If you have a lot of spare cash lying around burning a hole in your pocket then you might want to splash out of some co-coordinated dog accessories. A Cheshire based company has launched a range of dog collars and matching belts. They cost around £10,000 for a collar and lead which is studded with real jewels and garnished with gold but you can also get a matching belt for yourself. The products are made by the Gladstone Collar company and are being billed as the present for the dog owner who has everything.

Scientists have discovered the best way to swat a fly. Apparently flies are so hard to swat because they have the ability to plan and carry out an emergency take off in under 200 milliseconds. The trick then is to creep up on the fly and then try to anticipate which direction they are likely to fly to. It works because flies are unable to register slow movement but it still relies on guessing which direction the fly will go so doesn't seem entirely fail safe. We have a device in our house for catching flies, his name is Oliver and he rarely misses, catching them in mid air. Every house should have one.

Oliver relaxing after eating too many flies.

If you get stressed out when you do not have access to the internet then you could have discomgoogolation. That's the term that psychologists are using to describe the high stress levels that can be caused by internet dependency. Apparently monitoring of heavy web users showed increased brain activity and blood pressure when they were cut off from the internet with people feeling stressed and confused when they were unable to gain instant access to information. I'm not sure how true this is, personally I feel stressed if I don't have internet access because it prevents me working. What do you think? Do you suffer from discomgoogolation?

I remember being taught at school about the importance of taking your litter home with you. At the time I was quite young and the message was enforced with a man in a kangaroo suit who I believe was called Hoppy. For me the message stuck and as a child I always took my litter home if I couldn't find a bin to put it in. Lately, however, I have wondering when this message got lost. Not having children, I'm ensure whether the Keep Britain Tidy group still go into schools to try and get the message across. To me, it seems as though the message is not getting through anymore. I pick up other peoples rubbish from around my property on a daily basis and am always incensed to see both adults and children just dropping their rubbish wherever they want. Even worse seems to be the rubbish that accumulates along the main road where I go running. I can only assume that this is simply thrown from peoples cars as they drive through the area. It seems people don't care about keeping the country tidy, this is despite the fact that you can now be fined for littering. I did notice that the Keep Britain Tidy Group are organising a series of litter picks to try and reinforce their message but I do wonder how much good it will do if people are not being taught from a young age that dropping litter is unacceptable.

I had rather a lot of time on my hands last weekend as my husband was working all weekend. One of the things I have been putting off for a while is clearing out my cupboards and having nothing better to do I spent Saturday doing just that. I went through all of my clothes with a view to getting rid of everything that I haven't worn for a while. I ended up with four carrier bags of clothes some of which had simply worn out and had seen better days. What surprised me, however, was that I had a bag or brand new clothes, still with their tags on that had never been worn. All of the item were things I had purchased in sales and were impulse buys chosen because they were a bargain. With each item I had decided I didn't really like it when I got home, hence why they had sat in my cupboard for a couple of years. It made me realise that many of the sale bargains I purchase are actually false economy and that I need to think more carefully before buying an item just because it seems like a good deal.

This article suggests that eating dark chocolate on a regular basis could help reduce the risk of heart disease. Apparently eating a couple of chunks of dark chocolate daily for two weeks can reduce high pressure and lessen the risk of diabetes. Research also shows that patients who already have problems with blood pressure and are in the early stages of diabetes could boost their health simply by eating chocolate. Milk chocolate does not appear to have the same effect as dark chocolate as it does not contain enough of the beneficial flavanols which help fight disease. I'm not entirely convinced but any excuse to eat chocolate seems good to me.

If you have just killed your favourite plant and are finding it a little hard to cope there is no need to suffer on your own. There is help out there from the Royal Horticultural Society. They offer a service that can help those who are suffering from plant grief. They have a dedicated team who have studied bereavement counselling. They will try to help you determine why your plant has died and you can even send them a sample to help determine the cause of death. According to an expert "That can help them reach the final stage  -  acceptance  -  and then they can move on." Apparently many of the people that use the service treat their plants like their family and these cases of plant grief are becoming more common.

I still don't know what bit me last weekend but the good news is that the rash has nearly gone and so has most of the swelling. Whilst this bite was different to the usual mosquito bites that I suffer from on a regular basis, it still seems to respond to the same treatment. Generally I find the best thing to is to open up the bite wound every evening and squeeze out as much of the pus as possible. Whilst this does really hurt, in my experience getting rid of the poison helps the bite to heal more quickly. It also seems to reduce the infection making the bite feel less hot and reducing the itching sensation. In combination with this I also find that using tea tree oil or a bite cream that includes tea tree overnight  tends to work quite well. Saying that the best thing to do is try to prevent getting bitten in the first place. Whilst I never know when the critters are going to get me at home, when going abroad I take a course of garlic tablets. These are available from most health food shops and I find taking them for a couple of weeks before you go abroad and whilst you are away does cut the amount of bites I receive, although some of the more determined insects will still get you.

This article suggests that people who regularly enjoy a fry-up or the traditional English breakfast could have a 63% higher risk of bowel cancer. Researchers have warned that processed meat such as sausages and bacon increase the risk of bowel cancer as well as being fatty and high in cholesterol. The good news, however, is that it only seems to have a damaging effect if you eat it on a regular basis with the risk getting higher the more you eat. I think I can probably still justify having a cooked breakfast a couple of times a month especially if I combine it with exercise.

Two delivery men definitely experienced that sinking feeling after sinking a £200,000 boat. The men were delivering the boat called the Sealine from Southampton to Ireland when the accident happened. They had stopped to refuel the boat but crashed it after hitting sharp rocks. The men both managed to get to safety on nearby rocks but the boat sank with a split hull and was abandoned to the sea. The men later took the bus home, I'm guessing they had a fair amount of explaining to do.

I have seen many articles about weird and wonderful sports, however, this is the first time I have come across bog snorkelling. Apparently there is even a championship devoted to the sport. It was held last Monday in Wales and 170 people took part. The sport itself involves dressing up in a snorkel and flippers with fancy dress being optional. The competitors then have to swim 120 years in a peat bog. Some of the competitors took part wearing pyjamas and one with an ironing board strapped to his back. The record time for completing the event is 35 seconds.

This is the Tesla Roadster, an electric sports car that can reach speeds of 125mph. The car is powered by an 185kw electric motor and batteries in its boot. Despite being virtually silent it is meant to provide the performance you would expect from a sports car. The car takes 3 hours to charge and can manage 220 miles on each charge. It costs £92,000 and I think its quite sexy for an electric car.