# Wednesday, October 31, 2007
The Post Office is due to launch a broadband service. The service is aimed mainly at first time users and will be targeted at home phone customers. The service will be launched with a £10m advertising campaign featuring Westlife. The Post Office currently has around 400,000 home phone customers and makes around 10% of its earnings from this side of the business. It will be interesting to see whether this takes off.

posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 11:55:56 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
A public toilet block in Newquay has recently sold for £120,000. The block is due to knocked down in a larger development which will include shops and accommodation. This seems to be another example of the over inflated housing market.

posted on Wednesday, October 31, 2007 11:12:07 AM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [1] Trackback
# Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Wii Sports has won several awards at the British Academy Video Games Awards. Among the categories it won awards for were gameplay, strategy and simulation and innovation and sports. The award for best game went to Bioshock for the Xbox with the Playstation 3 missing out on any awards.

posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 4:16:22 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
I came across this website called all-local.co.uk. Basically it’s a uk advertising network that allows you to list your business on a free listing. In addition to the free listing if you require more exposure you can pay for a text link back to your website or and animated banner. You can choose to advertise just in your local town or across the whole website. I’m not sure that I really want to go with the paid advertising option but I will certainly be taking advantage of the free listing.

posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 4:04:46 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback

A man on a hunting trip had the humiliation of actually getting shot by his dog. The man was shooting pheasants and had put his gun on the ground to collect a bird from over a fence. As he climbed the fence one of his hunting dogs stood on the gun, shooting him in his left leg. Officials are now investigating whether the dog was provoked.

posted on Tuesday, October 30, 2007 1:16:58 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Monday, October 29, 2007

We went to see our friends Dave and Anita this weekend and after having a nice meal at a restaurant in Maidenhead we spent the rest of the evening at their place. We had packed our Playstation 2 along with our Singstar games and after a few drinks we decided to give it a go. This was not our first time playing Singstar but we have always found it goes down really well at parties. We finally stopped playing at around three in morning after working our way through most of the songs on our six Singstar games. I do have videos but due to the fact I am tone deaf will not be posting them.

posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 9:41:56 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [1] Trackback

The deputy mayor of Delhi has died after being attacked by wild monkeys. SS Bajwa suffered head injuries after falling from a first floor terrace whilst trying to fight off the monkeys. The city has long been plagued by monkeys which invade government complexes and temples and often attack passers by. They have tried to combat the problem by employing monkey catchers to move them into the forest and training larger langur monkeys to scare off the much smaller Rhesus macaques. Culling is not an option because the monkeys are seen as a manifestation on the monkey god Hanuman by devout Hindus.

posted on Monday, October 29, 2007 4:15:08 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Sunday, October 28, 2007
I just opened a bottle of Riverina Estate Shiraz 2006. The wine is from New South Wales in Australia. This is a really smooth fruity wine although quite strong at 14.5%. It costs just over £6.00 and at this price it’s quite a good wine for the money. Three out of five stars.

posted on Sunday, October 28, 2007 6:55:36 PM (GMT Standard Time, UTC+00:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Saturday, October 27, 2007
I was reading this article that suggests around 40% of supermarket packaging cannot be recycled and ends up in landfill sights. This does not really come as any surprise to me. I recycle all of my bottles, cans, paper, cardboard and any food waste that can be composted. In addition any meat waste gets fed to four grateful cats. These measures have meant that the waste that actually goes in the bin for collection is greatly reduced. The problem is that the remaining waste consists mainly of plastic trays and shrink wrapping for which there are no recycling facilities in our area. This article suggests fining firms that use too much packaging which seems like a good idea to me. I would be happy to buy the same product in packaging that could either be recycled or composted but it’s up to the supermarkets to address the issue.

posted on Saturday, October 27, 2007 11:45:46 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Friday, October 26, 2007
An unfortunate squirrel with a love for nuts got into a spot of bother when he crawled into a bird feeder. Getting into the squirrel proof bird feeder was not a problem for the then thin and sleek squirrel. Getting out after consuming all the nuts proved a little more difficult. Luckily for the greedy squirrel the RSPCA were on hand to release him and the squirrel ran off unharmed but feeling a little sheepish.

posted on Friday, October 26, 2007 6:51:45 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
Its good news for British cod as fish stocks has shown a comeback for the first time. This could mean that the decline which was threatening to wipe out the fish could be reversing. Scientists have advised the Government that is now safe to catch small numbers of cod in the North Sea. The comeback is largely due to an increase in the numbers of young fish as well as an increase in survival rates.

posted on Friday, October 26, 2007 11:45:10 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Thursday, October 25, 2007
Barclays have penalised thousands of students with charges this week by accidentally removing their overdraft facilities. Usually at this time of year any graduates would be moved to a standard Barclays account but a processing error meant that around 20,000 people had the facilities removed by mistake. This could lead to costs of around £35 a day or £175 a week. Barclays have said that all the charges will be refunded but I doubt that any consolation for those graduates that have rent to pay.

posted on Thursday, October 25, 2007 6:39:26 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
A New Zealand brewery is offering a reward to anyone who can help them find a stolen laptop. The laptop was stolen from their Croucher Brewing Company and contains financial information, contact details and designs. They are offering a lifetime supply of free beer to anyone who can name the thief. I bet they will have no shortage of leads on this case.

posted on Thursday, October 25, 2007 6:15:17 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
Tesco is to start transporting some of its goods by canal in order to take some of its lorries off the road and cut carbon emissions. They will use the Manchester Ship Canal to move crates of wine from the Port of Liverpool. The service will include three journeys a week and move an estimated 600,000 litres of wine. Currently the wine arrives in the UK at various ports and is driven to the bottling depot at Manchester. Tesco is now looking at transporting other goods by water.

posted on Thursday, October 25, 2007 2:00:17 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Debt experts have said that around one million people use high interest credit cards to cover their mortgage or rent payments. Six per cent of householders have put their mortgage or rent payments on their credit card in the past year according to the housing charity Shelter. Credit card companies often charge interest of around 15 and 18 per cent which is up to three times more then most mortgage rates. The problem seems to be worst among 18 to 24 year olds. It certainly seems like a very risky way of managing your finances.

posted on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 8:58:10 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
Port Allen City Council has become the second Cajun-country town to ban saggy pants. By saggy pants I mean the style of trousers that fall below the hips often exposing the wearer’s underwear. The o ordinance requires pants to be secured at the waist so that they do not fall below the hips. Violators could be fine $25 to $250 for a first offence and $250 to $500 for repeat offences. Council member Hugh Riviere said he didn't want to view other people's undergarments, saying it "is called underwear for a reason."

posted on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 6:30:20 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
Sainsbury’s are to give away one million energy saving lightbulbs on Saturday. The giveaway is timed to coincide with the clocks going back and so encourage people to save energy this winter. To get a bulb you have to take an energy saving pledge to help save energy by measures such as recycle bags and switching from baths to showers.

posted on Wednesday, October 24, 2007 4:44:52 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Tuesday, October 23, 2007
I was reading this short article about Rudy Giuliani who is currently the Republican presidential candidate. During a recent press conference he was asked by a small boy how he would deal with an alien invasion and gave the rather confident answer. "Of all the things that can happen in this world, we'll be prepared for that, yes we will. We'll be prepared for anything that happens." I feel very relieved that if we are ever invaded by aliens, Giuliani will be there to save the planet.

posted on Tuesday, October 23, 2007 4:50:19 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Monday, October 22, 2007
Barratt has begun building work on a new generation of zero-carbon homes. The houses are designed to produce a very small carbon footprint. They will include solar panels that will heat the water, pumps that will extract heat from the air to warm the house and toilets that will use rainwater to flush. The houses are likely to be on the market in 2010.

posted on Monday, October 22, 2007 7:16:49 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
Three otters have died after getting caught in illegal traps in the River Cam in Cambridgeshire. The wire mesh traps are designed to catch crayfish but they have a wide mouth that otters can easily enter. The otters are thought to have swam in after some fish that been caught in the traps and once they were inside they drowned.

posted on Monday, October 22, 2007 4:36:34 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Sunday, October 21, 2007
Tesco has had to suspend its property sales after the Office of Fair Trading ruled it was acting as an estate agent and would need to abide by the relevant laws. The site was launched in July and offered customers the chance to sell their home for £199. They have offered a full refund to all their customers and are now considering launching a full online estate agency in the future.

posted on Sunday, October 21, 2007 1:51:45 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Saturday, October 20, 2007
Travelodge is offering rewards to members of the public that suggest new sites for development. To suggest a site you can visit their website and fill in a form with your contact details and your proposed location. If your tip results in a new opening they will then pay you £500 per bedroom up to a maximum payout of £150,000.

posted on Saturday, October 20, 2007 8:41:03 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Friday, October 19, 2007
My husband came home with an XBOX 360 and a few games the other day. So far the only one I have tried out is Gears of War. Needless to say I have only played it once so far and am hooked. We played in two player mode, which is quite good. You get a split screen action and can help out your buddy by reviving him when he gets shot. At first with the game I went at it, like I usually do, by that I mean just running at all monsters with all my guns firing. Now, after many deaths I have become a bit more cautious preferring to hide behind a wall or a rock and gradually sneak up on things until I can kill them. The only downside is my husband keeps getting himself shot, so I spend most of the game having to leave my strategic sniper hideout and running across the battle zone to revive him usually getting myself shot in the process.

posted on Friday, October 19, 2007 6:16:57 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
A man in Hong Kong was jailed after he drank two vials of blood on a hospital visit. The man was drunk and had staggered into the hospital for treatment on an injured toe. Surveillance cameras showed the man walking up to a laboratory counter before drinking two vials of blood. His excuse was that he was extremely thirsty.

posted on Friday, October 19, 2007 5:44:34 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Thursday, October 18, 2007
A rare tiger that was thought to be extinct in the wild has been spotted in China. A farmer handed in some pictures of the tiger which was confirmed to be a wild South China tiger. The tiger is on the critically endangered list and was last sighted in 1964. Experts have said that no more than 20 to 30 of the tigers are likely to remain in the wild.

posted on Thursday, October 18, 2007 5:09:06 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
This image appeared in a bonfire lit during a service in Poland to mark the second death of Pope John Paul II. Onlookers have said the image is Pope John Paul II making an appearance from beyond the grave. A picture of the real Pope John Paul II is on the left in case you find the two images too similar to determine which is which. I’m not convinced myself. What do you think?

posted on Thursday, October 18, 2007 3:28:27 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
As a long time supporter of Tottenham Hotspur it’s nice to see them doing better financially. They have just announced record pre-tax profits of £27.7m. The profits are a result of new sponsorship deals and kit manufacturer deals. I wonder whether the club will pass on some of their new found wealth and reduce ticket prices for their loyal fans.

posted on Thursday, October 18, 2007 3:09:20 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Virgin Wines are currently running a promotion where if you buy their Swing Low, Sweet Chariot Case of wine you will receive another case free if England win the rugby on Saturday. The case costs £78.88 and to qualify you need to order it before Saturday. I’m not really a rugby fan but this may have given me an incentive to watch the game.

posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 5:37:09 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
Further to my post last month on the Infinity razor, I ordered one for my husband. What made me purchase it was the fact that it would never need the blades replacing and also that it is meant to give a really smooth shave. You can see my husband's views on the razor here. It appears he went back to using his Gillette razor because he found it gave a smoother shave.

posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 4:42:07 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
I was reading an interesting article about virtual money. The concept seems to have started with the popularity of virtual worlds and role playing games and the need to trade within them. A few examples spring to mind such as the QQ coin, a virtual currency created by a Chinese company. The currency allows you to buy and sell things such as magical swords for use in online games. Other online communities use similar currencies for example Second Life uses Linden dollars and World of Warcraft uses something called warcraft gold. It’s interesting that the idea has now become so popular that people are prepared to spend real money in order to obtain virtual goods for use in these various role playing games. World of Warcraft for example now has over 9 million players worldwide who seem happy to spend their money on these virtual goods. With online role playing games becoming more and more popular the market for virtual goods and services is predicted to rise to $4 billion by 2008. There are even companies that specialise simply in selling these virtual products such as GameGoods a European based company that sells among other products World of Warcraft Gold. It is certainly a very interesting concept, although personally I prefer real money.


posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 1:31:54 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
McDonald’s are going to introduce high speed wireless internet access to most of its 1,200 UK restaurants by the end of the year. Customers will be able to use their laptops, mobile phones or games consoles within the fast food outlets. There are likely to be no restrictions on how long you can use the service for.

posted on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 8:52:10 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Stroke victims could benefit from playing Nintendo Wii games. Doctors have discovered that the game could help to rewire the brain after it has been damaged by a blood clot. Doctors in the US have already used Wii games to help stroke victims regain movements in their arms and legs. Recent tests show that the Wii can be used to help stroke patients re-learn movements whilst also enjoying themselves.

posted on Tuesday, October 16, 2007 8:20:49 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
It appears some visitors to the Tate Modern have got a little bit too caught up in the artwork. Since the new crack was installed two people have fallen in. They were said to have lost their footing after stepping into the crack. Personally I could see this coming, if you put a large hole in the floor; people are going to fall into it.

posted on Tuesday, October 16, 2007 4:58:48 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Monday, October 15, 2007
The latest work of art to go on show at the Tate Modern, is a crack in the floor. The crack measures 167m and starts as a hairline crack before widening to a few inches and a depth of about 2ft. The crack is supposed to represent a statement about racism, with the crack representing the gap between white Europeans and the rest of humanity. I guess I must be missing something, it just looks like a hole in the floor to me.

posted on Monday, October 15, 2007 4:45:08 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
I came across this website called www.moanaboutman.co.uk. Basically it’s a forum where you can do just that. So if the man in your life is causing you trouble and won’t listen to your moaning there are sure to be lots of other users here that will sympathise with you.

posted on Monday, October 15, 2007 1:11:58 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Sunday, October 14, 2007
This cool new electric car made by Nissan is able to squeeze easily into tight parking spots. For people like me, who generally have problems parking in small spaces it should be great. The wheels can turn 90 degrees and the cabin can rotate in a complete circle meaning that drivers can turn to face any direction they want. This means you can pull up beside a parking space, then simply turn the wheels and drive in. The bad news is it’s likely to be sometime before they are available for commercial sale.

posted on Sunday, October 14, 2007 10:27:09 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Saturday, October 13, 2007
If you live in Bradford you might want to consider giving a home to an unwanted cat or kitten. An appeal has recently been launched because there are more than 100 unwanted cat and kittens at rescue centres in Bradford that need a good home. The RSPCA has recently seen a huge increase in the number of cats being taken in and their facilities are now full. Kittens usually don’t stay in rescue homes very long but adult cats can be hard to re-home. However, giving a home to an older cat can be a rewarding experience. I took on two cats that were about a year old and have now had them around three years. When they came to me they hated people but are now well adjusted and although they still don’t like visitors, they are very friendly with me and my husband. You can view some of the cats wanting a home at the Bradford and District branch website. Some of them include Louis, Ryan and Tilly pictured below.


Ryan


Tilly



Louis
posted on Saturday, October 13, 2007 1:21:34 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [1] Trackback
Ikea has started selling flat-pack homes. The homes are on sale at their Gateshead store. They have a timber frame and come with their own plot of land. The concept started in Sweden in the 1990s with around 1,000 flat-pack homes being sold every year. The homes are called BoKlok and are made using renewable materials and featuring solar panels so are eco-friendly. The properties will all be south-facing in order to catch as much sunlight as possible to help warm the house. An area of land has been set aside near Gateshead for an estate of 90 homes. The homes cost between £100,000 and £125,000 for a flat, £132,500-£139,500 for a two bedroom house and £150,000 for a three bedroom house. First time buyers on low incomes will be given priority in the allocation process. If the project is successful Ikea will expand to 12 more sites over the next 18 months. The homes are provided ready assembled, which seems a shame, half of the fun of Ikea’s products is building them.

posted on Saturday, October 13, 2007 12:37:02 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Friday, October 12, 2007
A new Wallace and Gromit short film is coming to TV next year. It is called Trouble At’ Mill and is about Wallace and Gromit’s attempts to run a bakery. The half hour long film will be screened BBC One late next year. I’m looking forward to it.

posted on Friday, October 12, 2007 5:42:53 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
I read this article the other day that suggests one in ten British adults has been a victim of mass marketing scams. The most common scams include Nigerian pen scams and notifications of winning a foreign lottery. More than 3.2 million people have been conned out of their hard earned cash by one of these scams according to the Office of Fair Trading. Many of the gangs who run these scams are based in English speaking parts of Nigeria and West Africa and use their profits as funding for drug trafficking, according this article. In a month long investigation in Nigeria investigators seized more than 4,500 fake cheques, postal orders and bank drafts with a value of around £8m. Most of the scams involve the victim having to pay an advance fee to claim a prize or to have a large amount of money transferred to their account. As always if it seems too good to be true, it almost certainly is.

posted on Friday, October 12, 2007 4:52:18 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
I read this article about a computerised pillow designed to stop snoring. The pillow is attached to a computer which analyses snoring noises, it then reduces or enlarges compartments within the pillow to help nasal airflow and minimise snoring. I wonder what it does with a really bad case of snoring that it can’t stop; maybe it gives up and suffocates the user…Job done.

posted on Friday, October 12, 2007 10:50:26 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Thursday, October 11, 2007
I read this article about how Ebay and Paypal are working to try and cut down on fake emails. They are currently working with Yahoo using their anti-phising technology to try and block fake emails by validating the sender with a digital signature. The emails they are targeting are the ones that look exactly like an email from Paypal or Ebay but if you click on the link you are directed to a completely different website that looks the same. They are designed to fool you into entering your user name and password into their fake site, thus compromising your account. Personally I never click on a link from any email that looks like its come from Paypal or Ebay. Instead I tend to log into my account, if there are any issues that need my attention I will have received a notification about them. However, 99% of the emails are spam.

posted on Thursday, October 11, 2007 2:44:23 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
Boots have started selling a product called Expert Sensitive Facial Spritz. The product costs £3.99 for a 125ml can. The can contains only one ingredient, water. It claims that it can protect the skin from dryness. It appears though that you could create the same effect for nothing by simply putting some tap water into a spray bottle.

posted on Thursday, October 11, 2007 11:44:43 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Wednesday, October 10, 2007
John Lewis is branching out into the grocery business with the opening of a food hall in the basement of their Oxford Street store. It is designed to cater for local workers and shoppers and is part of the stores £64m makeover. John Lewis has linked with Waitrose to launch the new department, which if successful could also be extended to other locations around the country. The store targets the increasing market for premium food and will have an in-store bakery with 40 different types of bread, over 109 lines of fish on its fish counter and 115 cheeses half of which are British. And if you fancy a bottle of champagne you will have more than 80 to choose from. It sounds great.

posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2007 5:09:50 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
A grant has been given by the lottery fund to try and help Britain’s bats. All 17 species of Britain’s bats have declined since the end of the industrial revolution. The Heritage Lottery Fund grant of £600,000 to conservationists is designed to increase the awareness of the sorts of conditions bats need to survive. The project has been called England Bat Count and will give people training in how to spot bats as well as information about how to encourage them back to their former territories.

posted on Wednesday, October 10, 2007 4:00:51 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Tuesday, October 09, 2007
I was reading this article in which a survey was carried out by the British Market Research Bureau, in order to see whether people would be prepared to pay for plastic bags. The results suggested that three quarters of adults would be prepared to pay for a reusable carrier bag. The survey is aimed at finding out whether it is feasible for supermarkets to stop giving out free bags and instead charge for bags. When asked how much they would pay for a reusable bag 14% said they would pay £2 or more, 64% would pay between 50p and £1 and 11% said they would pay 20p.

Personally I think that supermarkets supply bags much too readily. I have been to Tesco and brought a single loaf of bread and have been offered a bag, when I don’t really need one. I now take a rucksack with me for my shopping and only use the supermarket bags to wrap a product that might leak out on the way home. Even these bags I later reuse. It is easy to see how much rubbish is caused by these often unwanted carrier bags, when you stand outside any supermarket. I don’t think charging a few pence for carrier bags will impact much on the cost of most peoples shopping but I wonder if it might make them twice about taking a bag they don’t need, or even better encourage them to take their own bags.

posted on Tuesday, October 09, 2007 9:22:48 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Monday, October 08, 2007
Campbell’s condensed soup, famous for its red and white label is to be rebranded. It will now be called Batchelors condensed soup and will carry the slogan “Formerly Campbell’s. Same great taste.” The soup has to be rebranded due to the fact that the brand name expires in 2008. When Premier foods brought the Campbell Soup Company, they did not purchase the brand as well. The recipe of the soup will remain unchanged. The Campbell Soup Company will still produce Campbell’s Condensed Soup but are not allowed to sell the brand in the UK for another five years.

posted on Monday, October 08, 2007 6:33:17 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback


I took these pictures of Lucy and Ollie on the shed the other day. They like sitting on the shed because they can see whats happening on the other side of the wall.

posted on Monday, October 08, 2007 12:03:56 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Sunday, October 07, 2007
We made this pie the other day. We didn't have any plain flour so we had to make the pie crust with self raising flour but it turned out ok. We made the pastry for the pie crust and then cooked the spinach. We put the cooked spinach into the pie crust, followed by crumbled feta cheese and a handful of grated cheddar before finishing with the top crust of the pie. You can see some of the stages below.





posted on Sunday, October 07, 2007 5:34:57 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
Staffordshire cheese has now been given protected status under EU law. This means that only cheese from that region can be called Staffordshire cheese. The cheese is said to have a distinctive taste and texture because of the diet the dairy cows are fed on. I haven’t tried it yet but might have to get some.

posted on Sunday, October 07, 2007 5:27:17 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Saturday, October 06, 2007
If you have ever planted some seeds and found that none of them grew into plants, then you, like me, probably put it down to the fact that you are not very good at gardening. This article, however, suggests that as many as 99 per cent of seeds in packets are dead. Seeds were tested from 15 different suppliers, with only six companies meeting industry standards. Seeds from Edwin and Tucker were the worst with 99 per cent of delphinium seeds being dead and the others unhealthy. Unwins also did badly with two per cent of their delphinium seeds producing healthy plants. Thompson and Morgan came out best with 83 per cent of seeds producing healthy plants. I usually buy my seeds from Thompson and Morgan, mainly because they have such a good range and looking at these results, I will continue to do in the future.

posted on Saturday, October 06, 2007 11:42:38 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
In the latest news surrounding Northern Rock it has announced a cut back on the range of mortgage products they will offer. Two thirds of its mortgage product range is going to be axed in what seems to be a major product overhaul. This change is unlikely to affect the banks risk profile because it is still prepared to lend up to 125% of a properties value, something which is the root cause of its present problems. Despite the changes rates on their fixed rate and variable mortgages are likely to remain unchanged.

posted on Saturday, October 06, 2007 11:23:14 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Friday, October 05, 2007
Sony has announced that they are releasing a cut price version of the PS3. It will retail for £299 but will be without many of the essential features in the full version. The cut down version will not be backwards compatible with the previous consoles and has a 40GB hard disk rather than 60GB. It also has fewer USB ports than the full version. The price of the 60GB model has also been reduced from £425 to £349. I still don't think I would buy a version that is not backwards compatible, no matter how cheap it gets.

posted on Friday, October 05, 2007 7:13:57 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
Villages across the north of England have been receiving carved stone heads. The heads are thought to be carved by local man. So far 13 of the stone heads have been left in various locations including outside the post office in Braithwell. The heads appeared in the middle of the night and although there is CCT footage of a man leaving them there, so far no one knows why. My guess is someone looking for some publicity for their sculptures. I quite like them and wouldn't mind having one for my garden.

posted on Friday, October 05, 2007 3:47:02 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
I read this article that suggests some mortgage brokers are encouraging homebuyers to lie about their finances. Some lenders are giving people up to eight times their salary. Experts have warned that this type of irresponsible lending could drag Britain into a US-style subprime mortgage crisis. Brokers have been pushing first time buyers to take out “self certification” mortgages that let people state their income without any proper employer checks to see if they qualify. Self-certification home loans now account for one in every ten mortgages as opposed to one in twenty four years ago. It just seems silly to me to encourage people to borrow more than they can afford to pay to back, and personally I find it hard to believe there are companies that do this.

posted on Friday, October 05, 2007 3:21:39 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
In one example of the rising property prices in the UK, a beach chalet in Devon has just been sold for £91,000. The chalet is made of timber and has a tin roof. It was originally thought the chalet would sell for £40,000 but it appears to have fetched a great more. It does, however, have planning permission to build a two-storey chalet on the site, so has the potential to be a good investment for the London buyer.

posted on Friday, October 05, 2007 12:00:42 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Thursday, October 04, 2007
BT have confirmed that they will create a partnership with Fon, a company which was founded in Spain in 2006. Fon’s users currently agree to share their Wi-Fi connectivity through a separate secure channel. They can either have a 50% cut of the fees charged to their visitor or alternatively to surf other users connections for free. However, their expansion has been limited by ISPs who do not allow the sharing of broadband connections. BT has now given its approval to do this and has effectively extended its OpenZone network across 3 million BT Home Hubs, or the proportion of those that agree to share their broadband connection. They have not currently said whether they will offer a reduction in rates to customers that do agree to do this but it is likely that those customers will have access to BT’s new wireless network and Fon’s global network of around 200,000 hot spots. It all sounds very interesting and as a BT Broadband customer, I am interested to see how it work.

posted on Thursday, October 04, 2007 6:44:03 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
A snapping turtle has been caught in Wales. The turtle which is native to America has been loose in a wildlife park for around twenty years. It was only when the ducks and moorhens started disappearing that the park wardens realised they had a problem. The turtle nicknamed Snappy (no points for an original name) has now been housed at the nearby Tortoise Trust rescue sanctuary.

posted on Thursday, October 04, 2007 5:30:01 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
I read this interesting article about some Stone Age rice field that have been discovered in a swamp in China. The discovery shows that rice was growing in the coastal wetlands of China around 7,700 years ago. There was also evidence of rice cultivation, including flood and fire control. The discovery is interesting because it helps cast light on how humans went from being hunter gatherers to farmers, something which I find fascinating.


posted on Thursday, October 04, 2007 5:08:11 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
Eleven new species have been found in a remote region of Vietnam, called the Green Corridor. They include a snake, two species of butterfly, five orchids and three other new plants. The new snake called the white-lipped keelback is covered with red spots and has a yellow strip on its head. The new orchids are particularly interesting because they have no leaves and contain no chlorophyll. Instead of relying on the suns energy they live on decaying matter.

posted on Thursday, October 04, 2007 2:49:18 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Wednesday, October 03, 2007
If you have a few million pounds spare you might want to spend it on a copy of the Magna Carta. The copy is one of only 17 known copies and the last one currently in private hands. It is thought it could sell for around £15 million.

posted on Wednesday, October 03, 2007 2:46:33 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Tuesday, October 02, 2007


I took this picture the other day of Willow and Lucy in the tree, trying to look over the wall.
posted on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 9:34:19 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
Tesco have been selling New Zealand lamb packaged as British Lamb. One customer brought a product labelled as British slow cooked lamb shanks only to find when she opened the packet that the small print described them as tender lamb shanks of marinated New Zealand lamb. New Zealand lamb is around half the price of British lamb, so it seems this is a cost cutting exercise by Tesco. Tesco said the meal was described as British to indicate the type of cuisine rather than the origins of the ingredients. This seems a rather poor excuse for misleading packaging.

posted on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 7:58:54 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
I made these spicy buns the other day. It basically just a simple fairy cake mixture with added spice, but they really are tasty. If you want to make them you need 4 eggs, 225g/8oz of caster sugar, 225g/8oz of self raising flour, 225g/8oz of butter. All you need to do is whisk the eggs and sugar until fluffy and then blend in the flour and butter until it’s mixed. Then add a few good handfuls of raisins or sultanas and about three teaspoons of mixed spice. Divide the mixture between some muffin cases and cook on 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4 for about 15 minutes.



posted on Tuesday, October 02, 2007 11:08:39 AM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
# Monday, October 01, 2007
It is rumoured that Microsoft are looking at taking a stake in Facebook. According to some reports they are considering paying between $300 million and $500 million for a 5% stake in the website. The news, if true could potentially start a bidding war between Microsoft and Google. Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive has already refused a takeover approach by Yahoo and has said he wants the group to stay independent. It will be interesting to watch where this goes.

posted on Monday, October 01, 2007 10:59:19 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback
The BBC Trust has given its backing to a BBC high definition channel. It is expected that the channel will include programmes from across the BBC’s current channels and not just from BBC1. They are considering launching a four hour HD service on Freeview initially before rolling out the new channel later. It will be interesting to see how popular the service proves to be.

posted on Monday, October 01, 2007 9:00:14 PM (GMT Daylight Time, UTC+01:00)  #    Comments [0] Trackback