmest spots.

All along the valley and shores of Lake Okanagan, vineyards slope down to the water with wineries galore supplying world-class restaurants.

You could go really remote to the vast wilderness of the Great Bear Rainforest, just over an hour’s flight north of Vancouver, and where there’s a chance of spotting the Kermode, or spirit bear, with its distinctive white coat. Look out for grizzlies and sea otters, too.

Further north still, there’s a chance to explore BC’s First Nations culture, particularly in Haida Gwaii, once known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, tucked up against the Alaskan border.

Here the beautiful Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve is home to the SGang Gwaay on Anthony Island. This is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where humans have lived for thousands of years, and marked by solemnlooking totem poles guarding the edge of the forest.

Grizzly bears Grizzlies live on the upper slopes of the Rockies and Selkirk mountain ranges of BC, Alberta and the Yukon. Male grizzlies can grow up to a whopping nine feet tall. They are solitary beasts, feeding on berries and leaves – and the odd elk or caribou. They hibernate for ive to seven months.

Orca The black-and-white patterned orca, or killer whale, has no predators other than humans; it hunts seals and other whales and can swim as fast as 40mph.

Watching these graceful predators is thrilling and the waters around Vancouver Island are one of the best places to spot them.

The wonders of nature

Wildlife watch Cameras at the ready for spotting animals Canadian lynx You might be lucky enough to spot a lynx – like a large domestic cat with characteristically tufted ears – in the woodlands of the Rockies, the Great Lakes or Cape Breton Island. Lynx are eficient hunters, and their large paws, which function like snow shoes, are adapted to the harsh winters.

Moose Rockies to Alaska Explore vibrant Vancouver and beyond on this 15-night tour.

You’ll visit Calgary, Banff and Jasper before crossing the Rockies to the Paciic on the Rocky Mountaineer. Then on to Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam for a seven-night Alaskan cruise, with wildlife sightings galore. Flights with Air Canada. From £3,099; for details, visit travel.saga.co.uk or call 0800 092 4677.

The largest of the deer family, moose live in herds in almost all regions of Canada.

Although they appear proliic, they’re actually listed as endangered in Nova Scotia. They are herbivores, favouring forest and grasslands; and perhaps surprisingly, given their shape, they are excellent swimmers.

Sea otter A successful reintroduction programme in the 1970s took British Columbia’s sea otter population from zero to around 5,000; the west coast of Vancouver Island is one of the best places to see them frolicking in the water. In the 18th and 19th centuries, sea otters were hunted for their skins.

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Soar over glaciers, search for grizzly bears and try your luck as a gold prospector in the vast spectacular wilderness of the Yukon

GETTY, FRIDMAR DAMM/4CORNERS IMAGES, GOVERNMENT OF YUKON, FRITZ MUELLER, HANS-GERHARD PFAF

Into the wild northwest

andwiched between British Columbia and Alaska, the Yukon in Canada’s remote far northwest, is all vast skies, craggy mountains, dense forests and dramatic vistas. In winter, the landscape is blanketed in snow and the Aurora Borealis, or Northern Lights, dances across a sky sparkling with ice crystals.

During the summer months, though, the scent of spruce hangs in the air and the forest trails are dazzling with purple lupins, with daylight stretching to 11pm. There’s a real connection here to the outdoors; in fact, 80% of the Yukon is untouched wilderness, and the thousands of caribou, moose, grizzlies, black bears and mountain sheep way outnumber a mere 36,000 humans. Much of

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the region is so remote that it can’t even be reached by road, which is what makes this such an exciting place to visit.

Yukon’s population grew with the great 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush, when hordes of hopeful prospectors struggled across the almost impassable mountains from Skagway in Alaska to Dawson City, which retains a frontier feel today, with clapboard houses and dirt roads. Here, you can pan for gold, take in a can-can show at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s, Canada’s oldest and most notorious gambling hall, or eat at Klondike Kate’s in an authentic 1904 Gold Rush building.

Yukon’s capital, Whitehorse, has a laid-back vibe, and with its galleries, micro breweries and

Above: Take a light to experience the vast ice ields and glaciers of Kluane National Park.

Below: A native horned Dall sheep

cool cafés, makes a good base from which to set out into the wilderness.

But nature is the main attraction in the Yukon and will never disappoint. Take a flightseeing trip in a small aircraft over Kluane National Park, swooping over jagged mountain ridges and blue-white glaciers of the world’s largest non-polar ice fields. Drive iconic highways, such as the Dempster, across the tundra into the Arctic, or the Klondike, along the old mining trail.

Or relax on the dizzying White Pass and Yukon Railroad to Skagway, trundling through the Rockies and following the course of foaming rivers of glacial meltwater. You’ll soon see why Yukon calls itself ‘larger than life’.

Advertisement feature Yukon Early history Beringia, the area that once stretched from Siberia to the Yukon, was rich in prehistoric animals such as giant beavers and woolly mammoths. Learn more via First Nations culture (left), as well as fossils and replicas that bring beasts such as the 26,000-year-old Yukon Horse to life at the Whitehorse Interpretive Centre.

Gaze at a glacier Get up close to the Exit Glacier in the wild Kenai Fjords National Park. You could hike the short, accessible trail through the cottonwood forest to a viewpoint of the glacier spilling down from the iceield above. Or follow the longer Edge of the Glacier trail to gaze up at a sheer wall of blue ice.

Awesome drives There are some truly epic road trips through the Yukon in summer, providing a real opportunity to soak up the vast landscapes and towering mountains and to spot wildlife along some of the world’s most legendary highways. The 445-mile Klondike Highway, from Skagway in Alaska to Dawson City, follows the

Into the frozen wilderness

From glaciers to the Gold Rush Explore prehistory and go panning for nuggets Arctic tundra A day trip to the vast Tombstone Territorial Park takes you deep into the wilderness of the Yukon’s spectacular Arctic tundra landscape. Meet the rangers, enjoy a short hike, wonder at the towering peaks and azure lakes. The abundant wildlife includes grizzly bears, moose, Dall sheep, caribou and wolves, as well as marmots and foxes.

Dawson City Learn about the human side of the Yukon’s history. Dawson City Museum takes you back to the nomadic First Peoples and the fur trade, the territory’s early explorers and up to the frantic days of the Gold Rush, when thousands of desperate prospectors left jobs and families in pursuit of the precious metal.

Yukon River along the route of the 1898 Gold Rush. The 187-mile Top of the World Highway goes right over the mountains into Tok, Alaska, with incredible views. The 460-mile Dempster Highway is built on permafrost and is Canada’s first all-weather road to cross the Arctic Circle. In summer, there are 24 hours of daylight, and an explosion of Arctic flowers.

Yukon Gold and Wild Alaska Pan for gold At Claim 33 Gold Panning, near Dawson City, you can see a collection of antique gold-mining equipment and vintage vehicles as well as trying your hand at panning. Solid nuggets are available for purchase – or you could economise and simply leave with a bag of ‘pay dirt’, containing lecks of gold.

Saga’s 21-night Yukon Gold and Wild Alaska tour takes in Whitehorse and Dawson City, as well as a seven-night Alaska and Inside Passage cruise on Holland America Line’s MS Noordam. Flights with Air Canada. From £5,049; visit travel.saga.co.uk or call 0800 092 4677.

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Atlantic Canada Advertisement feature

Seafaring romance Sleepy fishing villages, breathtaking ocean drives and a lively culture are all part of the lure of Canada’s Atlantic provinces – not to mention the mouthwatering seafood ova Scotia is one of Canada’s four provinces shaped by the Atlantic Ocean. The others are: Newfoundland & Labrador; New Brunswick; and Prince Edward Island – the latter two within half a day’s drive from Halifax, Nova Scotia’s capital and seaport. Across the region, you’ll find miles of sandy beaches, endless pristine woodland and a sense of serenity under vast skies. And there’s an aura of gentle nostalgia in the pretty fishing villages, such as Peggy’s Cove with its iconic lighthouse – and from the people, who range from French Acadian to Scottish, Irish, German, African and First Nations families, each with their own customs, legends and legacies.

The sea and its influence are never far away, whether you’re on a whale-watching cruise, paddling a sea kayak or sitting in a beachfront restaurant tucking into the region’s renowned succulent lobster or clam chowder.

Food is a constant in Nova Scotia’s festivals, culinary and cultural, celebrating anything from jazz to Celtic heritage.

Don’t miss the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market, the oldest in the country.

In fact, if you visit in October you can experience the Celtic Colours International Music Festival on Cape Breton Island, and enjoy the fiery shades of the foliage on the drive there – and

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along the 186-mile Cabot Trail.

The display rivals New England, but without the crowds.

Halifax, which is Atlantic Canada’s largest city, has a cool, arty feel, with a rich maritime history and a lively pub and restaurant scene, especially

Above: Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, a ishing village on a narrow inlet facing the Atlantic

along the historic waterfront.

The Titanic connection is explained at the city’s Maritime Museum of the Atlantic.

The compact city centre is overlooked by the Halifax Citadel, originally built as a little wooden guard house by the British military in 1749 to protect the harbour below and then completed as a fort to be reckoned with in 1856.

You can take the secondoldest saltwater ferry in the world across the harbour to Dartmouth, teeming with independent shops, galleries and restaurants along its atmospheric waterfront.

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick overlook the Bay of Fundy – a 30-minute drive from Halifax – which has the highest tides in the world, rising to the height of a four-storey building. These waters attract a rich variety of marine mammals, including 15 species of whales, and the area is a treat for birdwatchers.

Further afield on Canada’s

dramatic Atlantic shores From jagged sandstone cliffs to Newfoundland’s icebergs

Bay of Fundy

Prince Edward Island

Up close to icebergs

Take a thrill ride on the Bay of Fundy, where more than one billion tons of water pour in and out with every tide cycle. Local companies organise boat tours to surf the tidal bore. Or, less extreme, walk across the sea loor at Hopewell Rocks once the tide is out.

Drive the gorgeous shore road on the island, famed for its jagged, red sandstone cliffs. The sea on the South Shore is warm, while in the east, you can explore the ‘singing sands’, which squeak as you walk along, thanks to their high quartz content.

Explore Iceberg Alley in Newfoundland & Labrador, from a tour boat or your own kayak. Some of the giant icebergs, which have drifted south from the Arctic, are 10,000 years old, and range from snow white to aquamarine. An unforgettable experience.

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sharing a Passenger deck cabin on the Springtime in Holland cruise on April 10, 2018 departure. Includes offer discount, with return coach travel from Folkestone to Amsterdam via Eurotunnel or ferry. Holiday code: RH036. Saga’s holidays and cruises are exclusively for the over 50s (but a travelling companion can be 40+). Saga

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Travel Take Away

The

Saga travel surgery is now open

Q

We’re planning a break in Madrid. We want to get around as cheaply as possible and have thought about using Uber cabs, which we’ve never done.

However, news stories about them are a little discouraging.

What are the pros and cons?

ALAMY, GETTY

A

Now in its tenth year, Uber was created as the alternative to the established cabs in cities worldwide – London’s black cabs, New York’s famous yellow cabs, etc.

To use Uber, download the app and register with them free, or visit uber.com. You add a credit or debit card when signing up.

When you want to call a cab, tap the app on your smartphone and type in your destination.

Then set your pick-up location.

The app will display fare, capacity of the car available and estimated journey time. Request Uber and then Confirm Pickup.

The fare is charged to your account when your journey’s completed. You can tip if you want to. What’s more, if there’s a customer nearby who wants to go to the same place then you’ll be offered the chance to share a ride, with the fare automatically divided between your accounts.

It generally appears to provide an economic, reliable and quick-to-respond service.

So far, so good. But… whereas city-authorised cabs have fixed mileage/time fares set by local statute, Uber fares are determined by… Uber.

And here’s the catch. The fare structure is based on ‘dynamic pricing’; depending on driver

Capital cabs Getting about Madrid’s thoroughfares by taxi

availability, passenger demand and difficulty of journey, fares can rise considerably.

Uber has been accused of exploitation – ‘price surging’ when there’s a driver shortage and high demand. There are concerns that driver recruitment is less stringent than authority-licensed cabs, that driver conditions are exploitative, that Uber is overly ‘competitive’ – and its huge database was recently hacked.

In Madrid, where Uber’s presence has proved contentious, consider Cabify as an option, an Iberian/Latin American equivalent to Uber in that it’s app-controlled, but with fixedrate mileage.

Q

My handbag ‘disappeared’ on a recent city break to Venice – I left it hanging over a chair in a restaurant and it had gone by the time I returned minutes later. I immediately cancelled my cards, but unfortunately I also had €400 in it. I didn’t report it to the police as I thought there was no chance of recovering it, and I assumed my insurance policy would cover the loss.

Now the insurance company – not Saga! – is querying the amount of cash I’m claiming.

What can I do?

A

The advice from Saga Travel Insurance is always to report a theft to the police, as you will need a crime reference number to make a claim.

Be sure to make a list of Z

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Travel Take Away

London’s airports Despite the clamour for more runway space, London actually has six international airports – all with ‘London’ in their name. But how far are they from the city centre itself? These distances and times are all by car from Trafalgar Square in normal traffic conditions.

Stansted

39 miles 1hr, 10mins

Passport update

Luton

Heathrow

35 miles

17 miles

1hr, 10mins

51 mins

Gatwick

Southend

30 miles

City

41 miles

8.5 miles

1 hr 27mins

1hr, 11mins

32 mins

all the items stolen – not just cash but any jewellery, mobile phone, expensive cosmetics, etc.

It’s advisable to hang on to receipts for these, whether bought at home or while on holiday. Certainly, if you were on an escorted tour then the rep would have advised you to contact the local police and guided you through this matter.

Do you have receipts from when you changed sterling to euros in the UK? This would at

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least show that the cash sum you’re claiming is legitimate.

Any cash receipts for items purchased while on your trip would also be useful to prove that you were carrying currency on holiday.

A spokesperson for Saga Travel Insurance says, ‘If you’ve not made a claim before, that may go in your favour. However, without the vital crime reference you shouldn’t be too optimistic.’

Extra online For more on keeping valuables and money safe abroad, see saga.co.uk/jan-mag

Have a question?

Email editor@saga.co.uk, putting ‘Travel Surgery’ in the subject box. Or write to Travel Surgery at the address on p3. We can’t reply individually but will respond to queries on this page

To add to the Travel Surgery’s advice about passport renewal (November), reader Ken Rolfe writes, ‘Generally if an application is submitted to the Passport Agency with up to nine months’ validity on it, this will be added to the new passport, so it will run for ten years plus the unexpired term. My wife and I renewed ours in March 2017 and they will both now expire in December 2027.

So don’t be afraid to renew early.’

Spirit of Discovery – a unique cruising experience Launching in 2019, Saga’s new cruise ship Spirit of Discovery features the design, cuisine and service of the best boutique hotels.

Except here you wake up in a different idyllic location to the one you went to sleep in. Her luxurious design heralds a new era for Saga Cruising, and will offer the chance to experience so much more.

GETTY

To book Call us today, on 0800 051 3355. To see the irst itineraries, visit saga.co.uk/cruises

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Health Take Away

ILLUSTRATIONS BY JESSIE FORD

Statins an insider’s guide The case for taking statins is clear for people who have existing cardiovascular problems. But what about the rest of us? Our resident GP Dr Mark Porter gives you the lowdown on the latest thinking

o take a statin, or not to take a statin? Current UK guidance now advocates offering the cholesterol-lowering drugs to everyone at 10% or higher risk of having a stroke or heart attack over the next decade. A slim, non-smoking, healthy man is likely to reach this threshold in his late fifties, while a typical woman will be there by her early sixties. So, should you take one?

Turn the page to see what I think everyone should know before deciding‌ Z

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How do statins help?

Statins lower blood cholesterol levels associated with the ‘furring’ of arteries that eventually leads to most strokes and heart attacks. But that is not the whole story. They seem to work in other ways too – probably by reducing inflammation and stabilising deposits on the arterial wall so they are less likely to tear or break off (the classic precipitating event for most heart attacks). This stabilising mechanism may be the important one – perhaps explaining why plant stanol and sterol cholesterol-lowering drinks and dairy spreads reduce cholesterol but have yet to be shown convincingly to protect against heart disease.

Whatever the exact mode of action, statins do work. The average person on a statin can expect their cholesterol to fall by around a quarter and their risk of heart attack and stroke

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over the next five years to reduce by a similar degree.

A significant protective effect if you are a 60-year-old smoker recovering from your first heart attack, but of negligible benefit if you are a clean-living 65-yearold marathon runner. Or, to put it another way, a quarter of a lot is worth having, but a quarter of nothing is not.

Cholesterol in perspective Cholesterol is such an essential component of so many systems in the body – from hormones to cell walls and nerves – that we all have our own in-built manufacturing and recycling

Cholesterol is an essential component of so many systems in the body – from hormones to cell walls

processes to ensure there is always enough. Our diet contains surprisingly little of this fat-like substance, and dietary cholesterol intake is not as strongly linked to heart disease as most people believe (early research suggesting it was is now regarded as flawed).

Cholesterol is a part player in a complex system and just because it is easy to measure and we have statins to reduce it, doesn’t make it any more important than other factors such as smoking, blood pressure and family history. Indeed, it is often less so.

But despite dietary cholesterol intake not making that much difference, most of us still have higher-than-ideal cholesterol levels. So where is it all coming from?

You are making much of it.

Genetic variation in our bodies’ manufacturing and recycling process – some of us are too efficient at both – accounts

Health Take Away

Before your doctor reaches for the prescription pad, ask what you can do yourself for many of the high cholesterol levels that we see when people are tested.

Focus on cardiovascular risk I spend much more time considering my patients’ risk of having an early stroke or heart attack than I do their cholesterol results. Like most GPs, I use the online calculator at qrisk.org to work out the likelihood of someone having a stroke or heart attack in the next decade. It’s only a guesstimate, based on things such as family history, height and weight, blood-test results and the presence of other risk factors such as diabetes, but it’s the best guide we have.

You can use it too, to calculate your risk and see how changes such as losing weight, reducing blood pressure, stopping smoking and improving your cholesterol profile might influence your odds of running

into trouble over the next ten years. Doctors consider a risk of 10% or more an indication to discuss statins, while over 20% is deemed to be high risk.

Self-help Before your doctor reaches for the prescription pad, ask what you can do yourself.

Most dietary and lifestyle interventions are more protective than statins and have myriad other benefits too.

Being told you are at moderate or high risk should be a wake-up call to think about self-help – not a reason, necessarily, to take a statin. Treat cholesterollowering drugs as a supplement to, rather than a substitute for, healthy living.

Your first reaction should be to look at other measures that will protect you. Lose weight if you are carrying too much. Start an exercise programme. Stop smoking, and eat healthily by cutting back on excessive carbs,

particularly sugars, and following a Mediterranean-style diet. This won’t just reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease, but could help ward off cancers too, as well as improving your sense of wellbeing and helping with the management of common accompanying health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

You can always polish the diamond by adding a statin.

And don’t expect statins to work miracles. At least 100 otherwise healthy people have to take the drugs for five years to prevent just one of them having a heart attack – a surprisingly small benefit that has to be balanced against the risk of side effects (see right).

Most people on statins are not troubled by side effects, but equally most of them don’t benefit either.

Which statin at what dose?

Atorvastatin is the favoured first-line option these days, ranging from 20mg a day for primary prevention (otherwise well and no pre-existing cardiovascular disease) to 80mg a day for secondary prevention (eg, after a heart attack).

Possible side efects Statins are generally very well tolerated but they can cause side effects. Some of the more common complaints include flatulence and an upset stomach, sleep disturbance and aching muscles.

The latter should always be reported to your GP as it can, rarely, be a sign of a serious reaction.

Some patients, particularly older ones, complain of mental fogging and poor memory although statins may not be to blame. Long-term use has been linked to diabetes and cataracts.

Measuring cholesterol levels

Extra online For more information on statins, go to saga. co.uk/jan-mag

It is generally accepted that a good blood test result is a total cholesterol (TC) level of less than 5mmol/litre, but don’t be disappointed if your level is higher, as most people tend to have a TC in the 5 to 6.5 range. Ideal levels of HDL ‘good cholesterol’ are more than 1mmol/litre for a man and more than 1.2mmol/litre for a woman.

Be aware a blood test is just a one-off snapshot of a profile that is constantly altering. Levels often vary by as much as 5% from day to day, and by up to 10%

across the year (typically highest during winter). Age also makes a difference.

Levels rise during the first few decades of adult life, peaking in the forties and fifties in men, and sixties and seventies in women.

After which they gradually drop again.

If your blood test result comes back very high (TC 7.5 plus), ask your doctor about repeat testing and further investigations.

But don’t be too worried by readings in the 5s or 6s. As long as your overall risk is low, these are unlikely to be important.

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Take Away Health

Q

I recently tried to buy a tube of Canesten cream to treat symptoms of vaginal thrush, but the pharmacy refused to sell it to me because I am over 60. Why?

A Stay well with Dr Mark Porter ‘I am dizzy, doc. I feel drunk. It’s like I am on a boat.’ To any GP, these are all familiar complaints and, although there are myriad possible causes, the most likely solution is a surprisingly simple drug-free trick.

Benign positional paroxysmal vertigo – understandably, normally referred to as BPPV – is the single most common cause of balance issues in people over 55, and it’s thought to be due to debris floating around in the fluid-filled balance mechanisms in the inner ear.

The classic story is short-lived vertigo that is prompted by movements such as gazing up at a high shelf, bending down to put your golf ball on its tee, or just rolling over in bed.

The ‘swimmy feeling’ is often accompanied by nausea.

Your GP will want to rule out other causes – such as low blood pressure or neurological

fyi

problems – but if they suspect that you have BPPV there is a good chance they can alleviate or even cure it using the Epley manoeuvre. This involves a series of head movements designed to send the debris down a cul-de-sac where it won’t cause trouble.

The manoeuvre can be unpleasant (because it will bring on symptoms) but it’s a much better option than medication, which is not very effective and has side effects.

BPPV tends to recur and the Epley manoeuvre can be repeated as required; I even have some patients who do it to themselves. Google BPPV for more details.

Drug interaction checker

ALAMY. ILLUSTRATION: ANNE HIGGLE

Although it’s the job of your doctor and pharmacist to stop potentially harmful drug interactions, they don’t always know everything you may be taking (eg alcohol, grapefruit, over-the-counter medicines and even illegal drugs).

So check for yourself using this tool: reference.medscape.com/druginteractionchecker 82

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The anti-fungal cream Canesten can be bought over the counter for treating thrush, but pharmacists are advised that women over 60 seek medical advice first. The rationale is that although older women do get thrush, it is less common in this age group and other causes should be excluded first, particularly postmenopausal atrophic vaginitis (changes due to loss of the female hormone oestrogen).

Your GP can examine you and advise accordingly. Annoying, I know, but at least you won’t have to pay for the Canesten if you have got thrush. Don’t blame the pharmacist; he or she is just being careful.

Q

A cautionary tale for other readers. I had suffered from severe headaches for six months before the cause was found – temporal arteritis. I had never heard of it, but it evidently strikes in later life and can leave you blind if not treated promptly. Please spread the word. Luckily, I am OK.

A

More than happy to.

Temporal arteritis – or giant cell arteritis as it’s also known – is an inflammation of the blood vessels that is often associated with polymyalgia rheumatica (which typically presents with tender, weak muscles and fatigue).

It is a poorly understood condition, but potentially very serious if missed. Although rare, it is most common in the

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Health Take Away over-50s. Tell-tale signs include headache, tenderness over the temple or scalp (often noticed when brushing hair), an aching jaw when eating and altered vision in the eye on the same side. (It depends on the temporal artery for its blood supply.)

The eye may appear completely normal on examination and the diagnosis can be confirmed only using a blood test and a biopsy of the inflamed artery. Temporal arteritis needs urgent treatment with steroids, to which it responds well, but visual damage caused by delays is often permanent.

The steroids must be given in high doses, which are reduced quickly, but they often need to be maintained at a lower dose for 18 months or more.

Q

Is DIY measurement a reliable way to monitor blood pressure? What would you regard as normal readings?

A

As long as you are using a decent monitor and doing it properly, home readings give a much better reflection of what is happening to your blood pressure than occasional one-off snapshots in the consulting room.

And this is being reflected in changing practice where patients are often encouraged to come in to see their doctor with a series of home readings before decisions are made about starting or adjusting treatment.

Most surgeries have machines that they lend for this purpose.

Studies show that the risk of heart disease and stroke starts to rise once blood pressure exceeds 115/75, but that doesn’t mean you have high blood pressure if yours is above this.

Recommendations vary slightly

but, assuming you are an otherwise healthy person, NICE advises doctors to take a closer look at anyone with a blood pressure of 140/90 or higher if the reading is taken in the consulting room (where it tends to be higher). Readings at home, where you’re more relaxed, are generally lower so the threshold here is more like 135/85.

If you are using your own BP monitor, the standard protocol would be to check your blood pressure morning and evening for a week. Don’t be surprised if the readings vary as your blood pressure levels depend on what you have been doing and your emotional state. Ignore the readings on the first day, as you will become more relaxed as you get used to the machine.

Don’t take your blood pressure as soon as you get home, but after you have been sitting comfortably for at least five minutes. And take a couple of readings at each session.

If the average is 135/85 or below, put your machine away until the same time next year – there is no point in constantly monitoring normal blood pressure as the more you focus on it, the more likely it is to creep up. If it is consistently higher than this, take your readings in to your GP at your next appointment.

Medical notes

Good to know

By Jane Garton Snack smart Resolved to be healthier? The Vitinni 5 Tray Digital Food Dehydrator can help.

Use it to make vegetable crisps and fruit snacks without added sugar and preservatives. Perfect for a more plant-based diet.

The Vitinni 5 Tray Digital Food Dehydrator £29.99 alfresia.co.uk An aspirin a day…

Experts have been muttering about it for a while – and now it’s official. Taking small doses of aspirin long-term can almost halve the risk of developing cancers of the digestive system. So says a ten-year study of more than 600,000 people by the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Regular aspirin use has been linked to stomach bleeding, though. Check with your doctor before deciding to take it regularly.

Gunning for gums Help to protect against or treat gum disease with Gengigel Gingival Gel. With hyaluronic acid, it helps to stimulate new, healthy tissue growth, soothes sore, inlamed gums and helps to speed up healing ulcers.

Gengigel Gingival Gel £7.15 Boots

Extra online For more questions answered, go to saga.co.uk/porter

Have a question?

Email drmark@saga.co.uk or write to Dr Mark Porter at the address on p3. He can’t reply individually but will respond to queries on this page

The £5 lu jab The flu season is upon us, so don’t forget your NHS jab.

It’s free for over-65s. Available from GPs, pharmacies and some supermarkets. If you have to pay, it’s only £5 at Asda.

2018

I S A G A . C O . U K / J A N - M A G 85

Take Away Relationships

Q

I have been married twice and my current husband is now step-grandfather to my daughter’s children who, at six and nine, adore him.

He is great fun and outgoing.

But my daughter clearly doesn’t like it and has told them that he is ‘not their real grandfather’. She has stopped coming round so much, so I am missing out too. My pleas and explanations fall on deaf ears.

Clearly she is being loyal to her father, but what can I say to ease all the tensions?

A

I think first of all you need to think harder about all the elements you have described. You may think your husband is the best thing since the Chuckle Brothers but, as you point out, to your daughter he is an interloper and one, it seems, that she resents. Obviously, we don’t know the circumstances of your remarriage, but it sounds as if your daughter is not finding it quite so easy to see the attraction of your new husband.

Children will respond to pretty much anyone who is kind and

If you barge ahead trying to force the issue, you will end up alienating your daughter altogether 86

S AG A .C O.U K /JA N - M AG

I 2018

Q

Our youngest son is 33 and has been married for four years. His wife is a lovely person, but has been on antidepressants since her sister was murdered two years ago. Very understandable.

The problem is her weight: she was always a big girl, but is now 22 stone and rising.

Our son has tried to talk to her – we don’t want to offend her. However, we are extremely worried that she will become ill. We’ve quietly told our son we’ll help in any way, perhaps pay for a gastric band or slimming club’s subscription, but she won’t listen to him.

They live 400 miles away so it’s hard to communicate.

We are desperately worried: should we say something? And if so, what?

A

Your daughter-in-law has suffered a terrible tragedy, losing a sibling in such appalling circumstances. It’s no wonder that she has turned to food for comfort at this incredibly difficult time.

She is obviously grieving and any motivation to lose weight is probably way down the list of

activities that she is capable of at the moment.

I notice you say you don’t want to offend her. I don’t know whether you are a man or a woman, but you sound like a man to me and that is because you use the phrase ‘big girl’. I’m sorry to sound as if I am telling you off, but as an overweight/ fat/obese person myself, I find it extremely patronising. She is a woman for a start – I certainly hope you haven’t used this phrase directly to her.

I wonder if she has had any bereavement counselling.

The opportunity to talk these things out is invaluable. Grief is a natural reaction that we all experience, but death in particularly grievous circumstances is very hard to get over. I would concentrate on supporting your son and his wife in any way you can and try to ignore her weight for now.

Once she is feeling better, I’m sure she’ll motivate herself to lose weight. It’s possible she’s picked up on your concerns about her weight and is ashamed about it, which is not what she needs right now.

I suggest that you write to her asking how she is, telling her you care and, most important, offering her any help she feels she needs, not simply what you feel is appropriate.

Extra online For more advice from Jo Brand, visit saga.co.uk/brand

Ask Jo Email jo@saga.co.uk or write to her at the address on p3. She can’t reply to individuals but will choose problems to respond to on this page or on our website

ILLUSTRATION: ANNE HIGGLE

Jo Brand considers your dilemmas

funny, but you need to take your daughter’s feelings into account.

Rather than ‘pleading and explaining’, why not meet her for a coffee, just the two of you, and find out what she wants.

If you barge ahead constantly trying to force the issue, you will end up alienating her altogether and, as we know, grandparents have no automatic legal rights whatsoever.

You have it within your power to repair this problem if you can just step back and empathise with your daughter, rather than prioritising your and your new husband’s feelings.

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How turmeric is helping Anne stay it and enjoy life

W

hen your passions in life revolve around being active, looking after yourself becomes vitally important, especially as we get older. This is how dressage and itness enthusiast Anne Evans came to discover the power of turmeric.

Anne, aged 57 from Cirencester, has been riding horses for 20 years as well as having a keen interest in gardening. Despite Anne leading an active lifestyle, she began to ind her joints were not quite what they used to be.

Anne, along with her husband, began to search the joint health ranges at various supplement companies. It was this research that led her to turmeric.

“I consider myself to be it and active, however age does eventually creep up on you and you notice these little niggles occur on a more frequent basis.” said Anne.

“Those little niggles can have an impact on the amount of fun you have, I was determined that was not going to happen to me.”

It was just over a year ago that Anne’s search for a solution got underway and that led her to Turmeric+, a supplement developed by Cambridge based brand FutureYou. Anne commented, “After much research with the help of my husband, a bio chemist who has a very good understanding of how the body functions, I decided that the curry spice turmeric

was something I should try.”

“There are numerous published studies that demonstrate its beneits, the next challenge I faced was deciding on the best way to incorporate it into my diet.”

Whilst millions of us love adding turmeric to our meals throughout the week, research shows that you need to consume it daily to really reap the beneits. The other obstacle need to be overcome is ensuring we absorb enough of what we eat into our bodies.

The component of turmeric that is known to be beneicial is curcumin, however this only accounts for 3% of standard turmeric powder.

What convinced Anne to trial Turmeric+, was the fact that it only contains the curcumin from turmeric, and that is supported by more clinical studies than any other turmeric supplement.

Anne noted:, “It was the study at the Olympic Research Centre in Barcelona that really caught my eye. Knowing it was used by international footballers and elite athletes made me think it must be able to do something for me.”

The curcumin in Turmeric+ is combined with soy lecithin, it is this patented combination that allows the curcumin to be absorbed by the body. Studies have shown that the formulation is 30 times more absorbable than standard

turmeric. Not only is it highly bioavailable, it has 28 published clinical studies demonstrating its efects.

It is now almost a year since Anne started taking Turmeric+ and it is proving to be a real winner. Anne is horse riding, attending the gym, taking part in Pilates and much more on a weekly basis, on top of that she is keeping up with day to day activities much more than she used to.

Anne said, “I love the product and have told many of my friends about it. When you discover something this good, you need to share the beneits. This its my mantra of being it for your life.”

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If you like…

Roast chicken Try rubbing flavoured butter under the skin before roasting (whole bird or breasts). Mash a good tablespoon of butter with:

1

Garlic and chopped fresh or dried herbs and serve with braised Little Gem lettuces.

2

A crumbled chicken stock cube for an extra-rich taste.

3

Indian spices and serve with a green salad and naan, or with potatoes sprinkled with cumin before roasting.

4 Lime zest and go Thai. Serve with rice cooked in coconut milk and inely shredded leafy greens, kale or pak choi, quickly stir fried with a bit of garlic (take care not to let the garlic burn as it gives a bitter taste).

How to

break out of your food rut So often we end up cooking the same old meals – week in, week out.

Try a menu makeover with these quick and easy suggestions…

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Food Take Away Instead of plain peas…

Try a mix of peas and broad beans. Before serving, stir in crumbs of crispy bacon (or crumbled dry-fried pancetta) or a dressing of good olive oil, lemon juice and inely chopped fresh mint.

Instead of baked potatoes…

Bake sweet potatoes and serve cut open and topped with butter or soured cream and chives.

Sweet potatoes bake much quicker than ordinary ones, and are a healthy option, too.

THE PICTURE PANTRY/NATASHA BREEN, STOCKFOOD / DAN JONES, STOCKFOOD / PETER MEDILEK, SHUTTERSTOCK

Smashing

If you like…

Instead of mashing, leave skins on, boil till soft, strain, add butter and bash – aka ‘smashed potatoes’ in posh eateries

If you like…

Meat and two veg Ring the changes with breaded escalopes, ideal for pork, veal and chicken. Gently bash illets between clingilm; dip in lour, egg and breadcrumbs and fry. Or forget crumbs and sauté meat in butter, remove and stir in chopped capers; add a squeeze of lemon.

Perk up steak with a salsa of inely diced tomatoes, onion, fresh coriander and lime juice. Serve with a green salad.

Dress up your meat and two veg with some tasty bits and spices Instead of boiled carrots…

Sausage and mash A sausage bake or casserole is an easy alternative. Soften onions in a little oil, add spices if using, brown the sausages and tip in a can of chopped tomatoes and simmer. Add canned pulses (haricot or butter beans, chick peas) towards the end.

You could also add veg such as fennel or celery; just add to the softened onions.

For a Spanish flavour, add smoked paprika to the onions, chunks of carrot, sweet peppers and thick slices of chorizo.

Vegetable twists

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Strain while al dente and set aside. Heat some butter in the pan, stir in some warm spices, eg, cumin, cinnamon, ginger, with a pinch or two of brown sugar. Return the carrots to glaze.

Instead of boiled white cabbage…

Cook the inely shredded leaves in butter, adding caraway seeds, or fennel or cumin seeds, and a splash of water.

Alternatively, stir in some crispy bacon bits or inely chopped chorizo.

Extra online For more inspiration on getting out of a food rut, go to saga.co.uk/jan-mag

2018

I S A G A . C O . U K / J A N - M A G 89

Style Take Away Buy it now

1978 1

2

Best buy

3 4 I loved my...

Old fur jacket Caroline Radula-Scott, Wadhurst, East Sussex

was an au pair in Los Angeles in 1973 and the family I was working for took me with them to New York for Christmas.

I couldn’t wait to experience the delights of Greenwich Village, where the likes of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez hung out.

The streets were lined with junk shops selling ‘vintage’ clothing and I found this old fur jacket – yes, it was real fur, but it was obviously very old and pretty moth-eaten even then.

I can’t remember how much it cost, but it couldn’t have been more than $10 and I treated myself to it for Christmas, and felt a million dollars in it.

Second-hand furs were pretty much all the rage then on both

I

90

S AG A .C O.U K /JA N - M AG

I 2018

sides of the Atlantic. So when I got back to England I felt pretty cool in my Greenwich Village fur, and continued wearing it for years afterwards. How times have changed! I would never wear real fur nowadays.

5

3 of the

1 Bostock faux fur cape £119 Coast 2 Faux fur coat £79 M&S 3 Brown shawl faux fur coat £69 Dorothy Perkins 4 Frankie faux fur jacket £99 Monsoon 5 Faux fur coat £99 Warehouse

best

Tall boots What was your favourite fashion item?

If you have an old snap of you wearing something you loved, do share it! Scan and email it, saying why you loved it, to saga.stories@saga.co.uk, putting ‘Style’ in the subject line. If you post pictures, please include an SAE. We can’t be responsible for photos that go missing. Our address is on p3.

Practical, sturdy boots with buckles complete the boho look.

From top: Block-heel kneehigh boots £59 M&S Sole Diva Riley boots, super curvy calf £55 Marisota Emelia knee boots £88 Office

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Driving Take Away

5

Petrol stations 8 things you need to know They still sell fuel, but garages have changed beyond all recognition.

If you’ve no idea why they now stock everything from beer to croissants, or whether pump attendants are history, Carlton Boyce has the answers

1

What if I need help filling up my car?

Shell reintroduced petrol-pump attendants at selected stations in 2012. Visit shell.co.uk, click on Station locator, then click on Attended service ilter to ind your nearest attended garage.

2

Did you know?

ALAMY

What happens if I can’t pay for my fuel?

If you ill up then realise you’ve forgotten your purse, the attendant may ask you to phone a friend to settle up on your behalf via a card payment.

Or you’ll be asked to ill in a form and pay within 48 hours.

If you drive off without paying (sometimes known as ‘bilking’), the retailer may pass your car’s registration number to the police, who will look to

see whether you’re a crook – or simply absent-minded.

Help at hand Shell attendants can assist with tyre pressure and oil checks, or refill your windscreen washer

Why do I sometimes have to wait for the pumps to start working?

The pump will run only after the attendant in the shop has authorised it. If they’re busy, there could be a slight delay.

They also have to be able to see you at the pump to check you aren’t under-age or about to ill an unsuitable container.

6

Do I need to park my car with the fuel cap next to the pump?

In most garages, the answer is no. Extra-long hoses are designed to reach around the car. If you can never remember which side your fuel cap is on, look at the car’s fuel gauge: there may be an arrow pointing you in the right direction.

3

7

4

8

Why do they resemble mini-supermarkets?

No matter how expensive fuel gets, the retailer doesn’t see much proit from it. Half of the pump price goes to the Government as fuel duty, with VAT accounting for another 20%. Garages can make more money from selling you a soft drink than a tankful of petrol.

Why do garages from the same company sometimes have different fuel prices?

The likes of BP and Shell have a mix of company and franchiseowned forecourts. The petrol irm sets the prices at the garages it owns, but it’s up to franchisees to set their charges.

Why doesn’t the pump stay running unattended, as it does in the movies?

Some governments trust their citizens to lock the pump open, freeing them to do something more productive until the fuel supply shuts off automatically when the tank is full. Not our Government, though.

Can you leave children in the car while you pay?

There’s no irm rule. Babies should never be left alone, but common sense suggests that older children will be safe for a couple of minutes as long as you lock the doors and keep them in sight while you pay.

Lexus, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Suzuki and, surprisingly, Alfa Romeo take the top five slots in the 2017 What Car? reliability survey.

Tesla, Land Rover and Jeep languish at the bottom.

2018

I S A G A . C O . U K / J A N - M A G 93

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Money Take Away he interest National Savings & Investments (NS&I) pays on our money became slightly more attractive in December when all its rates were raised by 0.25% – the full amount of the rise in the Bank of England base rate in November. Many banks and building societies have not yet passed on that rise in full to their customers.

However, although some NS&I rates are now quite good, they are generally not best buys in terms of interest paid and are suitable only for some people.

T

Financial expert

Paul Lewis

All about National Savings & Investments This British institution is a Government agency and the safest place for savers. The £150 billion that we’ve deposited also reduces the national debt.

What products are on offer and who do they best suit?

Safety All the money you put into NS&I products is safe up to any amount. Money saved in a bank or building society is guaranteed only up to £85,000 per institution. If the bank or building society went bust that is the maximum you would be repaid. People with more than that should spread it across different banks so it is all protected. By contrast, all the money in NS&I products is guaranteed by the Government. Some products will allow investments of up to £2 million – more than enough for nearly everyone!

ILLUSTRATIONS: TELEGRAMME, ANNE HIGGLE

Index linked NS&I no longer sells indexlinked savings certiicates.

People who took them out can roll them over into new indexlinked certiicates of the same duration when the end of Z their term is reached. That

NS&I 65+ Bond More than 800,000 people who invested in NS&I’s three-year 65+ Guaranteed Growth Bond early in 2015 face a big decision when their 4% bonds mature over the next few months. They can be cashed in or rolled over into a replacement bond, probably paying a lot less. Details will be sent out 30 days before the end of their term.

NS&I will accept instructions only in writing or online, not over the phone.

2018

I S A G A . C O . U K / J A N - M A G 95

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Money Take Away

If in future a new index-linked product is announced, it is well worth considering buying as much as you can afford happens automatically unless the saver cashes them in or chooses a term of different length. The money in index-linked certiicates increases by the rise in the Retail Prices Index. At the moment that is growing by about 4% a year – double any rate that can be obtained in other savings accounts.

Anyone lucky enough to have an index-linked product should consider rolling it over.

Certiicates can be cashed in at any time, though there is a penalty of three months’ interest. If in future a new index-linked product is announced, it is well worth considering buying as much as you can afford.

Y

Savings and income The NS&I Income Bond now pays 1% interest monthly. The interest cannot be kept in the account, so the investment can’t build up and grow in value.

If you want to reinvest in an income bond, it means saving the interest elsewhere until it adds up to at least £500 – the minimum deposit that can be made. Interest on the income bond is taxable but is paid gross and has to be declared to HMRC so the correct tax is deducted. If the interest is less than £1,000 it will normally be tax-free for basic-rate taxpayers. The maximum investment allowed in the account is £1 million. An alternative is the Direct Saver, which pays 0.95%, but the interest is added yearly and

In a nutshell All the money you put into NS&I products is safe up to any amount.

Anyone who is lucky enough to have an indexlinked product should consider rolling it over.

Interest on the Income Bond is taxable but is paid gross and must be declared to HMRC. Nearly half the money entrusted to NS&I is in Premium Bonds. Almost all the prizes are for £25 and every month nearly three million are awarded.

The Investment Guaranteed Growth Bond pays only 2.2% taxable and has a maximum investment of £3,000. The Investment Account pays only 0.7% taxable.

kept in the account. The maximum investment is £2 million. Money can be taken out of either account without notice. Both are suitable for people who want the safety of NS&I and are not interested in ‘rate-chasing’ the very best rates every six months.

Premium Bonds Nearly half the money entrusted to NS&I is in Premium Bonds. They work in a unique way. The interest on the £70 billion invested in them is now 1.4%. It is all paid into a prize fund, which is divided up among the billions of bonds.

The process is genuinely random: numbers are generated by ERNIE4 (the fourth version of the original Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment) and certiied by the Government Actuary’s Department each month. It does not matter where you live, when you bought the bonds, or how many you have. Each one has a 1 in 24,500 chance of being picked in each monthly draw (there is a one-month wait for new bonds to go in the draw).

Premium Bonds are best for people who pay higher-rate tax and can afford to put in the maximum £50,000. Almost all the prizes are for £25 and every month nearly three million are awarded. In the long term someone with £50,000 can expect to get two of these prizes each month. That works out at a 1.2% return tax-free.

For higher-rate taxpayers that

is the equivalent of a 2% return on a taxed account or 1.5% for a basic-rate taxpayer.

The odds are better for those with a big holding – 400,000 people have the maximum £50,000. For them it means a pretty regular tax-free income on a chunk of their savings. Premium Bonds can be cashed in at any time as it is only the interest that is gambled, not the capital.

Bigger prizes are rare. Even someone with £50,000 would wait 59,000 years on average to win one of the two monthly £1 million prizes. And the relatively humble £1,000 prize would come only once every 70 years or so. Those with smaller amounts – perhaps £100 invested years ago – can only expect to win anything around once in 20 years.

Other products I am not so keen on other NS&I products. Their ISA and the junior ISA can be bettered in the market and you are unlikely to have more than £85,000 in either. The Investment Guaranteed Growth Bond pays 2.2% taxable but only has a maximum investment of £3,000, while the NS&I Investment Account pays only 0.7% taxable.

Extra online More advice on savings at saga.co.uk/jan-mag

Have a question?

Email money@saga.co.uk, write to Paul Lewis at the address on p3, or tweet him @paullewismoney.

These views are Paul’s own.

He can answer questions only on this page or on our website

2018

I S A G A . C O . U K / J A N - M A G 97

Take Away Money

Stay ahead of the game

Paul’s shorts transfer it to themselves, pushing it through numerous accounts until it ends up somewhere untraceable.

Later this year the banks are expected to begin to introduce a major change to help stop these crimes. It is called Conirmation of Payee and means that when we authorise a payment the bank will contact us to make sure we really want to pay that individual or business.

We must all protect ourselves

Pushy crooks ore than £100 million was stolen from the bank accounts of over 19,000 people and businesses in the irst six months of 2017.

The thefts are called ‘authorised push payment’ (APP) scams because the owner of the account is persuaded by the fraudsters to give them information that allows them to get access to the account and transfer money to themselves.

The average amount lost by individuals is more than £3,000 and less than a ifth is ever recovered. Normally the victim bears the cost as banks rarely reimburse people in these circumstances.

The fraud works by persuading the account owner that the thieves are in fact helping them with a security breach or another problem and the money is being transferred somewhere safe. Instead they

M

ALAMY

Open banking This year banks will be able to give other irms the right to rummage around in our account details, but only if customers opt into the scheme.

It is called Open Banking and the industry says it is a positive change for customers – increasing competition and allowing

98

S AG A .C O.U K /JA N - M AG

I

Always assume a cold call or text or email about a security problem on a bank account, broadband or computer is a fraud. Do not respond.

Never give security information to anyone on the phone unless you have initiated the call; for example, by calling your own bank using a number from your own records.

Never trust anyone who says they will transfer money from your account to somewhere safe.

Never click on a link or a document in an email or text you did not expect.

For more information, visit takefive-stopfraud.org.uk.

For more on phone scams, see p52

Extra online More on avoiding scams and rip-offs at saga.co.uk/jan-mag

new products that help us all to manage our money better. For example: 1. Another bank might say it could offer lower charges if you moved your account.

2. An energy company might match your payments to your electricity or gas company with your address and offer you a cheaper deal.

2018

3. If you are paying off a loan or a credit card, for example, better offers may be sent to you.

It is hard to know if Open Banking will work to our advantage. Saga Magazine will be keeping a close eye on it. Let us know your experiences.

More information at openbanking.org.uk

Need to know Pension freedom tax People who take out a lump sum under the pension freedoms that began in April 2015 usually have too much tax deducted from it. Figures show that around 400,000 of them have not claimed it back, giving the Treasury a tax windfall of more than £1 billion. Eventually these people should get a refund from HMRC. But that takes time and there is no guarantee that HMRC will get the calculation right.

Much safer to reclaim the extra tax as soon as you take out the sum. There are different forms depending on how much you take out and your other income.

Go to gov.uk and search ‘pension lump-sum tax’.

Merryn Somerset Webb

Investing If you are retired and relying on investments for an income, the one thing you need is to know you will get consistent dividends payments. Try the ‘dividend heroes’ of the investment trust sector – four funds that have increased their payout every single year for the past 50 years. My favourite is Caledonia, a global trust still 35% owned by its founding family, which has returned over 1,460% over the past 25 years and is now paying a dividend of just over 2% (and rising!).

Merryn Somerset Webb is editor-in-chief of MoneyWeek.

Her views are personal: investors should seek professional advice

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2018

I S A G A . C O . U K / J A N - M A G 99

Show your

finances who’s boss in 2018

Make this the year you finally take proper charge of your budget. Here are six ways to manage your finances – so they don’t manage you! By Kara Gammell

1

2

your savings

over home entertainment

Maximise

Haggle

The Bank of England raised the bank rate by 0.25% to 0.5% in November, the first rise in a decade, but it seems that many banks are slow to pass on the benefits to savers. Loyalty no longer pays, with the best deals targeting new customers. If your savings have languished in the same account for more than a year, your interest rate is likely to be less than 0.5%. So it’s essential to review your savings regularly and be prepared to shift to a better account.

At the time of writing, the average savings rate is 0.39%, so by simply shifting your balance to a market-leading easyaccess savings account that pays 1.3%, you could earn an extra £91 a year on a £10,000 pot.

Don’t forget to make the most of your tax-free ISA allowance. From 6 April 2017, the annual limit rose to £20,000. Stay on top of your interest rates with Savings Champion’s free online savings account monitor, which reminds you when your interest rate is set to fall and prompts you to move your money. See savingschampion. co.uk/rate-tracker.

“

This can end up being a huge monthly cost. But a survey from moneysavingexpert.com found 87% of Sky customers who tried to haggle were successful in negotiating a better deal – sometimes shaving hundreds off their annual bills.

Check competitor offers through a comparison website such as moneysupermarket.com.

Then call your provider’s retention department and say you are thinking of leaving.

Use key negotiation phrases such as: ‘I’m paying too much for my current package’, ‘A competitor offers a similar deal, but for less money’ or ‘I am leaving’.

Time your call wisely and avoid busy peak periods, such as Mondays, lunch hours and weekends – you might need extra time to make your case successfully.

Don’t forget to make the most of your tax-free ISA allowance. From 6 April 2017, the annual limit rose to £20,000

3

Draw up a

budget Just as nutritionists advise dieters to start by clearing out their kitchen cupboards, the first step in making a budget is to give your finances a thorough sort out.

Scrutinise your bank and credit-card statements to determine where your money is coming from, how much there is and where it is all going.

Many of us overlook the little extras that can send a budget into the red.

Simplify the process and track your spending with budgeting software on your computer, tablet or smartphone. This usually helps you to produce a monthly budget, illustrates how you’re currently spending your money and enables you to track the status of your savings and investments.

Try the Money Advice Service’s free, easy online budget planner at moneyadviceservice.org.uk.

Money Take Away

5

6

switching

benefits

Energy: Millions of people are paying

Each year up to £3.5bn of Pension Credit and Housing Beneit is going unclaimed by older people, according to Age UK. So, even if you think that you’re getting everything to which you are entitled, taking the time to check can pay dividends.

Some benefits, such as the Winter Fuel Payment, are entirely dependent on age – and not at all related to income.

What’s more, you could discover that you are eligible for Housing Beneit or Council Tax Support. You’ll ind lots more information about the allowances and beneits you may be missing out on at saga.co.uk/benefits.

It’s worth spending a few extra minutes checking whether you qualify for any of the age-related discounts, too. If you are over 75, for instance, you are entitled to a free TV licence – that’s a saving of £147 a year.

Get smart - get Did you know?

The Marriage Allowance permits a spouse or civil partner who earns less than their personal allowance to transfer £1,150 of it to their partner

over the odds for their gas and electricity by sitting on an outdated standard variable rate (SVR) tariff. But only a third of us ever bother to switch provider.

Make sure you do! See p110 or go straight to sagacompare.com/energy.

Beef up your

4

Broadband: Signing up to a ‘bundle’ that combines your landline and internet access can be far cheaper than buying them separately.

See sagacompare.com/broadband to ind out whether you can beat the price you’re paying at the moment.

of your tax return

Phone: More than three-quarters of

It’s due on 31 January! Around 4.2 million married and civil partner couples are eligible for a free tax break worth up to £230 a year, according to igures from HMRC, but just 1.3 million couples have claimed Marriage Allowance.

Everyone has a tax-free personal allowance of £11,500.

The Marriage Allowance lets a spouse or civil partner who earns less than that to transfer £1,150 of it to their partner – if their partner pays only basic-rate income tax. Couples have four years to claim a backdated allowance.

Apply at gov.uk/marriageallowance.

The irst £1,000 of interest from savings is tax-free for basic-rate taxpayers (£500 for higher-rate). Only when savings income exceeds the allowance is tax due on it.

customers are on the wrong mobile phone tariff, with just a quarter of us using all of our free minutes and texts.

As a result, we’re shelling out more money than we ought to.

The sheer number of tariffs, deals and one-off offers that are available can make it dificult to ind the cheapest plan, so it’s best to use one of the internet services that compare prices from different companies to simplify the process.

Billmonitor.com, for instance, compares more than 2.5 million UK mobile phone deals. By considering details such as the number of Did you free minutes, off-peak know? calling and charge If you are over 75, you are entitled to limits, it can identify the a free TV licence tariffs that could save – a saving of £147 you the most money. a year

Get on top

“

Millions are paying over the odds for their gas and electricity by sitting on an outdated standard variable rate (SVR) tariff

2018

I S A G A . C O . U K / J A N - M A G 101

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Money Take Away

Your money problems solved

Did you know?

Annie Shaw

Q

I gave my son and daughter-in-law £5,000 to put towards their mortgage deposit. The cheque was made out to my son. They are now divorced and he has moved out of the house, which has been transferred to her name. Is there anything I can do to recover the money I gave them?

A

It is very unlikely you would be able to get the money back. It was a gift to your son and his wife and became part of the pooled assets of the marriage, which were then divided in the divorce settlement.

If you had written a letter of intent or drawn up a legal deed at the time, specifying that the gift was made to your son alone and could be recovered in the event of a split, or the money was a loan, there might be more hope, but with no documentation the chances are just about nonexistent. In any event, the cost of trying to recover £5,000 would be more than you would be likely to get back.

Q

Thirty-four years ago my husband committed suicide. I have never looked into any savings or insurance accounts in his name. Is it now too late to do this? I have no paperwork, only proof we were married up until he took his life.

A

Going back that far is not going to be easy, particularly as the accounts may already have been old or dormant at the time of your husband’s death if you were not aware of them. However, that is no reason not to try.

Mylostaccount.org.uk is a free

service offered by UK Finance (formerly the British Bankers’ Association), the Building Societies Association and National Savings and Investments that helps you trace lost accounts and savings.

The Pension Tracing Service is a similar service for workplace and personal pensions run by the Department for Work and Pensions: go to gov.uk and search ‘find pension’.

For life insurance, if you know the name of the provider he might have held an account with, you can contact the firm directly free of charge.

Otherwise you can approach the Unclaimed Assets Register (uar.co.uk, 0333 000 0182), which holds a list of missing beneficiaries. There is, however, a £25 fee for each search.

Q

I have received a selfassessment tax calculation which states that payments were due in January and July 2017, both of which I paid before the end of July. It goes on to say that the figures do not include payments already made or amounts outstanding. Why not?

A

HMRC will be waiting to do a final calculation when it marries up payments you have made on account with your Z

2 in 5 over-55s trust technology to help them manage their inances, with just

10% comfortable with technology offering financial advice.

This compares with

61% of over-55s who trust technology to help them with health and itness.

48% of divorced and widowed women aged over 55 said that their inancial wellbeing would inluence or has inluenced their decision to remarry rather than have a common-law relationship.

31,000,000 UK adults are at risk of dying without a will.

More than a ifth believe they don’t have enough assets to make it worthwhile.

Spotlight on Warm Home Discount If you qualify, you should have received a letter by the end of November telling you how to get the discount. It will be applied to your electricity bill by the end of March 2018.

If you didn’t get a letter and you think you qualify – for example, because you receive pension credit – contact the Warm Home Discount Scheme on 0345 603 9439. Act now: suppliers make awards on a first-come first-served basis.

2018

I S A G A . C O . U K / J A N - M A G 103

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Excl discouusive n for Sa ts customga ers

Money Take Away self-assessment return, which is not due to be filed until the end of this month.

When the Making Tax Digital project is eventually rolled out to individuals over the next couple of years you will be able to see real-time reports on your tax account, much as you do with internet banking, and make payments accordingly.

This will put an end to estimated half-year payments on account and annual tax returns.

Z

Q

My friend and I booked a cruise to the Galapagos Islands, with flights to and from Quito in Ecuador – not with Saga, we hasten to add.

We paid an extra £3,000 to upgrade our flights, but on the return there was no room for us in business class. We were separated from our friends and required to sit at the rear of the plane opposite the galley, where we were constantly disturbed. We

have complained, but the airline refuses to give us compensation and all it has offered is a £215 voucher against future travel.

A

You may be able to make a claim in the Small Claims Court. There is more information about how to do this on the Citizens Advice website citizensadvice.org.uk.

Alternatively, you can get more help with pursuing a complaint through resolver.co.uk and advice on tactics on thecomplainingcow.co.uk.

Q

I am 83 and live with my son in a property subject to an interest-only mortgage, which has to be repaid in November 2019. I am in good health and in receipt of ample pension income, but my lender will not extend the mortgage.

I have read that some equityrelease firms will grant a loan where the interest is repaid

Frequently asked question Similar queries often crop up. This month, we look at savings interest and tax returns

Q

Last year I earned £700 in savings interest outside a tax-free ISA. As a retired higher-rate taxpayer, do I need to declare this on a tax return or will HMRC calculate my bill for me?

A

From the 2016-17 tax year, the personal savings allowance permits basic-rate taxpayers to earn £1,000 in savings interest free of income tax; the limit falls to £500 for higher-rate taxpayers.

Basic-rate taxpayers no longer have to apply to receive this

interest free of tax; HMRC will do the sums based on data it collects from banks and building societies.

As you earned £700 and pay 40% tax you will have an income tax liability on £200.

If you receive a personal or workplace pension, HMRC will automatically adjust your tax code accordingly, so you don’t need to do anything.

It’s worth noting here that retired people who receive only the state pension do actively need to declare any tax they owe on savings interest.

monthly rather than rolling up.

However, the one I approached will deal only via an independent financial adviser, who will – naturally – charge us for his time. Can you tell us a way round this, or if there are any other lenders or mortgage providers who might help?

A

Even though I could give you the names of several companies, the answer is a firm no, because you need financial advice for this sort of loan – they are absolutely not to be done on your own, even when firms will deal with you directly.

You need to shop around, too, not simply look at deals you have seen mentioned in a newspaper. There may be other options that suit your needs better – and, importantly, will take into account the interests of your son. By using an independent adviser you will also benefit from protection by the Financial Ombudsman Service, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme and your adviser’s professional indemnity insurance – all worth paying for.

Do make sure that your adviser is fully independent and qualified in later-life planning, particularly lifetime mortgages and equity release.

Extra online There’s lots more information about the pros and cons of equity release schemes at saga.co.uk/mag-equity

Have a question?

Email annie@saga.co.uk, or write to Annie Shaw at the address on p3. She can answer questions only on this page or on our website

2018

I S A G A . C O . U K / J A N - M A G 105

Travel insurance that goes further than you might expect Whatever you have planned for your holiday, Saga lets you travel with confidence. Our comprehensive policy covers everything you would expect as standard including cancellation, emergency medical expenses, and baggage. Not only that, our insurance goes the extra mile to make sure your holiday can get back on track if the unexpected happens.

Here are some examples of how far our cover goes:

•

Up to £5,000 for alternative accommodation if yours is damaged due to severe weather or a natural disaster

•

Up to £5,000 for travel costs if your holiday provider becomes insolvent while you’re away

•

Up to £1,500 for replacement flights if the airline goes into administration

•

Extra accommodation and travel costs up to £1,000 per person if a delay causes you to miss your flight.

Saga Travel Insurance is provided by Cigna Insurance Services (Europe) Limited, which meets our high standards of quality and service.

If you’re over 50, call

0800 161 5182 stating reference P1823

CSM-TR2120

saga.co.uk/travelinsurance

Money Take Away

Last-minute tips for

you pay tax at 7.5% on any remaining dividends within the basic-rate band and 32.5% on any in the higher-rate band.

The notional 10% tax credit on dividends has been scrapped.

If you receive income from Paul Aplin, deputy president of the life assurance bonds and draw Institute of Chartered Accountants, on how more than 5% a year, you should receive a ‘chargeable you could legitimately reduce your tax bill event’ certiicate, which shows you the amount to put on your tax return. Sometimes these you might – even at this late he deadline for iling are described as chargeable stage – still be able to reduce 2016-17 selfgain certiicates, but the gain your tax bill legitimately. assessment tax is actually chargeable to returns (tax year 6 April 2016income tax and not capital Watch out for…

5 April 2017) online is gains tax.

If you receive a state pension, If you have a cash ISA or 31 January 2018. If you miss it, you will incur a penalty. Unless you should have been sent a a stocks and shares ISA, you you have a really exceptional letter last April telling you how pay no tax on the income or excuse – long-term much you would be paid. gains within it or on any hospitalisation, for example Alternatively, you can pick the amount you take out. You don’t (provable!) – I’d recommend amounts up from your bank need to show these amounts that you take a deep breath statements. People make two on your tax return. And if you and tackle the annual chore. common mistakes: irst, if you win a premium bond or lottery As you have missed last are paid four-weekly there prize, they’re tax-free too.

October’s deadline for paper will have been 13 The tax system is Top tip returns, you must register to payments in the year, complicated and it The earlier you do so online (visit gov.uk and not 12. Second, the is easy to tackle the tax search ‘self assessment’).

Christmas bonus and misunderstand the return, the less Do not leave this until the winter fuel payments rules, so take time stressful it becomes last minute. Simply applying are not taxable. to read HMRC’s for online registration by Changes to the way tax-return guidance 31 January is not enough interest is taxed have caused (visit gov.uk and search for as HMRC needs to post an confusion for some people this ‘self assessment forms’) or activation code to you before year. Since 6 April 2016, banks contact an accountant you can log on. HMRC also and building societies have registered with the Institute of advises that you need to paid interest without Chartered Accountants in register again if you already deducting tax. As a result, England and Wales (separate have a Unique Taxpayer some people are facing an bodies in Scotland and Ireland) Reference (UTR) but didn’t unexpected tax liability for or a Chartered Tax Adviser. complete a tax return last year.

2016-17. Others are seeing If you’re not in a position to It is now too late to ask their tax bill fall, as the irst pay the amount owed, contact HMRC to collect any £1,000 of interest is tax-free HMRC immediately. They may underpayment through the where total income remains be able to put a payment plan PAYE code applied to your within the basic-rate band. in place. Don’t ignore the salary or pension: the cut-off Only £500 is tax-free for situation. It won’t go away! was 31 December. And don’t higher-rate taxpayers however, wait for HMRC to send and interest is fully taxable if a demand: any tax due is your total income exceeds payable on 31 January, too. £150,000.

Extra online The first £5,000 of dividends More about penalties for late Here are some of the most is also tax free for 2016-17, but common problems and how returns at saga.co.uk/jan-mag

iling your tax return

T

2018

Never too late?

If you find you are facing a tax liability on 31 January, you may still be able to reduce it.

If you paid higher-rate tax in 2016-17, a Gift Aid payment made now can be backdated in your 2016-17 tax return, but you must make the payment before you file the tax return.

Any investments in the Enterprise Investment Scheme and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme can also be backdated to the last tax year, saving tax of up to 30% or 50% of the amount invested. Before investing, however, take specialist advice.

No one enjoys doing their tax return – but the earlier you tackle it, the less stressful it becomes. And by seeking advice sooner rather than later, the more tax you’ll probably save…

Have I filed my own return yet?

Now that would be telling.

I S A G A . C O . U K / J A N - M A G 107

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Money Take Away

The savvy shopper

fyi

Jennifer Newton How cruel is your duvet?

Ensure the feathers in your bedding have not been plucked from live birds ne of the major changes in the way we shop has been the demand to know the origin of the things we buy – ‘traceability’. A guarantee that animals have not been treated cruelly in production processes is crucial for many.

Yet there are concerns about how feathers and down used to stuff duvets, pillows and puffer jackets are sourced.

O

The problem Most of us imagine that feathers and down from geese and ducks are a byproduct of the food industry and removed after slaughter – or during natural moulting.

But animal rights group PETA has irm evidence that birds in some breeding locks are plucked alive for their luffy down. This is so painful that it’s now outlawed in the EU and the US. However, comprehensive, trusted auditing is the only way to be sure.

ALAMY

The regulations There is no single, clear, ethical standard to look out for when shopping for a new duvet or pillow. The European Down & Feather Association Take note (EDFA) has an ethical Plucking birds certiication scheme. alive is so painful Suppliers must certify that it’s now that their feathers been outlawed in and down come from the EU and the US slaughtered animals or that feather collection has taken place only during moulting. Supply-chain auditing is carried out by independent experts such as the International Down and Feather Testing Laboratory (IDFL). Look for both

Snuggle down with a smile

logos and the Downpass Seal, which documents and guarantees that all feathers and down in the supply chain have been ethically sourced. Luxury bedding company Nimbus Emporium (finebedding.co.uk) aims for the strictest animal-welfare procedures. Look, too, for the Responsible Down Standard (RDS) and Traceable Down Standard (TDS).

If you prefer to avoid feathers altogether, there are many options – and they’re usually cheaper, too.

Wool is a way Wool’s natural properties are moisture-controlling and antibacterial. It also adjusts to suit your body temperature. A good year-round choice with no need for a tog-rating.

Wool duvet From £89 Marks & Spencer

On the high street Both Marks & Spencer and Ikea are known for their policies to protect birds from cruel practices. Technologist Phil Townsend from M&S bedding advises: ‘We put animal welfare at the heart of our business and are committed to the responsible sourcing of all animal-derived raw materials, including feather and down. All our feather and down suppliers are required to undertake independent audits to ensure these standards are met. We require our suppliers to undertake audits to either the IDFL, RDS or TDS standards.’

An IKEA spokesperson says: ‘We support animal husbandry where consideration is shown to the animals at all times – from rearing to slaughter – and we prohibit live plucking of birds, a practice that is common in the goose down and feather industry. To eliminate the risk of liveplucked down and feathers entering our supply chain, we use only down and feathers from ducks, since live plucking in the duck industry is very rare.’

Fat Face stores don’t use down at all in their padded clothing.

Easy care A polyester microibre illing with breathable 100% cotton cover in boxed construction to keep the illing in place.

J by Jasper Conran ‘Feels Like Down’ duvet From £55 Debenhams Great price Soft, down-like feel from the synthetic ibre illing with 100% cotton cover for breathability.

Dunelm Dorma Sumptuous Down-Like Duvet From £20 Dunelm Feathery feel Each ibre of the illing has a ‘10-hole’ hollow-ibre construction to aid air circulation, giving the feel of natural down. ‘Wave’ stitch keeps illing in place.

John Lewis ‘Soft Like Down’ Duvet From £60 John Lewis

Finally…

We need one globally recognised standard for the traceability of all feather and down illings and more retailers need to make clear what their auditing process is – perhaps only then will we all sleep with a clear conscience.

Concerned? See peta.org.uk

2018

I S A G A . C O . U K / J A N - M A G 10 9

Take Away Property

Get cheaper energy

the easy way Are you happy with paying more than you should for electricity and gas? No? Well, switch suppliers then! We’ve launched our own switching service – Saga Compare. It’s ridiculously simple – no supply interruptions, no paperwork. You could save hundreds!

Here’s how, step by step Dig out your latest energy bill/s.

1 2

a

Go online to sagacompare.com/energy and put in your postcode.

That will reveal all the energy suppliers who serve your area.

Start answering the simple questions, using your bill and our guide. Find out:

3

a The name of your existing energy supplier. b Whether it supplies dual fuel or gas or electricity only. c The name of the tariff you are currently on. d How much energy you use on average. That’s either the kilowatt hours you used or how much you spent in the last billing period.

The website will work out which suppliers have the best deals for you. Each supplier has offers on price per kilowatt of energy. On the ‘more info’ section you can read reviews and scores for service for most of the suppliers (you may not have heard of some).

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b

Not happy using computers?

Grab your latest bill, ring our UK-based call centre free on

0800 083 2173 and we’ll save you money by changing your energy supplier over the phone

c d

5

Use the options on the left-hand side of the screen to ilter and sort the list of deals. You will be offered some choices, such as whether you want to ix your energy price for a period of time; whether you want ‘green’ electricity produced sustainably; or a tariff that comes with rewards.

Why switch?

You could save £300 a year (says Ofgem)

Collectively we are losing

£1.4 billion by staying with the same energy supplier

6

Choose a supplier, then sit back and relax.

Your new supplier will take care of everything for you, including cancelling your existing contract and organising a switch date. Your old supplier will send you a inal bill for the period up to your switch date when your new supplier will take over. You’ll be switched in about two and a half weeks – that’s three days switching plus a two-week cooling off period between contracts.

7

Watch out!

Potential exit fees are shown at the top of the screen.

Most customers on standard variable rates (65% of people) are not subject to these fees.

Exit fees apply if you leave a current contract early, though they do not apply during the ‘exit fee’ window, which begins 49 days before a tariff ends. And even if you do incur a fee, you’ll ind that it’s often outweighed by the savings you’ll make.

Try our new Saga Compare switching service to see if you can save money today.

See sagacompare.com

(says the Competition and Markets Authority)

In credit with your old supplier?

You’ll get your money refunded More and more people are energy-switching.

Half a million switched in September 2017,

46% more than in September 2016.

Why? Partly after a price hike from British Gas, but also because the process is so easy

Your home’s wires, pipes and meters all stay the same

Peace of mind is provided by the Energy Switch Guarantee – a series of commitments ensuring switches are simple, speedy and safe Switch over the phone if you prefer – ring

0800 083 2173 It’ll take around 20 minutes

2018

I S A G A . C O . U K / J A N - M A G 111

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Property Take Away

Your property problems solved

John Conlin

Q

We recently had an en suite built and I’m worried because there is a repetitive dripping sound every five or so seconds when the basin or shower is used. All the pipes are hidden. Is there any way of telling whether the joints are leaking?

A

I doubt that the noise you are hearing is a dripping joint. More likely it is the slight movement of the plastic piping against tight support clips, because it expands as hot water runs and contracts after the hot flow has ceased. Test this theory by running cold water and then hot water. If I’m right, you will hear the noise only when the hot water is running.

Q

I have a six-year-old 12-panel (3kW) solarenergy system and a water immersion heater. I was told recently that it’s not necessary to leave the immersion heater on continuously. This is contrary to the advice given by the installer. Can you confirm which is correct?

A

I suggest the immersion heater should be left switched on as recommended by the original installer. My reasoning is that the immersion heater has its own thermostat, so it will switch on and off automatically to maintain the chosen water temperature in the tank. If it is switched off, the water will cool by use or heat loss and it may need to be switched on to re-heat the water at a time when the solar panels are not producing electricity.

It would then be using costly mains electricity.

Trash or treasure?

Are our favourite vintage items really worth anything?

By James Trollope Win some…

Q

Next door to my house is a small block of flats owned by a housing association. The surrounding grounds are not tended beyond mowing the grass.

Consequently, two sycamore trees along my boundary have grown so much that a large part of my garden is in permanent shade. The housing association says that Government regulations prevent cutting them down.

A

Unless there is a tree preservation order (TPO) in existence, I know of no ‘regulation’ that would prevent proper management of the trees. Ask the housing association to state which ‘regulation’ they are relying on.

If all else fails, you are legally entitled to cut back anything that overhangs your boundary at your cost. However, you will have to return the prunings.

The seductive sax will never go out of fashion, which helps to explain why the top models can make much more than just musical notes. This tenor sax by Selmer, dating from around 1950, fetched £4,200 at Gardiner Houlgate auctions recently (gardinerhoulgate.co.uk).

…lose some

Extra online For more property Q&As, visit saga.co.uk/conlin

Have a question?

Email surveyor@saga.co.uk, or write to John Conlin at the address on p3. John can answer questions only on this page or on our website

Sadly, harmoniums exhibit rather less sex appeal. Having been superseded by the electric organ in the 1930s, many are now gathering dust and taking up space. Despite inviting starting bids of just £15, no one was tempted by this eBay walllower.

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Register your interest early find your perfect apartment With 40 years’ experience, we know retirement living is about far more than just bricks and mortar. It’s about creating safe and secure environments in desirable locations where you can relax in your own, private apartment or enjoy the comfort and community of a homeowners’ lounge, and gardens you never have to maintain.

Our House Manager arranges all that so you have more time to do the things you enjoy.

See plans & prices early To get the pick of all our upcoming apartments, simply register your interest and we’ll send you full details the moment they are available – giving you the opportunity to reserve “off-plan”. This means you can select your ideal location and aspect before building is complete – allowing you far more choice than if you wait till it’s finished.

And if you are keen to move in now, we already have completed apartments for sale nationwide.

Typical living room

Visit mccarthyandstone.co.uk/offplan to register your interest or call 0800 201 4198 NA-SAG-CSQ118

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New retirement apartments for sale across the country

Were you really ready for Christmas this year?

2017 went by in a flash and now we're already into the new year! Having spent all that time trying to get the guest room ready for loved ones and keeping up with all the maintenance of a big house, now might be the best time to consider your options. For a limited time only we are offering a choice of three fantastic moving packages so you can leave all those worries behind you. Reserve by 31st January 2018* and we can pay your stamp duty OR organise a free interior design service OR cover the cost of your service charge for three years*.

With years of experience we can help you make the right choice and we're so sure you'll be impressed that we're offering a £10 M&S gift card† when you come and see us!

Call us today to register your interest

0800 840 5745 Visit churchillretirement.co.uk

APARTMENTS FOR SALE Berks Newbury; Bristol Henleaze; Cambs Huntingdon; Cornwall Penzance, Truro; Devon Torquay; Dorset Bridport; Essex Chelmsford, Waltham Abbey; Gloucs Cirencester; Gtr Manchester Sale, Timperley; Hants Andover, Drayton, Ringwood, Waterlooville; Herts Berkhamsted, Stevenage Old Town; Kent Dartford, Maidstone; Merseyside Formby; Oxfordshire Bicester; Somerset Nailsea, Portishead; Surrey Ashtead, Camberley, Carshalton, Caterham, Farnham, Leatherhead, Walton-on-Thames, Warlingham; Warwickshire Royal Leamington Spa; W Sussex East Wittering, Haywards Heath; W Yorks Wetherby; Wilts Malmesbury, Salisbury; Worcs Pershore.

£10 M&S gift card† when you come and see us!

Terms and conditons apply. †See website for full details. *At selected developments only.

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Have your say Take Away

Like it or loathe it?

Share your views...

£50

Pyramid selling

l e t te r

I’m with Bill Bailey on the unavailability of white Toblerone (November). My husband and I have to content ourselves with the original. We feel quite virtuous as we limit ourselves to just one pyramid each per night as they now have a bigger space in between.

A spliffing idea Having just watched Gone to Pot, the ITV series about later-age celebrities (left) examining cannabis use in the States, I’m wondering when Saga Travel is going to put on a tour in a similar vein. I’d go! | J Hitchco, Coventry

| I Thomson, Tredegar, S Wales

Credit where it’s due Thanks to Paul Lewis’s November column, I was able to reassure my daughter when she phoned extremely upset and agitated saying that her personal data had been stolen from Equifax. She didn’t know if it was for real – or could it be a scam?

I had seen Paul’s article and was able to advise her that it was for real but, by being vigilant with phone callers, she could safeguard herself to a degree. | E Girling, Ipswich

ALAMY, ITV / BETTY TV, STEPHEN COLLINS

Unsure banking I recently received a phone call from my bank wanting to discuss their services. A young man asked some security questions to confirm my identity – my date of birth and some letters from my mother’s maiden name – but I politely cut the call short. I had no way of identifying whether he was genuine or not. As it happened, he was (I checked later).

If banks are warning against us discussing our bank details over the phone, then why are

they contacting customers in this way? The bank should have a password system in operation so the customer can verify the identity of the caller. | K Spurr, Kirkby Stephen,

Get involved Grandkids We loved the Funny things your grandchildren say feature that we ran last October. So we’d love to hear more for a future feature in Saga magazine. Send your contributions to saga.stories@ saga.co.uk with the subject heading ‘Grandchildren’.

Or write to us at the address on page 3.

And thank you!

Cumbria

Ed’s note: Keep reading the magazine for regular scams updates – see our feature on p52 – and visit saga.co.uk/ scams for lots more advice.

High road… low road…

A number of organisations from ‘Englandshire’ seem to think that Scotland is a county and not a country. In the October Editor’s letter you state ‘the country is beautiful from Scotland to Cornwall’. Now the Scottish mainland from northeast to southwest is almost 400 miles in length with more than 30 counties. If you

are talking of the British mainland then you should have said from ‘Caithness to Cornwall’. Apart from being more accurate, it has a much better ring to it. | A Lannon, by email

Up and running Dr Mark Porter (November) says it’s never too late to exercise.

Last year, I had pneumonia on top of a lung condition and my consultant sent me to some pulmonary rehab classes, where they encouraged me to continue with a personal trainer.

My consultant has since written to my GP: ‘I am delighted to see Mrs Sayers looking so well. She brought along a report from her trainer, who gives an impressive report of her exercise levels and wellbeing’. I am 70 next Z

2018

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DOES SITTING MAKE YOUR BACK ACHE? ®

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Request your free Back Pack Catalogue and Price List No sales people will call (we don’t have any). We never pass on enquirers details.

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Have your say Take Away Moving response

year! Having never exercised before, I now have muscles!

Z

| M Sayers, Surrey

Just not cricket I’m afraid Vince Cable is talking with his Brexit hat on (November)! India is indeed a world economy that has taken off in recent years, but to come out with the phrase ‘Britain means little – except for cricket’ is quite demeaning to this country. Perhaps we should stop buying all the cheap commodities from there and pull the plug on all the aid we supply to them. Although India has come an extremely long way, its government still seems to turn a blind eye to the plight of many of its citizens.

A lone voice

Get involved

| P Sumpton, by email

Making plans for Nigel Christmas came early for me when Saga Magazine dropped through my letter box in late November with the utterly gorgeous Nigel Havers on the cover. I immediately came over ‘all peculiar,’ and I had to have a sit down. He just gets better with age. The magazine will remain on my desk indefinitely. | P Smith, Northumberland

Correction In November’s Savvy Shopper we stated that the Sky Sports pass from nowtv.com is £6.99 per month. The price quoted is, in fact, per day. Apologies.

Write to us at Saga Magazine, Enbrook Park, Folkestone, Kent CT20 3SE

Fiona Phillips’ article on loneliness (December) was oh, so true. She at least was lucky and could get out and about.

I, too, live on my own and have my mobility, unlike many of us.

I can relate to how she found it difficult to speak when she hadn’t spoken to anyone for a while; I try to keep my sanity by volunteering.

Well done for bringing this subject to the fore. | J Stake, by email

Alone even in a crowd Email us at editor@saga.co.uk The editor welcomes your letters – no more than 100 words, please – but reserves the right to edit them.

Please include your address in emails.

You can sit in a room full of family and friends, and still feel lonely. Sometimes it’s difficult to join in with their conversations as they are happy and with their partners.

It’s not the same as when you had your partner with you.

Then you go home to a lonely house. Good job I can make a fuss over my dog. But it is awful being alone indoors.

L Beckinsale via Facebook

Many thanks for Fiona Phillips’ powerful life lesson. It is very relevant to me and, I’m sure, to many others.

After my husband died, I felt totally desperate, but I thought no one else felt like this and there was something wrong with me. I was amazed to read she’d had similar feelings after only a day or two, and knowing she had a family to return to also.

It is heartening to know that the feeling of utter desolation is not as weird as I previously thought. | D Delahoy, Surrey

Not the way to do it Good grief, Fiona Phillips, get a grip. Has living alone for five days really reduced a resourceful journalist to a gibbering navel-gazer?

No computer? Join a library and use one free.

There are troubling problems facing the elderly living alone and The Silver Line must be a godsend to many, but I’m not sure that paying a writer to mope in bed until the early afternoon is the best way of highlighting the issue.

P Griffin, Cornwall

Ed’s note: Following our feature, Fiona was asked to appear on ITV’s Good Morning, thus widening awareness. As a result, vital donations are pouring in to The Silver Line.

Could you help a lonely person?

Loneliness is one of the scourges of our age. That’s why Dame Esther Rantzen started The Silver Line – a free 24-hour phoneline offering advice or just a good old chat.

It’s Saga’s irst national charity partner and has so far taken more than a million calls – but the service needs your help.

Could you spare an hour a week to call a lonely person or donate towards keeping The Silver Line’s night service open?

If so, thank you from all of us here at Saga.

Here’s how you can help Find out how you can get involved at saga.co.uk/silverline.

To donate, visit thesilverline.org.uk/SAGAdonate.

Or call

020 7224 2020 Monday to Friday (9am to 5.30pm)

2018

I S A G A . C O . U K / J A N - M A G 121

L ARMENIER VILL AGE Stylish retirement on the edge of Lancashire’s stunning Ribble Valley...

LAND WANTED DEVELOPMENT POTENTIAL?

Located at Beardwood, these elegant one and two-bedroom retirement apartments are situated in over 4 acres of lovely wooded grounds of the former Nazareth House.

Available support services include handyman, domestic cleaning, laundry, 24hr emergency response and personal care.

Selected properties are available for purchase or rent.

Try before you buy and one week Trial in style schemes are also offered.

Prices start from £108,000 IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE

NAZARETH CARE CHARITABLE TRUST

Telephone: 01254 677926

Village social and leisure facilities include:

• Restaurant • Library • BBQ and Sun Terraces • Lounge areas • Hairdressing Salon • Activities Room • Minibus • Visiting GP’s Surgery

• Chapel • Coffee Shop • Cinema • Bar • Guest Suite • Allotment Area • Games Room • Therapy Room

Specialists in obtaining • Planning Permission for development • Proven track record & large resources • We take on hassle and expense and pay top prices • Can work with neighbours to assemble a site Problem site? Multiple ownership?

Site issues which need resolving? Lapsed/existing Planning Permission with difficult conditions?

For informal discussion, without obligation, contact: Nicholas Cooper, NFC Homes, 78, Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5ES t: 020 7947 5501 e: info@nfcooper.co.uk www.nfchomes.co.uk

www.nazarethretirementvillages.co.uk

Do something life-changing Acr arthritis. It’s our biggest c everyday lives.

oys

elling Lily was just three when she dev in her knees and ankles she couldn’t even walk. Victor endured a childhood of unrelen atigue and missed a lot of school. Forced to rely on crutches, he couldn’t do any exercise and sometimes even struggled to wever, they’ve both made leav ree. a dramatic recovery and ar Lily, who’s just turned nine, is running r y and enjoying swimming and gymnastics. Victor’s big into Thai boxing and thriving at university.

Lily

wer to do something life-changing When you write a Will you hav through research breakthroughs. After you have taken care of your loved ones, will you consider leaving a gift in your Will to help create a future free from arthritis for people like Victor and Lily?

Call us on 0300 790 0404 or go online to request your free Gifts in Wills guide today.

arthritisresearchuk.org/dosomethingsa Alternatively, write to us at Room SA, Fr Arthritis Research UK - APS, Bird Hall Lane, Stock GIWPA101706 Registered Charity No. 207711, SC041156

Victor

TUL-66SR-CUKS, @ArthritisRUK /Arthritisresearchuk

dating

Are you the one for me?

Take a look at some past members of Saga Dating who were looking for friendship… and more. Why not join and see who’s waiting for you?

Men seeking women

Women seeking men

Hey, my name is Frank. I’m a widower with children and grandchildren, looking now to enjoy myself and expand my horizons! I’m steady, loyal, compassionate and kind, and looking irst for friendship, but who knows where that may lead…

I’ve packed my bags and I’m ready to go! Empty-nester, 62, looking to ly the nest myself and take on a new adventure with someone special. Hoping to meet a travelling companion who is fun, sociable and conident.

Petite, blonde 54-year-old who is free, single and solvent!

After an amicable divorce – yes, really! – I’m hoping to meet someone new for the next chapter in my life. If you’re happy in your own skin and don’t take life too seriously, I’d love to hear from you.

I’m 58, looking forward to early retirement and keen to share the good times ahead with someone special. I enjoy country rambles and trips to the gym and am hoping to ind someone who also keeps in shape. Perhaps we can jog along together!

GETTY

Tall and slim widower, 66, who takes pleasure in the simple things in life – a leisurely country walk or sitting in front of a roaring ire on a cold winter’s night enjoying a glass of red with someone special.

Could that be you?

Hello, I’ve not tried this dating game before, but am willing to give it a go – how about you? I’m an outgoing, straightforward chap, who always sees the bright side of life, and would love to meet someone who is open, warm and natural.

Join now and open up your life!

It’s not just dates – you can find travel partners, companionship and new friends at our great relationship website, Saga Dating

How to join Go online to ind out how it all works.

You can create your own free proile straightaway. Visit sagadating.co.uk/print

Romantic at heart and looking for a little sparkle in my life.

After a successful career, I’ve taken on a couple of voluntary roles, which I enjoy tremendously, but I’d like to expand my horizons further.

I’m new at this game, so happy to take things slowly!

Ex-globetrotter, 58, just returned from living abroad for 20 years and looking to make new friends and hopefully more. I love city life and enjoy trying different ethnic cuisines. I’m hoping to meet someone who is curious, interested and interesting.

2018

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Take Away Puzzles W in !

Prize crossword

£100

Every month you could win £100 in our general knowledge crossword Clues

1

Across

Down

7

Tube station west of Barons Court on the Piccadilly Line (11) 8 Southernmost of India’s states (5,4) 9 Mythical Greek giant with a hundred eyes (5) 11 Small French mountain range near the German border (6) 12 Florentine explorer who became Spain’s chief of navigation in 1508 (8) 14 Leeds United’s football ground (6,4) 17 French word for the colour ‘green’ (4) 19 French river that lows through Caen (4) 20 1970 No 1 hit for the Jackson 5 (3,2,5) 22 Cocktail containing rum and lime juice (8) 24 Surname of the irst oficial Poet Laureate (6) 27 The German word for ‘realm’ (5) 28 Annual Nottingham event dating back to the 13th century (5,4) 29 Actor who played Thomas Cromwell in the BBC mini‑series Wolf Hall (4,7)

1

Decomposed organic matter in the soil (5) 2 Range of hills of which Worcestershire Beacon is the highest point (8) 3 Israel’s lag‑carrying airline (2,2) 4 Nevil ___, author of A Town like Alice (5) 5 Huge hydroelectric dam on the Brazil/ Paraguay border (6) 6 Hampshire castle, seat of the Earls of Carnarvon (9) 7 Singer of the 1968 hit For Once in My Life (6,6) 10 French abbot who founded a monastery at Clairvaux in 1115 (5,7) 13 1,509‑mile river that lows into the Caspian Sea at Atyrau (4) 15 Settlement built by the Romans on the Thames (9) 16 Southern French town where Toulouse‑ Lautrec was born (4) 18 Bony‑plated ish, a source of caviar (8) 21 BBC One detective series starring Idris Elba (6) 23 Communications word used to mean ‘understood’ (5) 25 First name of the actresses Kruger and Keaton (5) 26 German Chancellor from 1982 until 1998 (4)

8

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To enter By email Scan your entry, put General Knowledge Crossword (January) in the email subject line and send it, together with your name and address, to editor@saga.co.uk By post Cut out the crossword (no photocopies) and send it with your name and address attached to: General Knowledge Crossword (January), Saga Magazine, Enbrook Park, Folkestone, Kent CT20 3SE. Closing date 26 January 2018

Sudoku Solution on p128

7 9 4 1 3

2 1 9

1 6 2 8 1 3 6 5 5 3

3 6 8 7 5 3 3 1 6 8

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If so, why not get them to subscribe – then they can enjoy the puzzles PLUS all the beneits of joining Possibilities (see p6).

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Arrange your FREE Home Consultancy Visit today and we will also send you LINES OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK QUOTING DEPT.NO. A953 SGD a FREE Plumbs or visit www.plumbs.co.uk/half brochure and DVD. Plumbs Covers, Old Lancaster Lane, Preston PR1 7PZ.

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Take Away Puzzles Word wheel

Codebreaker Each number in the grid represents a different letter.

We’ve given you two letters to start you off, which show that 14 = P and 20 = C. Write these letters wherever their corresponding numbers appear in the grid and then begin to work out the identity of the other letters. All 26 letters of the alphabet will appear in the finished puzzle.

21

22

22 20

9

23

23

24

14

21

14

24

19

7 21

22

23

21 24

24

25

13

24

6

19

21

22

3

22

7

20

13

22

13

22 3

7

24

22

23 22

18

23

15

3

4

13

26

24

3

20

13

23

24

19

22

25

20

23

22

7

12

12

11

23

7

23

15

4 2

13

15

19

21

25 25

19

5

13 19

3

M

N E

22

2

23

B

6

24

7

19 17

O

22 13

G

24

6

21

7 22

3

A

25

25 4

O R

15

22

10

22

18 23

22 11

3

7

2

5

21

14

13

23

22

22

11

2

16

22

13

16

23

1

9

3

23

6 3

4

13 12

22

24

20 20

7

2

12 22

22 7

15

15

12

12

12

13 3

8

See how many words of four letters or more you can make using the central letter in each word and the other letters only once in each word. You can make at least one word by using all the letters. No proper names, plurals or verb forms ending in the letter ‘s’ are allowed, and all words are from the Collins Dictionary.

Good 23 Excellent 33 Brilliant 43 Great score for kids 18

7

Add-a-letter

22

Rearrange the letters and add one to these words to make ive-letter words that it the clues. The added letters will spell a word.

22 14

25

1

POET

Bus garage

SKIP

Ear (of corn)

TEAT

Drink similar to a cappuccino

COLD

On ___ nine, elated

RATE

Marvellous

More puzzles

BROW

Leafy garden shelter

Visit saga.co.uk/mag-puzzles for more brain-teasers online

Solutions on p128

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

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S AG A .C O.U K /JA N - M AG

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I 2018

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Take Away Puzzles

Cryptic crossword

W in !

£100

Answers November’s General knowledge crossword POMP I U A A GP L AN H T F MA E L U E P S A LM P D I S T ANN A M G L I S A A M S F I F T T A AHAR

DO P O R S T O S B AR I I D G I E N DD

UC E N T R H E E RA T OR I M N C ROM WH N J S T I V E R T X R A Y MOWG E M R I S E L B G K R T H E R I T R G A Y S N I G

E O R E Y A ON A L I R A B CA H H T

Winner Linda Woodward, Stourbridge

November’s Cryptic crossword

1 7 8 9 10 12 13 16 17 18

Down

Clumsy fellow, second to fall behind (10) Bird – one on a tree (7) Do one out of a bit (3) Itinerant has second thoughts about satellite (6) A saver of animals inally failed to get this one (4) A little lower (4) Old cofin in which there’s one early colonial (6) Sort of theatre that lacks aspiration? (3) Cape bird is trapped in reservoir (7) Animal revealed by Inuit leader, accepted by reformed character (6,4)

2

3 4 5 6 8 11 12 14 15

Bath fashioned with inlaid marquetry, plated in the Middle East (9) Fawning type showing bit of leg? (6) Bloodhound left food in ground (4) Entertainment in Tokyo with element half Japanese missed (5) Decline in status, but not much (4) Study suitable before end of service or a prayer (9) Awfully sick after consuming red-hot brandy (6) A growing suggestion of inability in Perth (5) Girl with money – a Thatcherite mantra (4) South American food product packed in Maracaibo (4)

Winner Mrs J Skinner, London

This month: Sudoku 7 6 4 8 5 1 9 3 2

9 2 1 3 4 6 8 7 5

5 8 3 7 2 9 1 6 4

4 9 8 1 6 2 7 5 3

6 5 2 9 3 7 4 8 1

1 3 7 4 8 5 6 2 9

Word wheel 2 4 9 5 7 8 3 1 6

8 1 5 6 9 3 2 4 7

3 7 6 2 1 4 5 9 8

Codebreaker

To enter By email Scan your entry, put Cryptic Crossword (January) in the email subject line and send it, together with your name and address, to editor@saga.co.uk By post Cut out the crossword (no photocopies) and send it with your name and address attached to: Cryptic Crossword (January), Saga Magazine, Enbrook Park, Folkestone, Kent CT20 3SE. Closing date 26 January 2018

128

S AG A .C O.U K /JA N - M AG

I 2018

S EQU E L S E U L R CHA P E RON O D G S NARRA T E D U N W E P I C OB S L E O U S E R AD Z C B CORKAGE O E N X UN L E T CA R A A E E X AMP L E

K YWA R D N H E E I NCU E N T L OGBOO E OE J AD V M B E AGOG R I L S UND I A E S T LMA T I V L I O F L I N T

YGNB V K L QH J MUO P DWF X I C S E A R T Z

T R E K K E R S L E E P Y

4-letter words Bang, berg, brag, ergo, game, garb, gean, gear, germ, goer, gone, goon, gore, grab, gram, gran, mega, ogen, ogre, rage, rang 5-letter words Among, anger, argon, barge, began, bongo, gamer, gnome, goner, groan, groom, mange, mango, omega, organ, range 6-letter words Banger, borage, manger, monger, onager, orange 7-letter words Embargo, oregano 9-letter word Boomerang You may be able to find more words.

Add-aletter Depot, spike, latte, cloud, great, bower.

The word is deluge

CRYPTIC CROSSWORD COMPILED USING CHAMBERS DICTIONARY

Across

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Bill Bailey’s

New Year Resolutions

f there’s one thing that’s easier to break than a brand new slippery smartphone, it’s a New Year resolution. Every year across the world people strive to use the turn of the calendar as a spur to live healthier, more fulfilling lives. And every year these good intentions often founder on the twin reefs of reality and self-deception.

This practice of making a fresh start at New Year is nothing new. It’s thought to have first occurred among the ancient Babylonians, who made promises of better behaviour in order to find favour with the gods. Apparently, they would make an effort to pay off their debts and return borrowed farm equipment.

So, that’s one good resolution: take back your neighbour’s

© ANDY HOLLINGWORTH ARCHIVE. ALAMY

I

130

S AG A .C O.U K /JA N - M AG

I 2018

“

Rotavator, maybe with some uneaten chocolate liqueurs by way of a thanks.

Mine will be my usual reluctant shuffle to the gym.

I’m intrigued by a class I’ve seen there recently, which involves dragging tractor tyres around.

It’s impressive and vaguely redolent of returning farm equipment. It seems to be just tractor tyres at the moment, but maybe this is just the entry-level course, in which you gradually build up to hauling muckspreaders, milking machines and, eventually, combine harvesters across gym mats.

To reduce the boredom of a treadmill, I consider an apocalyptic scenario. What if some catastrophic global event were to catapult us back to a pre-industrial wilderness? The social order would break down, there would be mass lawlessness, roaming gangs of zombies and a sharp drop in house prices.

We’d have to barricade ourselves into our homes with farming equipment. The tyre-draggers will look very smug then.

As I step off the treadmill, my shoulders sag at the paltry few calories I’ve ‘earned’. Most

I’ve vowed to eat just the sponge bit around Jaffa Cakes, saving the chocolate orange section for later.

Well, it’s a start resolutions require managing expectations. Basically, set the bar a bit lower and then anything is a bonus. It’s not good resolving to give up sweet things when by the 3rd of January you’re craving Minstrels, and by February you’ve got your Nice biscuit

habit back with a vengeance.

Small steps. Tiny gains.

I’ve vowed to eat just the sponge bit around Jaffa Cakes, saving the chocolate orange section for later. Well, it’s a start.

But the simple solution is the best. Just don’t bring this stuff into the house. If there’s food lying around, I will eat it.

And this is not my own lack of discipline, according to the author Yuval Noah Harari in his book Sapiens, as we are hard-wired to do just that.

Harari explains that, just as our nomadic forebears did, we are programmed to binge.

On discovering a tree laden with ripe fruit, our ancestors would gorge themselves on this bounty. Food was hard to come by, so an easy feast could not be turned down. More pressingly, there were lots of other creatures that would readily devour it, so best to get it down you before the baboons hoover up the lot.

This insight has made me understand a little more about human behaviour, and to be a little more tolerant to my fellow human. This will be my resolution: ‘Don’t be too quick to judge another’s weakness by the contents of their shopping basket’.

They, like you, are at the mercy of ancestral DNA. The message echoes down the ages: ‘Hurry up and eat as much food as you can before the other animals get it’. So when I see a bloke with a trolley piled high with frozen pizzas, biscuits, crisps and the like, I don’t judge.

I merely think, ‘Well it’s either him or the jackals’.

Enjoy Bill?

To read more from him, visit saga.co.uk/bailey

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