Now why doesn't that sound like a good idea? It is however a good way to increase sales, according to a Missouri car dealer. He ran a week long promotion where he gave away either a $250 gas card or $250 credit for a gun shop. As a result his sales soared and he managed to sell 30 trucks in just three days, much more than the usual volume. All the buyers except one elected to take advantage of the gun credit rather than the gas.

I know men are not usually very good at clearing out their cupboards but this story is really strange. If its true a homeless woman in Japan managed to live in man's closet for a whole year without being detected. When he noticed food disappearing he installed security cameras which transmitted images to his mobile phone. One of the cameras caught someone moving about inside his house so he called the police who investigated. Apparently, they found all the doors and windows locked but after a search of the property found a woman on the top shelf of the man's closet. She told police she had sneaked into the house a year ago because she has no where else to live.

We always find that no matter how many times we clear out the shed it always becomes full again very quickly. I think I have finally found the answer this huge shed. It costs £13,000 and is available from Argos. The only problem is, its just a little bit too big for our garden.

I'm still playing with new Nikon D40 and in just a few weeks have already taken hundreds of pictures. Rather than bore people with the details, in future I will just post a selection of the better ones every week or so with a short caption. Starting with the picture on the left which I was quite pleased with.

Yellow Rose in My Garden

This is an interesting idea, its a ceiling that recreates the effect of a sunny day indoors. Called a SkyCeiling the ceiling creates the illusion that you are underneath a sunny sky and can be used to brighten up a room even it has no windows. It works by using high resolution photographs of the sky and overhanging trees which are suspended from the ceiling to create a 3 D effect. The photos are produced on transparent tiles and are lit from behind with high powered fluorescent lights. The system can be programmed to mimic the time of the day and different seasons. It is expected to be popular with offices and hospitals where it could be used to reduce stress and boost feelings of well being.

I often wonder why it takes so long to transfer money between bank accounts and why I can transfer it between two accounts with the same bank instantly but to transfer to an account with a different bank it takes a minimum of four days. Now it appears that there is a new system that will allow same day bank transfers. Customers will be able to make one off payments up to a maximum of of £10,000 that will leave their account and arrive at the destination on the same day. Among the banks that will be included in the scheme are Abbey, Alliance and Leicester, Barclays, Citi, Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks (National Australia Group), Co-operative Bank, HBOS, HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Nationwide Building Society, Northern Bank (Danske Bank), Northern Rock, and Royal Bank of Scotland Group (including NatWest and Ulster Bank).

We had to take Oscar to the vet the other day because he had a problem with his right eye. He had been unable to open his eye for most of the day and was obviously in quite a lot of pain because he was not his usual happy self. The vet said that he has a eye ulcer and has given us some drops which we need to use three times a day. Oscar is now starting to look a bit better, he can open his eye and is bouncing around as usual. We have to take him back for a checkup at the end of the week but hopefully it will have cleared up by then. As to what has caused the ulcer, apparently it is commonly caused by fighting so I'm guessing one of my other cats is responsible.

An extended end terrace property situated within a cul de sac and located within half a mile of Egham high street amenities and mainline train station. Accommodation comprises entrance hallway, lounge, kitchen, dining room, shower room, double bedroom, first floor bathroom, mezzanine study area, own private rear garden and off street parking.

A donkey has been jailed after it bit and kicked two men in southern Mexico. After the attack the donkey was taken to the local jail which normally holds people. It will remain there until its owner agrees to pay the medical bills of the people it attacked.

This interesting looking treetop walkway has just opened at Kew Gardens. It is 200m long and has been designed by the architects behind the London Eye to allow visitors to enter the tree canopy and get a closer look at the birds and insects that live there. It certainty looks like it will be interesting to visit, although I will probably wait until it has been open a little while before going.

A government alcohol abuse expert has been banned from driving after being caught drink driving not once but twice. He was fined £1,500 for the two offences he committed in August and December 2006. It makes me wonder what hope there is for the rest of the population if the very experts put in place to make a difference break the laws themselves.

If you like Champagne, then you might be interested to know that Sainsbury's own brand Champagne has recently won a gold medal at the annual wine awards. Judges rated the Champagne as highly as Piper Heidsieck, Taittinger and Veuve Clicquot's 1998 La Grande Dame which cost around £85. The Sainsbury's Champagne, however, has a rather more modest price tag at just £23.99 a bottle.

A New York restaurant is offering a burger that costs $175. At that price you would expect a little more than the average burger. For your money you get a burger made of Kobe beef, topped with gold flakes, black truffles, seared foie gras and aged Gryere Cheese. It is served with golden truffle mayonnaise, Belgian style fires and a mixed salad. It sounds tasty but a little pricey. Surprisingly the restaurant that makes them currently sells 20 to 25 of these every month in their fine dining room.

I read this article that suggests a kebab can contain as much as a wine glass full of cooking oil which amounts to around 111g of fat and 1,000 calories. Other fast food such a chicken korma or a medium pizza also had fairly high levels of both salt and fat. I find the article interesting not because it shows that fast food is bad for you, but because it implies that people still don't know that fast food is bad for you. We all know that a kebab is bad for you but that's why we don't eat them everyday and just indulge every now and again on the way home from the pub. mmm kebab.

I read this article that suggests fruit smoothies can lead to widespread tooth damage. Although fruit smoothies are supposed to have many health benefits, dentists have warned that these benefits are outweighed by the the damage that the drinks can cause to your teeth. The problem is that they contain high level of sugar and acid which can damage teeth. Dentists recommend brushing your teeth before drinking fruit juice because this can help protect teeth against the damaging effects of the acid contained in the juice.

This is quite funny, its a list of travel tips according to horror movies. It includes advice such as making sure you choose a desolate location with plenty of abandoned caves or mine shafts to visit. Other advice includes making sure you take at least one black friend because he will always be the first to die so will warn you about anything that might threaten the rest of the group. Advice on what to pack recommends taking revealing clothing or bathing suits but leaving out unnecessary items such as cell phones, first aid kits or a spare tyre as these will only weigh you down. Other tips including streamlining your group by having everyone head out on their own. Apparently this tactic is useful because then at least one person is guaranteed to make it out alive. It's all good advice and its worth reading the rest of the article.

I have been playing with my new camera and have taken a few pictures using various different settings. The first is my purple clematis in the garden, the second my waterfall in our pond and the third a female newt swimming in the pond.

I am still enjoying playing with my new camera so I will probably be posting lots of pictures in the next few weeks. I took this picture of Oscar using the close up setting and was quite impressed that you can see the wet part of his nose in the picture. The second picture was taken last night when we went out for my 30th birthday. I had a great evening and had 16 of my friends join me for dinner which was great. Thank you to everyone who made the effort to come out and also to all the people that have sent me messages on facebook, sms, email etc. If you are my friend on Facebook you can see more of the pictures there.

Its my birthday today and I have just opened my present from husband. I have wanted a new camera for a while now and am now the owner of a Nikon D40. So far I have just about figured out how to charge the battery and attach the strap. As the rest of the buttons are rather similar to my old SLR camera, I'm sure I will taking lots of pictures soon so watch this space.

People who remember Fraggle Rock will be pleased to hear that the Fraggles are back. They will star in a new musical film where they leave Fraggle Rock and head for the real world. The film is expected to be released next year.

This is slightly odd, an artist who paints with his tongue. Ani K devised the technique last year and has so far completed 20 watercolours. However, painting in this way does give him severe headaches and body aches. He does say that he is growing immune to the effects of the paint, but it really can't be good for you ingesting paint. Still, its an interesting technique and if the effects of the paint should become too much, I suppose he can be happy in the knowledge that most artists work is worth more after they die.

A man in Suffolk has found a baby tarantula in a bunch of grapes he brought from Asda. He caught the spider which was later rehomed at a local reptile centre. I hate stories like this, they always make me a little wary when buying fruit.

This is a giant NES controller that has been made by an Australian gamer. It is fully functioning although it takes two people to operate it properly. It also doubles as a coffee table and a storage unit.

If you are one of those people that has never got used to calling Opal Fruits Starburst then you will pleased to know that Opal Fruits are back for a limited time. The manufacturer will sell Opal Fruits for a period of three months before reverting back to calling them Starburst. The sweets will be available in the original four flavours, orange, lime, lemon and strawberry. They will be sold exclusively through Asda from the 11th of May for 12 weeks so get them while you can.

I find it irritating when watching TV that the adverts are always much louder than the program you are watching. I was relieved to see that the Advertising Standards Authority has now drawn up some new rules to help combat this problem. The rules will mean that advertisements will have to be a consistent loudness to the TV programs and advertisers that breach these rules will face a fine. The new rules come into force on the July 7. Hopefully this could mean the end to constantly adjusting the volume because of loud irritating adverts.

This is the tallest Lego tower ever made. It was built to celebrate Lego's 50th anniversary. Standing nearly 100ft tall, it was built by visitors to Legoland Windsor and took four days to complete. The previous record for a Lego tower was set in Toronto last year with a tower that measured 96ft high.

We are now back in the UK after a week in St Lucia. I spent most of yesterday recovering from jet lag, hence no blog posts, but am feeling a bit more awake today. Further to my post about our open top jeep ride around St Lucia, I have now been able to get to the pictures. I found that the jeep ride was a particularly good way to see the island, mainly because there are only 8 people to each jeep, so if you have any questions you can ask the guide at any time. You can also ask to pull over at any time, if there is anything you want to explore further.

The tour started by driving through some of the more built up areas of island including the capital Castries. Pictured left is one of the islands many Catholic churches.

Pictured right is the tour guide Chris and our friend Dave who also came on the trip with us.

Here you can see one of the many places along the road where the local farmers offer some of their fruit for you to taste.

Pictured right is just one of the many banana plantations that we drove past.

Pictured left you can see me at the front of the jeep and next to that some pineapples growing in one of the plantations.

Here you can see the landscape as it starts to change as we reach the range forest. At this point the air becomes much cooler and the tracks through the forest are at times no more than dirt tracks.

To the left you can see a view of The Pitons, St Lucia's most famous landmark  that stands over 2,000 feet tall. To the right is a picture of Rory enjoying a dip under a waterfall which is meant to have healing properties.

On the left is a picture of the Sulphur Springs at the dormant volcano and on the right myself, Rory and Dave at the springs.

This shows our visit to a cocoa plantation. The picture to the far left shows the cocoa beans drying in the sun and the other picture shows a lady pealing the roasted beans before they are made into cocoa sticks. According to the guide over 90% of the cocoa from this plantation ends up in the US.

In the afternoon we made our way  back by boat. Here you can see me enjoying the boat trip and Rory swimming in the sea.

We had a busy day yesterday as we went on an open top jeep ride through the rain forest. We set off just after 8 in the morning. Seeing St Lucia by jeep is definitely the way to do it and although it gets a little hairy on some of the steep tracks in the forest, you see a lot more than if you were confined to the coach. You also have the advantage of being able to stand up and take photos whenever you want. We also stopped at a cocoa plantation where we were able to see how they make chocolate, one of my favourite things. Needless to say there are lots of photos but these will follow when I get back to the UK tomorrow.

It never fails to amaze me how far the influence of the English Premier League has spread. I thought that several thousands of miles from home I might be able to escape Chelsea supporters but it appears they are everywhere. The only consolation is that I could remind them that Spurs beat them in the Carling Cup.

We went to Dave and Anita's wedding yesterday. They had the service on a private beach called Pigeon Island and as you can see from the photo on the left it was a stunning setting. This was followed by champagne on the beach and then we moved onto the reception at Jacques restaurant. The venue is right on the waterfront and has a private area for functions with room for dancing. The whole day went really well and the happy couple are now off on their honeymoon. Congratulations Mr and Mrs Hedges.

We arrived in St Lucia yesterday evening for a five day stay during which we are attending a friends wedding on Tuesday. I must say I was dreading the eight hour flight but it was better than I expected, perhaps because I managed to watch three movies on the way. We did, however, arrive very tired and so last night we just stopped for a bite to eat before heading off for an early night.

So far I am impressed with the hotel. We are staying at the Bay Gardens Beach Resort in Rodney Bay. On arrival we were greeted with a glass bucks fizz and the staff couldn't be any more helpful. Obviously I have the promised internet access, which is essential for keeping track of my various businesses whilst we are away. I will also post some pictures of the room shortly. We ate in the resorts Hi-Tide Restaurant last night and once again my first impressions were good. Rory had red snapper and I had a baby rack of lamb that came with a sweet potato mash. We are just about to head out for breakfast now, so more on this later, hopefully with some pictures of the island.

This is Ollie, fast asleep.

I took a picture of Willow today whilst she was using this large box as a new cat tent.  Isn't she cute?

This remarkable likeness of Jesus was found on a bottle of cider. Apparently Michael Cartwright and his friends were amazed when they looked at the foil wrapper of the bottle and saw this "clear" image of Jesus. The bottle itself was thrown away but they did manage to capture this picture of the face. I can't see it myself and I can't help wondering how many pints of cider they had consumed before making the "miraculous" discovery. Maybe I will have a few beers, then take second look, I might see the light.

This resourceful robin laid her eggs in a hard hat in an electrical firm's warehouse. Staff found the eggs when they were clearing out some old equipment and decided to leave it to see if any chicks would hatch. Four eggs hatched out of original six that were laid and the mother is now busy flying back and forth with offerings of worms for the babies. Unusually the robin also chose the only red hard hat out of a row of 14, the rest being white.

Nationwide has reduced its maximum loan size for new customers to £500,000, half the previous limit. It has also raised its minimum deposit from 5% to 10% on all but two of its mortgage deals. These measures will not affect existing customers but are being introduced as what Nationwide describe as managing its business "in a prudent and sustainable way". In contrast the Royal Bank of Scotland has recently announced a reduction of 0.3% on its fixed rate mortgage deals at a time when most other banks are putting their rates up. It's hard to know what's happening with the property market at the moment but one thing is for sure, if you are looking to buy having a big wad of cash for a deposit will certainly help, otherwise you might struggle to find mortgage.