How has your life changed since becoming editor of The Lady and sister to the Mayor? I’m now editor in chief so I don’t go in every day but for some reason I am busier than ever... I’ve been fi lming a documentary on social history for the BBC (it’s out this autumn on BBC4 and the word “Lady” will be in the title). I’m amazed by how fiddly and timeconsuming telly is compared to writing – I can write a piece on my smartphone in the bath (and do) but with pictures, you have to think about sound, the shot, continuity…not to mention my hair which has a life of its own and frankly deserves its own reality TV series. Life hasn’t changed for me since my bro became Mayor, but since you ask, what has changed is the number of times a day I am asked about him or it or the Olympics or whatever. Of course I manage to remain icily polite at all times. Is your day-to-day extremely glamorous? What are the highlights? I hope it appears glamorous. I do however spend the requisite amount of time taking teenagers to the orthodontist, going to Sainsbury’s, walking the dog etc, I promise. The highlights are meeting people I admire. And I do admit I went to the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics (thanks to a friend not a brother I add). That seems to impress people. And downsides? There are no downsides to life. Every day is a bonus. How do you cope with your busy schedule and three children? I cope. You are known for your frankness – does it get you into trouble? Constantly. I always manage to
RACHEL ON HER NEW FITNESS DISCOVERY
ask people the wrong question and say the one thing you’re never supposed to say. If only I could fi nd a way – like Mrs Merton – of making this facility to put foot in it PAY. You have another life in the countryside too – is it compatible with editing The Lady? See above. It’s four hours from London and half an hour from Tarmac. That keeps me sane. Can you tell us five of your favourite places in Notting Hill? Lutyens and Rubinstein bookshop in Kensington Park Road; the Tea & Coffee Plant; the Electric Cinema; Portobello Road generally and the market traders (please support them everyone); The Grocer on Elgin and of course Powervibe (see column). And five least favourite things about the area? Too crowded on Saturday. The buses in Ladbroke Grove. The fact that it’s full of rich bankers…. Are you working on another novel? My new one Winter Games is out in November (Penguin) thank you for asking! All your Christmas present problems solved.
I am a firm believer that exercise works better than any drug. If I am grumpy, a run, a couple of sets of singles, a walk up a vertical cleeve on Exmoor, preferably during an extreme weather event, sort me out. I cheer up, and feel much better, both during and after physical activity of almost any sort (I am not mad about ironing and leaf-sweeping). You know those forms at doctors’, the ones where you pretend you only drink a couple of units a week? Well, I’d never dream of admitting how much I do, actually, drink, but am always horribly keen to overshare when it comes to exercise. I try to do an hour a day to try to keep me sane. I walk, run, play tennis. Having a dog means you have to go outside, and I am evangelical about being outside. And now I can add another string to the already taut bow. Power Plate. I’m already evangelical about it, and it’s not even outside. Basically, it’s a machine, with a platform, a tower, and handles. You can work out on it any number of body-shaping combinations and speeds. Yes, speed. It’s a machine that vibrates, and stimulates your muscles to contract and relax. In normal exercise they do this once or twice a second, but with Power Plate, I am told they do it 30-50 times a second. Which is why it’s so effective, and so knackering. The experts call it the microwave of exercise techniques, because results you need to sweat over an hour to get ‘normal’ oven-cooking can be achieved in a fraction of the time: they reckon just 25 minutes of Power Plate equates to an hour and fifteen minutes of conventional training in a gym. With power Plate you are using your own body weight so you can’t bulk up instead you get long lean muscles. So I now pop along to a studio in Notting Hill once a week, where Ronnie puts me through my paces for only 25 minutes. Afterwards, my head and body feel as if I’ve been through the Hadron Collider but in terms of fitness, the results are dramatic, after only a few sessions (£20 in a class, £40 for a private session with a trainer). So much so that after just three weeks, I was in my tennis club, playing a set of doubles, and ended up playing singles with a burly, and very athletic TV presenter: male, 6ft 3in of him. Well, reader, all I can tell you is that I was thrashing him and he was dripping with sweat and he called a halt to the set when he was 3-5 down. It was as if – and I have witnesses – I had morphed into Superwoman, and the only reason I can imagine I was stronger, and fitter, was because of Powervibe, and I can proudly boast I can add another addiction (along with caffeine, tennis, Downton Abbey, etc) to the list for 2012. Powervibe Fitness Studio 95A Westbourne Park Villas W2 020 7229 9614 powervibe.co.uk
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