I pulled my big girl pants up and got on with the job

I looked after my best friend’s daughter, Alissia, for a few hours last week. We were chatting away and she looked up and declared, quite out of the blue, that she wouldn’t ever be able to be a mechanic like her dad because that’s ‘a job boys do and not girls – girls can’t be mechanics’.
Cheryl doesn't need a man to help her do DIYCheryl doesn't need a man to help her do DIY
Cheryl doesn't need a man to help her do DIY

Of course, I naturally put her straight and told her that whatever a boy can do a girl can do.

I went on a proper little girl power speech.

She’s only three-and-a-half and looked a bit bemused as I told her that she can be anyone and do anything if she puts her mind to it.

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Anyway, at the weekend Matt and his brother Luke, and Luke’s step-father-in-law – yes, all very confusing – were working away on our garden when I went to ask one of the lads to paint the cladding at the top of our bungalow.

It required getting on a very steep ladder and painting all the way along the length of the back of the house.

My instant reaction was to ask one of them to do it – I don’t even know why.

Then I remembered the conversation I had with Alissia and pulled up my big girl pants and got the step ladder out of the garage, the tins of paint, cleaned off the brushes and went to work.

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At this point they were all looking on in horror and told me to do something else and that they would get around to it.

Well, it wasn’t just little ol’ Alissia who got an earful – so did they and they were only trying to help.

They reluctantly let me ‘crack on’ although Matt kept a watch on what I was doing because apparently I’m too clumsy to be doing that sort of thing.

I have to say, I did a pretty good job – or at least I think I did.

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It just goes to show that it really does take a while to reprogram our brains into actually believing something.

I’ve always been someone who has thought I can do anything I want or be anyone and yet when the prospect of doing some difficult DIY came up, my instinct was to get a guy to do it.

I actually did a perfectly good job and am rather proud.

So, from now on, I will heed my own words to little Alissia.

Harry’s a great guy but I’d say ‘heartthrob’ is a bit much

Harry Redknapp’s star is in the ascendant since he won last year’s ITV I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here.

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Of course he was already famous in our city and in others, but generally it was always linked to football.

Speaking this week, the ex-Portsmouth FC manager said he’s trying to deal with his increased level of fame and laughed off suggestions

that he’s now become a heartthrob.

Bless Harry – I love him like the best of them, but a heartthrob may be pushing it a little.

He is sweet though, saying it’s his wife Sandra who is the heartthrob, adding that he’ll never leave her because he knows when he’s ‘done well.’

Too cute…

Being the star of the show is bound to have a big impact

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It seems Game of Thrones’ biggest star, Kit Harington, who played the beloved Jon Snow in the hit show, is in the grip of a crisis.

The actor has checked himself into a wellness retreat in the States for ‘stress, exhaustion and also alcohol’.

The crisis was apparently provoked by the end of Game of Thrones and in January this year he was escorted out of a New York bar over a row over a pool game.

Oh dear, seems like the trappings of fame are having an affect on our Kit.

Being the lead character in the biggest series on the planet is going to have an impact, I guess, especially now it’s over.

Get well, Kit. We’re all rooting for you.