This in interesting its an initiative by Boris Johnson that will use spare plots of land in London to grow vegetables. Under the scheme not only spare plots of land but also other spaces such as roof tops and open areas around some of London’s famous landmarks could be used to grow vegetables. Some possible candidates are plots of land around the Tower of London, Marble Arch and the roof of the Hayward gallery. Boris will lead the way by planning some runner beans in a plot of land near City Hall and hopes that landowners will be encouraged to lend any spare plots to the campaign. The National Trust’s Grow Your Own Campaign will consider all plots of land including derelict building sites and supermarkets car parks and the trust itself has already pledged 1,000 plots of land from its own holdings. In addition to this Network Rail and British Waterway have also promised land.

This is interesting, its an new airline due to launch in the US which will cater exclusively for pets. The airline named Pet Airways claims to be the first designed specifically for the transportation of pets. All the animals will travel in the main cabin and owners are not allowed on board. The airline aims to make air travel much less stressful for pets and offers an alternative to conventional airlines where pets are treated as baggage and have to travel in the cargo area. The seats inside the plane have been removed to make way for pet carriers. Pets or pawsengers as they have been dubbed can be booked in online and then checked in at the Pet lounge at the airport. Pet attendants give the animals a toilet break before take off and monitor them throughout the flight promising that they will never be left alone. The airline has scheduled its first flight for cats and dogs for 14 July and will serve five US cities - New York, Washington DC, Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles.

This is probably one of the most unusual hotel rooms I have come across. It is made to look like a crashed airliner and is situated in the jungle in Costa Rica (pictured left). Whilst it looks like a plane in fact the inside is every bit as nice as a luxury hotel room and it is being marketed as the most exclusive hotel suite in Costa Rica.

The two bedroom suite is inside the fuselage of a 1965 Boeing 727. It includes two  wood panelled bedrooms (pictured right), a kitchenette, dining room (pictured below), living area and two bathrooms. It also has the advantage of offering spectacular views of the jungle from the balcony on the planes right wing. Apparently it is the perfect height to observe wildlife such as sloths, toucans and monkeys.

It certainly an interesting idea. If you fancy staying there it costs between £200 and £250 per night.

This is slightly unusual, its the story of a woman in Detroit who escaped being shot after a bullet bounced off her bra. The woman was in her house when burglars targeted the house next door. When she looked out of the window to see what was happening a shot was fired. The bullet went through her window and hit her but in a lucky escape it was deflected off the wiring in her bra, Although she did sustain some injuries the bra slowed the bullet down and probably saved her life. The local police sergeant said "We need to get some bulletproof vests made from that. It is some strong wire."

According to this article Ryanair are considering charging a fat tax for overweight passengers. The idea comes as a result of a competition on the companies website that gave customers the chance to win free flights by coming up with ideas to save the company money. Around 100,000 passengers took part in the competition and around 30,000 of those voted for a fee for overweight passengers. As a result Ryanair is now seriously considering implemented the idea. Other ideas included a charge for toilet paper with Mr O’Leary’s face on it and the option to pay to use a smoking cubicle. It is not clear whether either of these ideas will be implemented.

As we all know clowns need giant oversized shoes clown shoes in order to be clowns. One clown, however, will have to do without his after a health and safety crackdown. Valerik Kashkin, a clown in the Moscow State Circus was performing in Liverpool’s Sefton Park last weekend when he fell and injured his foot whilst performing on a three metre high wire. When he returned to the circus he was told by the management that he was no longer allowed to wear his oversized shoes. Mr Kashkin is worried that the lack of oversized shoes will impact on his act and make it less funny. 

In an unusual incentive a Spanish property company is offering customers a free divorce lawyer when they purchase a new home. The offer is open to couples who buy one of their three bedroom houses priced at 68,000 Euros. The company Geimsa realtors are hoping to cash in on those people who are delaying divorce proceedings because they cannot afford to set up a new home in the current difficult economic climate. The same company is also offering brand new apartments for 100,000 Euros which includes an all expenses paid wedding. In other schemes around 30 estate agents in Spain are offering discounts of up to 40 per cent for buyers who are going through a divorce or separation. Some deals also include a years free mortgage.

This is an interesting idea its a machine that can  print any book out for you in minutes. It has been launched by Blackwell who are hoping it will remove the need to order a hard to find or out of print book. The idea is that you will be able to browse a catalogue of available books. Select the one you want and choose print book. The machine which can print around 105 pages minute will then print and bind your chose book. The books are likely to cost about the same you would expect to pay for a regular book. It will also be possible for authors to take in a CD of their work and have a professionally printed book produced in just minutes. There are currently 400,000 books available but it is hoped that one million will be available by the summer. I  remember being at university and having to wait for copies of a book to become available or searching old bookshops in the hope to find an obscure out of print title. If this machine works as it says, then it could put an end to this, although knowing my luck the book I wanted wouldn’t be available.

According to this article a £16 hi-fi from Tesco has been voted the best on the market. In the online survey carried our by Reevoo the Tesco hi-fi (pictured left) beat more expensive products made by Roberts and Sony to take the gold award in the hi-fi category. The winners were chosen by half a million consumers who submitted reviews to the website about products they owned. The £16 Tesco stereo came first with the Roberts Sound MP43 which costs £186 coming second and the Sony MHC-EC78PI costing £100 taking the bronze award. For your £16 the Tesco hi-fi has a CD player and two speakers. It was praised for it good sound quality and easy to use controls. At £16 I might just get one.

According to this article wine sales have plummeted as people begin to feel the effect of the recession. The article says that the amount of win brought in pubs and clubs has shrunk by 1%, that's the equivalent of around 12 million bottles. The figures from The Grocer also show that supermarkets, convenience stores and garage forecourts are also selling less wine, whilst off licenses have recorded a drop of 6% in sales value. Personally I haven't been buying less wine to drink at home but I do tend to drink less if I go out to a pub or restaurant as prices are usually overinflated.

It's St George's Day today, a day that I feel should be national holiday. After all St Patrick's Day is a public holiday in Ireland and St Andrew's Day is a voluntary public holiday in Scotland so why should England not have a public holiday to celebrate our national day. You can sign the petition here if you agree with me.

In an unusual incident Two men wearing balaclavas robbed a wine shop in Surrey armed with a cheese knife. It is not clear whether the men had opened a particularly nice piece of cheese and had forgotten the wine to accompany it or whether they were simply after the money. They did, however, get away with £377 before fleeing on foot.

This is interesting its a suit made from recycled plastic bottles. It has been made by the Designers at Debenhams and costs £55. It is made entirely out of plastic bottles which were destined for landfill sites. The bottles are cleaned, their labels are removed and then they are ground down into chips which are melted down. The mixture is then refined and woven into a type of polyester. Around 50 bottles are used in each suit. The jacket costs £35 and the trousers £20. In contrast to the peacock feather wedding dress it is hoped that it might appeal to people who are seeking a bargain in the current difficult economic conditions. It is available in sizes 10-22 and can be purchased in Debenhams stores countrywide.

It appears that despite the credit crunch some people are still prepared to pay for luxury items. This wedding dress costs $1.5million and is made from peacock feathers. It took eight workers 40 days to sew together. Its certainly interesting but I think it might be a bit too much as a wedding dress.

I read an article some time ago that suggested one in every 50 pound coins is a fake. This seems a lot but new figures from the Royal Mint suggest the problem is actually much worse and that the figure is more like one in every 20. It appears the current process of finding fake coins is not very accurate and only manages to find between 30 and 40% of the fakes because it errs on the side of caution rather than risk taking real coins out of circulation. Willings a company that tests coins collected from vending machines and car parks found that when they carried out a test on 2000 pounds coins between 3 and 4% were fake. Fake coins can be identified because the lettering on the side if often indistinct or in the wrong typeface.

According to this article honey can be used as a natural cure for hayfever. The article suggests that rather than using anti-histamines you could just have a spoonful of honey each day. People that use honey to combat hay fever usually have one spoonful every day and start taking it well before the pollen season starts. Honey contains small amounts of pollen and helps be desensitising you to the pollen in the air. Apparently it doesn’t work for everyone but it can’t hurt to try it and I do quite like honey on toast.

New research has found that if the population of grey squirrels are controlled red squirrels do return the area. The Red Squirrel Survival Trust (RSST) have found red squirrels in Cumbria, Northumberland and parts of Wales where they have been absent for more than twenty years. The return of the red squirrels in attributed to a grey squirrel control zone, in which the grey squirrels are trapped and killed in order to let the red squirrels re-colonise. Animal rights activists, however, insist that killing grey squirrels is not the answer and that red and squirrels could live side by side if a vaccine is developed against the fatal pox virus that the greys often carry. The results of the grey squirrel control zones do appear to be encouraging Dr Craig Shuttleworth SST adviser says: "Ten years ago there were fewer than 40 red squirrels on the island of Anglesey, and their prospects were bleak. However, through a strong local partnership, grey squirrels have almost completely been removed from the island, and the red squirrel population has increased to 300. Significantly they have spread from the conifer trees to the broadleaf areas – showing that reds are happy in a whole variety of habitats providing they are untroubled by greys. Anglesey has turned the grey tide." It appears from this that grey squirrels do need to be controlled in order to help the red thrive. I have also heard that squirrel tastes a bit like chicken, so perhaps they can be put to good use in local restaurants.

A gardener from Anglesey who has a rather a lot of snails in her garden has started turning them into food. Oriole Parker-Rhodes has been making meals out the snails that she finds in her garden and has now devised several recipes for them. She has developed her own preparation methods which include feeding them lettuce, onion and stale bread to clean out any grit in their guts. The snails are then purged fro 48 hours before being plunged into boiling water to kill them. They can then be boiled in stock or cooked with parsley or butter sauce. Whether this is a sign of the credit crunch setting in or that the creatures are actually quite tasty I’m not sure, I do have rather a lot of snails in my garden, however.

Below is her recipe for snails in wild herbs and you can find other ideas on her blog.

SNAILS IN WILD HERBS
Using a good book, collect seasonal weeds. Wash and chop finely, then Blanch for 5 mins the wild herbs you can lay your hands on. I used the following: Water parsnip, Wild sorrel, Water cress, Nettle tips, A little ribwort plantain. Sieve , pressing out the water. Finely chopped ramsons (if in season, otherwise use onion or garlic with the blanched herbs) Add all these to melted butter. Put a snail in each hollow of a snail plate and add as much paste as possible. Bake for 20 mins. Serve with cubes of bread and salad.

If you have a bit of spare cash then you might be interested in this swimsuit. At £2,000 its not cheap but it is hand embroidered with 5,000 Swarovski crystals in various shades of ruby, sapphire, emerald and gold. If you want one you can get it at Selfridges but they are expecting a lot of interest in the product, so there is likely to be a waiting list.

I read this article with some amazement. It looks at the story of a fifteen year old girl who became addicted to using sunbeds. So much so, that she began using them twice a day spending all her pocket money on topping up her tan. Several years later her skin began flaking off, she has developed scarring caused by too much exposure and she is on chemotherapy to treat a rash triggered by sunbed use. In addition to this her chances of getting skin cancer have soared. A couple of things worry me here, the first is that the girl seemed oblivious to the dangers of sunbed exposure and the second is that the girl’s mother appeared to have no knowledge of what her daughter was doing. Both seemed equally surprised that sunbed exposure could lead to a lasting skin condition but in some ways this girl appears to have got off lightly. The article highlights other cases where sunbed use has resulted in the user developing skin cancer in the form of a malignant melanoma, although once again these girls were lucky that the cancer was caught quickly and had not spread. I have difficulty understanding why someone would want to risk developing a lasting skin condition or possibly even cancer for the sake of a tan. Personally I try to limit my exposure to sun and am quite happy with a pasty white complexion, I would rather that, than the alternative. What do you think is getting a tan worth the risk?

If this article is to be believed then this could be Britain’s first vegetarian cat. According to his owner Dante will only eat fruit and vegetables ignoring plates of meat or fish. It is not clear why he refuses to eat meat and experts are baffled as cats are natural carnivores and so are unlikely to exclude meat from their diet. In fact cats need to eat meat because it is a source of taurine which is essential to their diet. Without it the cats retina will degenerate and it can become blind. Dante’s owner has started to sneak scraps of meat into his food so that he gets a more balanced diet but it appears this cat just loves his veg.

This is interesting its a Tweeting cat door (pictured left) that has been made by a programmer to track his cats. The cats each have a RFID tag attached to their collars. When they go near the cat door the RFID reader reads the tag and if the cat is authorised a servo unlocks the cat door. Each time there is a cat door event a Twitter message is sent as well as a picture of the cat that has activated the flap. You can check out the updates at the following link.

Scientists have warned that the Arctic could be ice free within a decade. The prediction is based upon Nasa figures which show an increase in winter sea ice of just 5.85 million square miles, the fifth lowest on record. Studies also show that the ice is thinner than ever and that the volume of ice is probably the lowest it has ever been. All of these things mean that the sea ice is less likely to survive the summer and that the Arctic Ocean could be free of ice as early as 2013, although it is more likely to happen between 2020 and 2040. Based on this it appears that change is coming to the Arctic much earlier than expected  which is not only bad news for the polar bears and humans that rely on the ice for hunting but also for weather patterns around the world which are likely to be triggered by atmospheric changes.

This article suggests that more families have returned to batch cooking in order to try and save money. By batch cooking it means cooking meals such as casseroles, soups or pies that can feed the family throughout the week. The results are based on a survey that found more people are now buying ingredients in bulk and using them to create meals that will go just a little bit further. Supermarkets have also reported that sales of bulk items like large bag of potatoes and mince have gone up. In addition to this sales of freezer bags have also increased. I certainly find that cooking large batches of food makes the shopping budget stretch a little further. I tend to make three or four quiches out of minimal ingredients and freeze the extra ones for another day. Things like shepherds pie and lasagne also work quite well and can easily stretch to three meals. I also tend to add a little more pasta to an evening meal which then creates a lunch for the next day. All of this means we have a smaller grocery bill and also less waste. Have the current economic conditions changed how shop or do you have any money saving tips?

According to this article some of the leading fast food chains are going to start displaying the calorie content of their food. Eighteen companies have signed up to a government scheme which is designed to help people make healthy choice when they eat out. The companies taking part include KFC, Pizza Hut, Subway and Pret A Manger. They will start displaying information either in menus or on boards by the end of this month. It an interesting idea, although I think most people are aware that this type of food has a very high calorie content and will probably still choose to eat it. A few examples from this article show a typical meal from some the leading chains and the calorie content (below).

Pizza Hut Mediterranean Meat Deluxe Cheesy Bites Pizza: 4,392 kcal
Harvester Ultimate BBQ Stack Burger: 2,130 kcal
Burger King limited offer Double Texican Whopper burger: 1,239
Wimpy jacket potato with grated cheese: 973 kcal
KFC Tower Zinger Burger: 668 kcal
Pret A Manger cheddar, roast tomatoes and pickle bloomer: 668 kcal

Bearing in mind that the recommended daily intake for men is 2,500 calories and for women it is 2,000 calories some of the food on offer contains double the amount you should consume in a day. I still take the view, however, that most people are unlikely to eat take away food every day. Personally I indulge in take away food around once a fortnight but am fully aware that it is bad for me, I do however, eat quite healthy meals on a daily basis so I think I can afford to pig out once in a while.

This is interesting, its an idea from Bristol City Council to raise their own herd of cattle to provide beef for schools and restaurants. The council intends to buy 200 acres of parkland next to the M32 which they will use to graze a herd of beef cattle. The council’s “British Beef” project will then supply meat to local schools under the healthy schools meals programme. It seems like quite a good idea and I’m all for sourcing produce from the local area, the plan has met with some resistance, however, from local vegetarian groups.

With people suffering during the credit crunch some firms are coming up with cut price products. This article highlights a bikini that that costs just 99p. It is made by the budget chain the 99p Store who say it can help you to create the Cheryl Cole look. To complete the look you can also get a cowboy hat, aviator sunglasses and flipflops, all for under a fiver.

According to this article credit card rates are the highest they have been for two years despite the fact that interest rates are at a historic low. According to the article a borrower now pays £26.40 more in interest on a £3,000 balance than they would have done two years ago. Although the Government has promised to clamp down on credit card companies which have failed to pass on the interest rate cuts it appears that banks are still able to charge their customers high rates and that charges continue to rise. In some ways you can see why in the current economic situation banks are reluctant to lend and with lending becoming more risky might charge a higher rate. However, that isn’t going to work in the long run if their customers simply can’t afford to pay the charges and the bank does not get their money back.

I came across another big cat story today, a man in East Anglia has found what he claims are claw marks in a tree. Shaun Baxter says that he saw a large animal making the marks whilst he was out shooting rabbits between North Walsham and Edingthorpe. He says “I was standing next to a tree in my camouflage gear and about 70 yards away was a big black panther-like cat.” and “It was scratching on a tree, like a normal household cat would do at its scratching post.”  According to the story the gouges reach about 4ft off the ground and cut half an inch into the wood of the tree. Once again I remain unconvinced. What do you think are there big cats in the UK?

Like many people I had a punt on the Grand National last weekend without success. My tried and tested method of picking horses with funny names evidently failed again and none of them came anywhere. It appears that some people are more lucky then me, however. James Darmody from Swindon selected three horses to finish in the top four of the race and put down a £30 bet. At odds at 11,848 to one it seems to have little or no chance of coming in but he ended up winning £65,000. Perhaps I need to work on my technique or give up gambling. 

In a rather bizarre attempt to sell more pollack Sainsbury’s have renamed it Colin. Apparently people do not want to ask for pollack when they are shopping and many find the name rather ugly. Colin is what the French call the fish once it has been cooked. It is hoped that the name change will make British shoppers choose pollack as an alternative to cod or haddock. Personally I love pollack and often find that it is nicer than cod. It also has the advantage of being slightly cheaper.

This article should serve as a cautionary tale, its about a woman who mistook a bottle of nail glue for eyedrops and glued her eye shut. Luckily the glue simply glued her eyelashes together and doctors were able to cut her lashes off and prise the eye open. I hate to think what would have happened had she squirted the glue into the centre of here eye, I think she is very lucky that she didn’t have any permanent damage but it goes to show you should double check the bottle before putting anything in your eye.

If you have a lot of Easter eggs to buy then it appears you will be able to get them much cheaper this year. According to this article prices are the cheapest they have been in ten years. It appears that the collapse of Woolworths has led to a glut of Easter eggs flooding the market and driving down prices. Some supermarkets are offering full sized eggs for only 68p with even premium ranges cutting as much as a £1 off of their prices. Looking at this I feel I should do my bit to help reduce this mountain and eat as many Easter eggs as possible.

If this picture is genuine then it could be the best evidence yet that large cats are roaming the countryside. The picture was taken in New Denham near Uxbridge by Paul Keehn and appears to show a large black cat sitting by a fence near some homes which back onto fields. Britain’s leading big cat expert said of the photo "If this photo is genuine it is the best ever photo of a British Big Cat taken in Britain.” and "It's a photograph that would be hard to disprove. I would prefer to have seen another photo of it to see that there's some movement to be sure.” I’m not entirely convinced. What do you think?

This article claims that three quarters of Playstation 3 owners would rather have a night of video games that have sex. The survey was carried out on 1130 British men who have a PS3 with 32% of those questioned saying they would rather play games than have sex with their partner. Many of those questioned also said that sex was not as interesting as playing games. The survey does not appear to have questioned any female PS3 owners but it would be interesting to see those results. Which would you rather do, play games or have sex?

If you have a bit of spare cash and are not sure what to spend it on then you might be interested in this £1,000 Easter egg from Selfridges. It contains a Gold Bullion Britannia coin set into the shell. The coin is no longer produced by the Royal Mint and is worth about £900 and the egg itself is made by one of London’s finest chocolate companies and is decorated with gold leaf. It looks nice but its a little bit more than I would want to spend on Easter egg.

This article suggests that high street opticians often underplay the risks of laser eye surgery. I find the claims the interesting, having has the procedure over three years ago. When I first considered having the surgery I first went for a consultation with Boots Opticians, back in the year 2000 when I went to see if I could have Lasik. After the usual tests they told me that as I had extensive scars on my eyes caused by my contact lenses, laser surgery was unsuitable and could potentially be damaging. Although I was upset to hear this, I felt that I was evaluated on an individual basis and that the optician had my best interests at heart rather than simply making a profit and resigned myself to the fact I would always need to wear glasses.

I went for second consultation in 2005 when I learnt that there was new technology that might mean I could now have the procedure. This time I went for a consultation with Ultralase to see whether I could have Wavefront surgery, the latest procedure which maps the contours of your eyeball for the most accurate treatment for you. This time after going through the consultation I was told I could have the procedure and the optician once again clearly went through the risks with me. At this point I also mentioned that I had previously been refused for surgery and was reassured to hear that the advantages in technology in the past few years meant that the risks were small and that there was a high probability of success. At no point in either of my two consultations was I pressured to make a decision and after my second consultation I went away to think about the situation before deciding to go ahead. You can read my full account of what was involved here, and I happy to say that four years on I still have perfect vision. I am however, aware that as I age I may still require reading glasses, but for me my vision was so bad that it was all worth it.

I took my car for its MOT yesterday and was pleasantly surprised when once again it sailed through with no problems. I have had the G registration Ford Fiesta for ten years now and at 20 years old I expect every year to be its last. I was slightly offended by the guy at the MOT testing station who said to me “I recognised your car from last year and realised it probably wasn’t as bad as it looks”  and I must admit the comment made me wonder if perhaps it might be time to buy a new car. Saying that having just paid for a years MOT, perhaps I should get my moneys worth first and look for a newer car this time next year.

This article suggests that British people are concentrating on paying off the outstanding debt on their mortgages. In fact mortgage debt is being reduced at the highest rate since records began in 1970. During the final quarter of the year Britons reduced their mortgage debt by £8 billion, a contrast to the previous year when people were instead unlocking equity from their properties to fund large purchases. It appears that despite the low interest rates people are still opting to pay as much off of their mortgages as possible. Whilst this is good news for those who want to pay off their mortgages sooner, it signals that government measures to try and stimulate the economy are not working all that well. It seems people would rather play safe and reduce their debts rather than spend any extra money they might have, all of which is bad news for retailers and makes me think that this economic downturn could continue for quite a while longer.

If you have a few million to spend then you might be interested in this house which has recently gone on sale. At $150 million it is America’s most expensive house. It is so big that no one is really sure how many rooms it has but it is thought to be more than 100. It covers 56,500 square feet with grounds of more than 4.6 acres and has a library, gym, media room, wine cellar, wine tasting room, barbers shop and beauty salon. If you are interested then the closest neighbours include the Playboy Mansion and the Los Angeles Country Club.

According to this article scientists have produced new evidence that suggests eating lots of red meat can damage your health. The US study was featured in the Archives of Internal Medicine and was based upon more than 500,000 people. The risk is greatest with people who consume a large amount of red or processed meat over a ten year period. People whose diet contained the highest proportion of red and processed meat had a higher overall death risk as well as a higher risk of cancer and a higher risk of heart disease. People eating the most meat were eating about 160g of red or processed meat per day. In contrast those people who have a higher consumption of white meat have a slightly reduced risk of death over the same period as well as a lower risk of fatal cancer or heart disease. The message here is clear, we can eat steak but perhaps not everyday.

Until now I thought it was just me that can’t seem to find that jeans that fit properly but if this article is anything to go by it might just be that finding a perfect pair of jeans is hard. The article looks at three different women who are a size 8 a size 12 and a size 16 and shows them trying various different brands of jeans with varying degrees of success. Personally I find the same thing when I am looking for jeans. It seems impossible to simply buy a size 12 knowing it will fit. Some fit at the waist and not at the leg, some are too long, others too short and some fit badly around the bottom or crotch area. Through the process of elimination I have many pairs of jeans but none that I would describe as a perfect fit, all have minor flaws. I was beginning to think that perhaps I am funny shape, but this article has made me realise that this is a common problem.

Discount supermarket Lidl are offering a £5 lobster to attract customers over the Easter period. The lobsters are pre-cooked and frozen and weigh three quarters of a pound. As well as £5 lobsters the supermarket is also offering a whole 5lb duck for £5.99 and a 1.5lb salmon for £4.49. The promotions are part of an Easter offer which starts on the 30th of March. When the supermarket ran a similar promotion last year it attracted a huge amount of attention from middle class customers who flocked to store to take advantage of the limited offer. It certainly looks like a good deal but unfortunately I don’t have a Lidl that’s local.