Still on a holiday theme I came across this article on thisismoney about the cheapest destinations for UK travellers taking into account the current exchange rates. Apparently you can currently get the most for your pounds by heading to countries such as South Africa, Namibia and Botswana. This is because the pound has strengthened greatly against those local currencies within the past year. For example a pound will now get you 12.8 rand, 10% more than this time last year. It’s a different story though if you are thinking of heading off to Eastern Europe you are 13.6% worse off than last year.

The same article has an interesting section about using credit and debit cards abroad. Last time I went abroad I was aware that there would be a charge for overseas transactions but didn’t really pay much attention to what the charges were. It was a bit of a surprise to see how the charges had mounted up just in one week. The article contains a handy table comparing what providers charge for overseas transactions. Interestingly enough if you have a credit card from the Nationwide or the Post Office they do not charge you at all. Most other credit card providers have a 2.75% charge when used overseas. Likewise with debit cards most companies charge not only for making card purchases but also to withdraw cash. This is where I got out with my Bank who charges 1.5% on every foreign withdrawal. Once again Nationwide does not charge its customers for overseas transactions. It might be time to open another account to use when going on vacation. I’m sure in the long run it will help save a lot in unnecessary fees.

I came across this site www.myfitnesspal.com. It’s free to sign up and provides an easy weight loss plan. Just enter your current weight and the weight you would like to be and the site works out long it should take to reach your goal weight, taking into account how many times you expect to exercise every week. I typed in that I would like to lose a stone in weight and I would try and work out for 30 minutes three times a week. The results were that if I managed to do this I would lose 5.0 lbs by the 26th June.

The website includes a free calorie counter. You just search for the food you want to add and the meal you need to add it to and the calorie counter works out how many calories you have consumed during the day. I was surprised, having never bothered with calorie counting before, how many calories I actually consume in a day. Most of my intake seems to consist of cheese and wine, two things I love which I find very hard to cut down on.

Looking at my meals today I have eaten 434 too many calories but because I went to the gym I earn an extra 291 calories. It all seems very complicated but the website makes it easy to manage. Myfitnesspal also includes several handy reports so you can check your progress, see what your fitness is like and check whether you are eating a nutritious diet.

I have always trusted the supermarkets when it comes to buying food, assuming that it is fresh when you purchase it but this article has made me think again. The BBC’s Whistleblower programme (to be screened tonight) sent some reporters undercover in branches of Tesco and Sainsbury’s after an anonymous tip off from some members of staff.

What they uncovered makes for some distressing reading for the consumer. Staff at both Sainsbury’s and Tesco were found changing the sell by date on food, by simply deleting the old one and replacing it. I regularly use items when they have passed their sell by date but that’s because I know the dates are used mainly to cover the supermarkets, and that the items are fresh when I buy them, well at least I thought they were. One staff member even admitted to mixing batches of food, taking a few slices from a fresh batch and some from an older batch in order to resell it. In addition to this temperature checks on the fridges, which should be closely monitored, were regularly faked by staff, and surfaces and meat slicers were left uncleaned. To be fair the reporters were sent to just two branches of the supermarkets but these measures were mainly used in order to cut costs and seemed a part of normal working practices. It makes me wonder how widespread they are.

This was my first trip to Ireland and although most of our time was spent at a friends wedding, I left with the intention of going back again for a longer stay. It definitely wasn’t the weather that made my stay enjoyable, it basically rained on and off all weekend. I did however find it refreshing to be surrounded by beautiful countryside instead of feeling rather crammed in as we tend to be back in London. One thing that immediately struck me was that every person we came across whilst in Ireland greeted you with a cheery good morning or a friendly wave. Back in London, things are slightly different, if you even so much as glance at another person on the bus or train, you are met with a blank, unfriendly look.

During this visit we hired a self catering cottage from Dream Ireland. The cottage is located in the grounds of the Mount Wolseley Hilton Hotel. It included a double room with en-suite bathroom, two rooms with twin beds and a third room with a single bed. It also had another bathroom and toilet as well as kitchen and large living/dining area. In fact it was much bigger than our house and cost 420 Euros, that’s about £287. I was very impressed with the accommodation offered for the price and you also had the option to use the hotels pool, spa and gym. The cottage also had the advantage of being located within an easy five minutes from the main hotel which has several restaurants serving food for most of the day and several bars which were open until very late.

The atmosphere in the hotels bar was a welcome change from a smoky pub; smoking having already been banned in public places in Ireland. On the night we arrived, at nearly midnight, we were surprised to find the hotel’s main bar still open and the locals enjoying a good singsong well into the early hours of the morning. In fact they were still singing when we left at three in the morning. In all it was an enjoyable few days and I will definitely be going back.

Views of the living area in the cottage.

I didn’t get chance to post this before I went to Ireland, but here it is now. Rory made me a birthday cake (pictured the cake that is, not Rory) and was also kind enough to only put one candle in it.

A cat in Folkestone caused twelve homes to be without power when he got stuck on a pylon. Flash the cat had climbed the 30ft pylon and then found he was unable to get back down. In order to safely rescue Flash, the electric company cut off the power supply to the surrounding homes whilst an engineer in mountaineering gear climbed up to get the cat.

I just got back from my trip to Ireland during which we stayed in a shared cottage. It's always so nice to be home. All the cats were pleased to see us and Rory's father was kind enough to trim our hedge, whilst he looked after the house for us. I really missed home, but most of all I missed my nice new TV.

I am writing this from a bar in Ireland after connecting to BT Openzone. You simply pick up the local wireless network and purchase a voucher from BT for the time you want to spend on the internet. A great tool for geeks everywhere.

Back in March I came across this gale proof umbrella and I decided to purchase one. Surprisingly I have managed to get through two months without having the need to use an umbrella. Today the umbrella was finally put to the test. I did use it in a fairly strong wind, although I'm not sure whether it was quite gale force 10 and the umbrella stood up quite well keeping its shape and keeping me dry, whereas my friends using conventional umbrellas ended up considerably wetter due to the fact theirs collapsed in the wind.

I and my husband are heading off to Ireland this weekend for a friends wedding. It always occurs to me when going away how much easier it is for men to pack. They simply pack a pair of jeans and a pair of trousers and a couple of tops. My packing dilemma goes something like this. We are going away for 4 days. The first day we are at the wedding, so I have my dress and shoes, but what if it is cold, I might need a jacket. The next day I will need something casual to wear during the day, so I pack jeans and trainers, but wait I am going out in the evening, will I need something smart? So I pack a skirt and top, but what if it’s too cold for a skirt… I pack trousers. The thing is trousers require different shoes to a skirt so I pack my smart boots as well as my strappy shoes. Ok, the bag is starting to get heavier at this point and thats before I think about day three. Men have it easy. 

I found this odd looking spider in my house today. It was crawling on the ceiling and was a reddish brown colour. When I crept forward for a closer look it jumped off the wall as if to attack me. Now I'm not great with spiders, even the regular kind, so after I had finished screaming, I did what I usually do. I got a glass and placed it over the spider and waited for my husband to come home. When he arrived he slid some paper under the glass and we examined the spider more closely. Looking at it, and comparing it with many spiders on the internet we finally came to the conclusion it was a hobo spider and not native to this country. I'm not sure where it came from but strongly suspect it might have crawled out of the bananas in the kitchen.

This picture is of a female hobo spider, not the actual spider we found because Rory squashed that one.

Another year, another birthday and its getting to the point where I am not going to say how old I am today. I received a nice new TV from my husband and although it did actually arrive a few days ago, it was still a nice surprise.