If there is one thing I can’t stand its sales calls. Usually its people who are quite obviously based in an Indian call centre trying to sell me a mobile phone contract that I don’t need or wanting me to consolidate all my debts into one easy payment. Despite registering with the telephone preferences society I still receive a huge number of these calls.

I have now started to make a game out of it, by generally asking as many stupid questions as I can think of and getting the sales person to repeat the information over and over, until they get bored and hang up. When I see an international number come up on the phone, I often answer with “Battersea Dogs Home, how can I help you”. Pretending you are deaf is always fun, as is asking them to speak slowly so you can write everything down. I have even started trying to sell things to the sales people and now actually look forward to making their life difficult, mean I know, but so is calling me at 8am on a Sunday morning. It seems some companies, have now stopped using real people. Instead of getting a person who you can have fun annoying, there is simply an automated message. These really annoy me, what’s the point in getting sales calls if you can’t have a bit of fun? Bring back real people I say.

Its bad news for farmers who must have thought they were lucky to survive the first foot and mouth outbreak a month ago. It appears foot and mouth is back again, this time in Egham, about five minutes walk from my house. It appears the disease is the same strain that was found in Pirbright, near Guildford last month. So far, it has affected two farms in Egham, with the nearby footpaths being closed off. There is also a noticeable increase in traffic where I live due to the fact that several roads in the area have also been closed. Let’s hope they can contain this latest outbreak quickly before too many farms are affected.

One of the more unlikely stories I have seen in the headlines over the last few days is about Sybil the cat. Sybil was just an ordinary cat but that has now changed. She has recently moved into Number 10 Downing Street with her owner Alistair Darling which makes her about the most famous cat in Britain right now. I'm not really sure the story deserves as much coverage as it has been getting, Sybil seems to be on the front of most newspapers this morning, still she is rather cute.

This is the wine that I purchased on the Virgin Wine auction a few weeks ago. The blurb on the bottle talks about blackberries and chocolate and it certainly is a really nice fruity wine. It is a really smooth velvety red and has a pleasant after taste. I think it’s actually the best wine I have tasted in a long time. You can buy this for around £6.99 a bottle when it’s on offer but I am really pleased with it because I picked it up for just under £3.00 in the auction. I like everything about this wine, and have already worked my way through a good portion of the case. I will definitely buy this again and again. A full five stars.

Mentioning my moggies in a previous post, I thought it was time for another cute cat picture, so here is a picture of Willow and Oscar.

Most of my regular readers will have noticed by now that I love my pussy cats. I came across this website that sells luxury gifts for pets. They have a range for dogs including cute dog apparel and also a range for cats. The cat gifts include superior cat collars that have a rhinestone finish or collars made from leather. They also have a range of luxury cat beds that even the most picky kitty will find appealing. The bed range include cat pillows and mats, cat beds and cat snuggle cats. The only question is are my common moggies posh enough for these luxury items?

This is a pleasant enough Spanish wine with a slight taste of oak. Its not the most exciting wine, I have tried recently, and could almost be called bland. At £8.99 a bottle I think it’s a little overpriced for what is it. I give this one a rather generous four stars, it's pleasant but unexciting.

Police investigating a vandalised building in Cheshire were able to catch the criminal without really needing to do much. The criminal in question had helpfully written Peter Addison was here, on the wall of the vandalised building. He was quickly tracked down and arrested for the crime. This must be the perfect example of what not to do when committing a crime.

We cooked this sea bass on the BBQ recently. It's the first time I have tried it and not being a great lover of fish I had already convinced myself I probably wouldn't like it. Basically all we did was wrap it in foil with a knob of butter a few bay leaves and some herbs and cooked it on the BBQ for about 20 minutes. It was actually really nice and I will definitely be cooking it this way again. The only thing is I liked it so much I forgot to take a picture before I ate it all, but you can get an idea of how it looked from the remains below.

I took these pictures the other day when I was printing out a few letters. As you can see Willow and Oscar found it very exciting.

I’m feeling a bit sorry for myself today because I have a bout of food poisoning. After spending most of the morning being sick, I am still suffering from sharp stabbing pains in my stomach. I’m not quite sure what I ate to cause the problem, but I don’t remember feeling quite this bad since I had food poisoning as a child from eating mint choc chip ice cream. To this day I still can’t touch the stuff.

I just opened a bottle of Trois Calices Vin de Pays de Mont Baudile, 2006. This is a really full and fruity red wine with hints of herbs. It is sweeter than I expected it to be, but still not overly sweet. This is one of the nicest wines; I have tried recently and at £6.99 a bottle, really good value for the price. I give it a full five stars out of five. The only bad thing about this wine, is that it will not last very long.

A man who had his foot run over by a police car when it swerved off the road, could have been forgiven for expecting an apology. Instead they fined him £80 because they said he had dented their car. He was on his way home from a night out with friends when he was rammed from behind, knocked over and had his foot crushed under the wheels of the patrol car. A South Wales Police spokeswoman confirmed that a fixed penalty was issued for criminal damage, adding: 'We have received a complaint from Mr Horne and are looking into it.'

Taking too many painkillers for migraines can actually cause more headaches, suggests a new report. Dr Anne MacGregor, the director of research at the City of London Migraine Clinic said that a fifth of her clients have headaches caused by taking too much medication. The problem is caused by taking too much of a painkiller and the painkiller becoming less effective which then leads sufferers to need a stronger medicine. At the moment, only the strongest painkillers include a warning that over-use can worsen headaches. Aspirin, paracetamol and ibuprofen do not contain any warnings.

A new report has discovered a potential link between deodorants and breast cancer. The research comes because high levels of aluminium have been found in the breast tissue of cancer patients who have had mastectomies. There have been previous warnings that aluminium from deodorants can be absorbed through the skin, especially through shaved armpits. Once it has been absorbed through the body aluminium can mimic the hormone oestrogen and can be involved in the development of breast cancer.

I am getting a bit sick of things biting me, a few weeks ago it was an insect bite on my finger, and since then I have several other nasty insect bites. Now it appears a spider has bitten me. I first noticed the bite on my leg on Sunday morning and since then it has got bigger and bigger. It's different to a normal insect bite, in that it has distinct fang marks surrounded by a large raised red area. It is starting to go down a bit now, but its still very itchy. In some ways I will glad when summer is over, at least all the biting and stinging things will be gone. Still, it could be a lot worse.