Fifteen years later, my wife and I had cause to visit the UK and took the opportunity to look up some old acquaintances from those days.

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Many of the marriages had broken down and ended in divorce, fat young mothers had become obese middle aged women, most of the fat children had grown up to be fat, overweight or obese young people and everyone remarked about how my wife and I hadn't changed. Of course we had, but we had remained relatively slim and fit due to our healthy lifestyles.

At one gathering, I ended up talking to the youngsters because I was fed up listening to my old colleagues talking about their ailments and physical problems. We may all now be in our mid fifties but that isn't old nowadays. This was like mixing with a group of old men who believed that their lives were over and they had to face up to the fact that they couldn't do the things they used to. If I remember correctly; they were never able to do them when they were younger anyway because of their weight problems.

On one occasion, I walked down to collect my grand niece and nephew from my children's old school. If anything, things had gotten worse. Mothers were even more fat and in greater abundance and just as unkempt; but what really shocked me was the number of overweight and obese children that just hung around the playground.

As we walked back past the shops, some of these fat mothers were coming out of the newsagents or local convenience store with their fat children eating chocolate, sweets or huge bags of crisps. I assume that this was a regular occurrence judging by the size of them and I wonder if these parents even consider the damage they are doing to their children.

Obesity seems to have become part of the culture in the UK. Fat people must look around and see obese people and so believe that because they are not as fat as the really obese people, they are doing alright.

It's not just the women either. Young men in their twenties and thirties who should still be playing sports waddle around with their stomachs hanging over their trousers and their man boobs jiggling as they walk.

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