Brilliant at Eating
Are Bellis' eyes bigger that his belly?
"Some kids are brilliant at maths, others sport. I was brilliant at eating. A cup of tea, with a packet of rich tea biscuits, dunked in four at a time, crunchy sugar cubes and tomato sauce butties on white bread. My mum used to say that my eyes were bigger than my belly. That wasn't true - my belly was huge! Or at least I thought so.
My parents were brought up in an era when food was scarce. I suppose feeding offspring generously sent out a sign that they were doing okay. That coupled with me being the youngest of three and spoilt rotten, apparently, meant that I rapidly became a fat git. Because that's what my mates called me... I was never 'Jacko', 'Smiffee', or 'Wazza'. Just 'Bellis, you fat git'. Visiting relatives used to refer to me as a 'bonny' lad.
Then, something happened in my teens. My mum got wise and stopped buying biscuits and I developed a passion which kept me away from the kitchen. My waist measurement was the same when I was 18 years old as it had been when I was 12, except I was six inches taller. I really did grow up.
But my memories stayed with me. I always caught myself in reflections to check if my greedy friend had returned and I got really defensive if anyone mentioned my weight... until now.
Looking back through my old photos I realise I wasn't so fat after all, and I seem to have turned out like everyone else. I would have saved myself a lot of pain if I'd realised that 20 years ago."
Steve Bellis
