Dressing Gown and Slippers

The Seek Network's Top Ten

2012-02-13T18:11:00.000Z

Over the ten years or so that Seek Southwest has been online, one thing that has hardly changed is the most popular searches performed on all the search engines which result in the Site being listed on Google. In no particular order, these are now:

1) Job vacancies; Southwest job vacancies, jobs in Devon, Cornwall jobs and so on are the consistent number one searches which result in Seek Southwest being found. Jobs in the southwest are easier to come by than in many parts of the country but even so looking in the job centres and employment agencies around the south west region you'd hardly think that this was the case. Most people in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Bristol would probably argue that trying to find a job in the Southwest is as hard as it is anywhere else in the country and that their efforts to find work usually end up fruitless with their applications often not even being ackowledged by the companies they contact. Seek Southwest is an ideal focal point for job seekers in the region as it lists numerous job vacancy websites to try in the area with slective job types such as computing, secretarial, engineering, unskilled labour and with jobs available in both the full time anf part time markets.

2) Caravans for Sale; With Spring fast approching many people have started turning thir thoughts to their annual holiday but with caravans for sale in the Southwest, owning a caravan means that you have somewhere to go for many months of the year not just your summer holidays. Most caravan parks throughout the UK are open for the most part of the year meaning that you have the freedom to visit your caravan when it suits you whether this is for odd weekends or for the occasional full week, the choice is entirely up to you. Of course not only is your caravan available for holidays and short breaks you also have the option to let your caravan to both family and friends and to holidaymakers giving you the ability to earn a useful extra income from your holiday caravan at any time when you're not going to be using it yourself.

3) Dating Services; Online dating along with such fairly recent innovations as speed dating has brought dating services right up into the twenty first century and using such services is now the thing to do with no stigma attached as used to be the case just a few years ago. Southwest dating services are available throughout the south west counties of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Bristol to help you find the love of your life, perhaps your soulmate, or maybe just new friends in a new social circle. Whatever it is you're looking for, southwest dating websites are plentiful and here at Seek Southwest we have them listed.

4) Car Hire; Renting a car or van in the southwest is easy when you use Seek Southwest. Simply click on southwest self drive car hire to be taken to a great selection of car hire companies serving Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Bristol with cars in all sizes along with a great choice of self-drive vans. There's also a selection of sports cars to hire as well as exclusive car hire such as Bentleys and Lamborginies.

5) Self-Catering Holiday Accommodation; Nothing gives you freedom on holiday like a southwest self-catering holiday. Freedom to eat when you want to eat. Freedom to come and go as you please. Freedom to do what you want to do, when you want to do it. Don't tie yourself down, stay in self catering holiday accommodation in Cornwall, Somerset, Devon or Bristol and find yourself in a quaint cottage in the middle of the lovely southwest countryside or perhaps an old house overlooking the Cornish coast. There's a multitude of southwest holiday cottages, apartments or other accommodation and you'll find a good many of them listed on Seek Southwest.

6) Cars for Sale; Have a look at the southwest car showrooms listed on the southwest cars for sale page to find the car you've been looking for. New and used cars galore throughout the southwest counties of Bristol, Devon, Somerset and Cornwall. Car dealers throughout the region for just about very make of car there is. Shop around for the best deals. The Southwest isn't huge so you're never more than afew hours drive away from your next car.

7) Boats for Sale; With the Southwest being surrounded on both sides by the sea, right down to the tip at Land's End, it's hardly surprising that that there are so many boats for sale in the region, with boats and boating being a large part in many people's lives. If you're looking to buy a boat in the Southwest, from a small two-man dinghy to a large fishing charter boat, sailing boats, sports boats, cabin boats, river boats, canoes, ocean going yachts, rowing boats, fishing boats, kayaks, canal boats and every other type of boat imaginable, have a look at the Seek Southwest boats for sale page.

8) Property for Sale; The property market may not be particularly bouyant at the moment but Southwest estate agents currently have thousands upon thousands of houses, flats and commercial property for sale throughout Devon, Somerset, Cornwall and Bristol, just waiting to tie them up with an ideal purchaser, possibly you. Some of the estate agents listed on the southwest property pages will do the searching for you once they've got your exact requirements and if you're from outside the area this can always be a good idea as you can rely on their local expertise and knowledge of the area to find you your dream property.

9) Training Courses; There's such an abundance of training courses available in the Southwest that if you don't know which type of course you definitely want, looking on the southwest courses page could give you an overdose of inspiration and possibly lead you in a direction you would never have thought possible. There's a mixture of both recreational and vocational courses to get you moving either as an improvement on what you already do or to start you off in a totally new direction. Whether you're looking at a business management course, an accountancy course, want to learn more about computers or you fancy learning how to fly, then have a look at the courses page on Seek Southwest for all the inspiration you need.

10) Debt management; Not surprising really to find southwest debt management in our top ten list considering the number of people and businesses who are falling foul to the current downturn in the economy. Getting hold of a good debt management company as early on as possible is a major factor in beating the problem if not at least making the symptoms more palatable. Vist the Seek Southwest debt management page for more information on how you can seek assistance with your money and debt problems.

Puppet Makers and Distributers

2012-01-14T10:13:00.000Z

Well, after a lot of work I'm pleased to say that the new-look Kallini Puppets website is now up and running. Gone are all the glove puppets that Kallini Puppets has been selling for a number of years. The site is now concentrating fully on ventriloquist dummies and marionettes, both those made by Kallini Puppets in their North of England puppet workshop and those which it sells from its large puppet stock, such as the popular wrap around dog ventriloquist dummy. Kallini Puppet's 34" traditional style boy ventriloquist dummy has now been joined by its grumpy old man ventriloquist dummy and a traditional style girl ventriloquist dummy. In addition to these it sells a good range of 26" soft-headed moving mouth ventriloquist puppets such as the Dennis boy ventriloquist puppet and the amusing Old Man Ernest.

So whatever you're looking for in the way of a ventriloquist dummy or ventriloquist puppet, nip over to Kallini Puppets...it won't be a wasted journey.

I'm Being Driven Slowly Mad!

2012-01-05T16:57:00.000Z

I told you a little while ago that on October 14th last year I became yet another victim of Google's notorious Panda update. Well I've been working hard to get Seek Southwest back into Google's good books and thought everything was going reasonably well, although visitor numbers were still hugely down on last year. Up to yesterday Southwest Job Vacancies was back to number 2 in Google and I was starting to get several hits every day for job related searches. Now to copy these results across all Seek Southwest's pages and then across the entire Seek Network and all would be fine. Wrong! Today the page seems to have disappeared from Google's search results completely (unless you actually include the word seek). So now whether you're looking for fish jobs in Devon, teaching jobs in Cornwall or anything else, Seek Southwest is nowhere to be found. WHAT THE HELL ARE GOOGLE PLAYING AT? How on this earth can a site be number 2 for numerous search terms then the next day be nowhere to be found for exactly the same terms? It's so frustrating! How on this earth is any business supposed to get on if Google can't make its Goddam mind up and keeps changing the goalposts? What is anyone supposed to do? I'm fast losing all patience and am almost in tears here, sad though it is to have to admit it. It's very hard to get motivated when nothing you do seems to work, especially when things seem to be improving then you're brought back to earth with a huge God Almighty bump. Please Google, give us a break!

Southwest Caravans For Sale, Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Bristol

2012-01-02T11:57:00.000Z

Southwest caravans for sale again I hear you say. Change the tune. OK but at this time of year lots of people start looking to buy a caravan, not only in the south west of the UK but all over the country. They've had a lovely summer caravan holiday, maybe in Devon, maybe in Cornwall, perhaps even in Somerset and having got Christmas and New Year under their belts have started turning their thoughts to next year's summer holiday.

Going on holiday when you have pets means either taking them with you or putting them into a cattery or kennel, unless you're lucky enough to have friends or neighbours who are happy to take in your beloved dog or cat, or maybe your hamster or goldfish. Have a look at our southwest catteries and kennels page for a host of kennels and catteries in the region who will be able to look after your pet whilst you're out and about enjoying yourself.

Southwest animals and wildlife page is a useful resource for information on loads of the area's wildlife including the famous Dartmoor ponies, birds on the isles of Scilly, southwest aquariums and lobster hatcheries to name just a few. Linked to this page is the popular southwest animal welfare page which deals with such subjects as animal rescue, hedgehog sancturaries, cat rehoming and dogs trusts. Whilst on the subject of animals the southwest horse-riding and equestrian page makes for interesting reading if horse riding is your passion with websites concerning natural horesmanship, livery stables, children's riding clubs and equestrian property agents as examples. Linking on from this is the southwest riding holidays page which gives a great selection of ideas for horse riding holidays throughout the southwest counties of Cornwall, Devon, Somerset and Bristol.

Watch this page for more information on Seek Southwest. See You Soon!

Seek Northeast Photography Services

2011-12-29T16:18:00.000Z

If you're looking for a professional photographer in Northeast England then visit Seek Northeast for a great selection of photographers from around the north east counties of Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Cleveland. From wedding photographers to food photographers and every sort of photography in between you'll be sure to find a northeast professional photographer to suit your needs. In addition to the photographers you'll find a good selection of online photos on the northeast photo galleries page.

Dozens of subjects are covered in Seek Northeast including northeast self catering holiday accommodation for those of you wishing to holiday completely under your own steam and for those of you looking for northeast job vacancies then the site could help you find just the job you've been looking for.

Southwest caravans for sale

2011-12-29T15:21:00.000Z

Well further to my last blog I'm pleased that all the Seek Southwest pages have now been renamed so it's now just a case of waiting for Google to re-index the entire site. As I said before, doing this was a risk but one I think that was worth taking. So now if you're looking for southwest cars for sale for car showrooms for used and new cars throughout the southwest counties of Devon, Cornwall, Somerset or Bristol or if you're a boating enthusiast southwest boats for sale could be the place where you'll find your ideal new or used boat. Back to the blog title, it may be that now Christmas is over and the New Year beckons, your thoughts are turning to next year's holiday already and plans to purchase a new caravan in the southwest could be surfacing. Perhaps you've been planning to learn to drive in the near future so if that's the case have a look at the southwest driving schools page for driving school websites throughout the south west. If you're looking for a new job or simply want to change the job you've already got then have a look at our southwest jobs page. It may just help you land the job of your dreams.

The fact is that whatever you're looking for in the souhwest, Seek Southwest is there to help you. And of course, if you're the owner of a southwest website and would like to add a listing for your site to Seek Southwest then simply go to any page and click on the 'list your website' link. It's cheap and once you're listed, you're listed - for good!

The Southwest is Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Bristol.

2011-12-23T18:24:00.000Z

Well according to Seek Southwest it is, at least. This selection of counties didn't happen overnight though. Whilst building such visitor useful pages as southwest job vacancies and southwest self catering holiday accommodation it became clear that the south west was more than just Devon and Cornwall, which is how Seek Southwest started out. We had several requests to include Somerset in our listings and after a great deal of thought we decided to add Somerset to the directory. So now such pages as the ever-popular southwest photography services page which had seen a great interest from professional photographers from all around the Southwest counties of Devon, Cornwall, could now be used by photographers from Somerset as well. As time went on the Seek Network was born and Seek Southwest became one of over a dozen UK regional website directories all linked under the central hub of Seek the UK. What counties to include in what directories was a problem right from the start and a great deal of research was undertaken before final decisions were reached but one problem remained for quite a while. Where to stick Bristol?

For us, Bristol just wasn't far enough into the Southwest for our liking but by the same token wasn't deemed suitable to be included in the South Midlands but it had to go somewhere. Eventually the decision was taken to include Bristol County in Seek Southwest so now such pages as the southwest dating page would enable visitors from Bristol and its environs to find that special someone for long lasting love. (Alright, so it's corny).

Regular users of Seek Southwest may have noticed a recent change to the directory. We've started renaming all the pages by placing a preifix - southwest - to all the pages. This is always a risky process as there's a risk of not getting re-indexed by the search engines in the same way but as our visitor numbers are currently the worst ever this seems the ideal time to take the chance with the aim being an eventual large increase in visitor numbers. As we progress, we'll also be adding a large number of new pages to include separate pages for just Devon listings, Cornwall listings, Somerset listings and Bristol listings for selected subjects. So as well as southwest cars for sale there'll be pages for Devon car sales, Cornwall car sales, Somerset car sales and Bristol car sales.

This is a huge undertaking as we're not going to stop the process with Seek Southwest. Every site in the Seek Network will have the same treatment, so Seek Northeast job vacancies will be expanded to have separate pages for Northumberland job vacancies, Tyne and Wear job vacancies, County Durham job vacancies etc. Obviously this can't be done with Seek Scotland, Seek Northern Ireland and Seek Wales but we will be adding new town and city pages for specific subjects so in the future you'll be seeing such pages as Edinburgh job vacancies or Cardiff car sales. London is a problem so far as this process goes but as Seek London covers the whole of the Greater london area we may go down the line of having London Borough pages - for example Islington car sales.

So over the next few months the Seek network should be seeing some major changes, and hopefully a return to the sort of visitor numbers we're used to. Time will tell. Watch this space!

Seek Southwest IS Alive And Well!

2011-12-11T19:50:00.000Z

At least that's whatt I keep telling myself. Unfortunately the entire Seek Network along with the rest of Monkeytree Web's entire portfolio has become a victim of Google's Panda updates. Whilst I applaud Google's efforts in getting rid of link farms etc it's such a shame that they have systemattically destroyed the livlihoods of thousands of perfectly legitimate websites in the process. The Seek network, Seek Southwest in particular, has been online for over ten years and is a popular, useful and customer friendly resource. Now, thanks to Google, it has been banished to the bottom of the heap, dismissed overnight as a pile of rubbish. One advertiser, for example, Devon Willow Holiday Cottages, used to get more bookings through Seek Southwest than all his other advertising mediums put together! Some rubbish. He's not unique. Hundreds of websites have been using Seek Southwest for many years. If the Seek Network was so bad they wouldn't keep coming back. Not only that, in the few years that the Seek Network has been placing Google Adsense ads on its pages it has earnt some £45,000 in revenue. You can presume that Google has taken at leat that amount itself, no doubt more. By placing the Seek Network in such a lowly place after all these years it's surely shooting itself in the foot. So now it's going to be a long haul back up the search rankings but I'm sure we can do it. Then it's on to all of our affiliate sites. This time last year www.dressing-gowns.org.uk was getting 700-800 visitors per day. Yesterday it had 7. Yes, 7 - no zeros missing. So if you're looking to buy a caravan in Devon then you can still look at the Devon caravan sales page and if you're looking for details of southwest clubs and societies then you can still use Seek southwest safe in the knowledge that you'll get good, relevant information regardless of what Google thinks. We'll still be here in ten years time, with or without Google.

Children's Pyjamas for a Christmas Present They'll Love

2011-11-17T01:49:00.001Z

Finding a surprise gift for a child can sometimes be difficult as these days they are bombarded with adverts for toys from as early as September and it these that tend to make up their Christmas wish-list. However, I've found over the years that adding surprise gifts to those that are eagerly awaited always adds to the excitement of Christmas day. Childrens pyjamas make a fantastic addition to any child's presents and have never failed to please any child I've given one to over the years. Children love spending the day in their pyjamas and dressing gowns and finding a pair that a child in your life will ,love to own and wear is so easy now that you can shop online and aren't restricted to just being able to buy kids pyjamas that happen to be on sale in your town. With so many online stores now selling children's pyjamas around the Christmas period, using a store such as dressing-gowns.org.uk is such a good idea as they display children's pyjamas from dozen of stores from around the UK saving you potentially hours of surfing not to mention being able to introduce you to stores selling kid's pyjamas that you may have never thought of or even heard of.. They currently have over a thousand pairs of children's pyjamas on display with 600 of these priced at £15 or under making them an ideal Christmas gift for the children in your life.

Derek Rose Pyjamas

2011-11-12T01:09:00.000Z

When it comes to a good night's sleep during the cold British winter, the next most important item after the mattress and bedding has to be your pyjamas, presuming of course that you wear them. Many people these days opt for the modern style of shorts and pyjama vest and as comfortable as these may be, I personally don't think you can beat a good quality pair of traditional style pyjamas. When it comes to pyjamas, Derek Rose is another name for quality, comfort and style and with over a hundred different styles to choose from for both men and women, Derek Rose pyjamas are well worth investigating if you've never come across them before. With such designs as the boldly striped Regimental REK mens pyjamas and the ever so feminine Provence 1 Blue Pyjamas for ladies to name just a couple, it's not surprising that a pair of Derek Rose pyjamas is one of this season's must haves.If you're stuck on what to buy your loved one this Christmas then I'm sure that a pair of Derek Rose pyjamas would be more than appreciated.

To save you a little time and effort I've included a few Derek Rose pyjamas with this blog, just click on one of the pics below for more information.

I've Been Panda'd Said the Actress to the Bishop. Wasn't Me Said the Bishop to the Actress

2011-11-11T02:00:00.000Z

I've just discovered a few hours ago that the Seek the UK blog had over 20,000 comments on it! I knew it had several because for days now I've been receiving scores and scores of notifications of them in my emails. Every one of them spam of course, that goes without saying. But twenty thousands of the buggers! What the hell is the matter with the morons who run these spam comments and all types of spam in general. I just wish it was possible to put these insideous trash inside and throw away the key because it would make the world a much nicer place. this nudged me to have a look at the comments on my other blogs and these too had ridiculous numbers. As it's only possible to delete 20 comments at a time with wordpress this would have taken for ever so I was left with no choice but to delete all my blogs in their entirety. This has taught me my lesson though. No more Mr Niceguy, trusting people to write a nice, meaningful comment. In future all my blogs will be controlled with all comments needing to be perused by me before being added. Shame really but it's either that or no blogs at all. I'm wondering if Google can take into consideration these comments as the wordpress blogs were all installed in a directory of my main websites but somehow I think the reason I've suddenly lost most of my traffic to almost all my websites is because I've been Panda'd. And I'm not even an actress.

Treat Your Wife, Daughter, Mother, Girlfriend or Lover to an Expensive Dressing Gown This Christmas

2011-11-09T19:30:00.000Z

Knowing how women love to lounge around the house in thier dressing gown when taking it easy then why not treat the woman in your life to a luxurious dressing gown or bathrobe for which she'll thank you for ever. Now when I said in the title, expensive dressing gown, I'm not talking £85. I'm not talking £200. No, Im talking luxury dressing gowns in the £400 plus range. How about a Sophie short silk robe from Harrods for £400 or a pigeon cashmere cable knit dressing gown from Brora, a snip at £595. Of course, if this makes you feel a bit of a cheapskate then why not go for a really luxurious black lace trim robe from Harrods for a cool £739. Now you might think that you'd need a few spare wads of bank notes laying around in order to be able to afford these dressing gowns but just imagine the joy you'd be bringing to the lady in your life by buying her a ladies dressing gown of such quality and comfort and the delight you'd experience by watching her open such an expensive gift, given from your heart (and your wallet) in order just to make her life just a little bit better.

To help you in your quest for an expensive dressing gown, I've included a few below. At least having bought one of these lovely items, your wallet will be slightly less heavy.

Seek Southwest Regional Website Directory Now Online For Over Ten Years

2011-10-30T23:08:00.000Z

It occured to me today that Seek Southwest has been online for over ten years. How time flies. From its humble beginnings as an interesting hobby it has grown into a popular and much used resource and has had visitors from countries from all over the world and proved to be a valuable advertising medium for hundreds of Southwest companies from around Devon, Cornwall and Somerset, and for the last few years, Bristol as well. Originally only Cornwall and Devon were included in the directory but after a couple of years the decision was taken to include Somerset as part of the Southwest. Regional boundaries are always dificult to decide and this was especially the case when the popular Seek Southwest format was copied to include the rest of the UK. Just what area should Seek Southeast compose of and what do you call the bit between Seek Southwest (Devon, Cornwall, Somerset, Bristol) and Seek Southeast (Kent, Surry, West Sussex, East Sussex)? How far south do you go before the Northeast can no longer be called the Northeast and similarly with the Northwest? These were just some of the questions posed during the expansion process.

The basic website design has undergone several changes over the years with the last major revamp being done almost four years ago. The basic ethos of the site, or now sites should I say, however has always been the same. To provide an interesting and useful regional website resource which would appeal to searchers and advertisers alike which would be free to use and not cost prohibitive to potential advertisers. Navigation had to be easy and visitors had to know where they were at any time and have no problem finding anywhere else on the site. I feel that this has been achieved and can honestly say that we have never received any adverse criticism from any quarters but have had numerous advertisers return year after year. Having said that I must point out that we now accept all listings on a once you're listed you're listed basis so any advertiser placing a listing will no longer be asked to renew every year, something which has proved very to be very popular.

Seek Southwest is still the largest of the sites with over one hundred and twenty categories including debt management, other financial services and http://www.seeksouthwest.co.uk/mortgages.htm, along with all the most popular categories such as self catering holidays, dating services and caravans for sale.

Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales have been given their own sites and a couple of years ago Seek USA was added to the network to make the a total of thirteen sites now in the network with three still in the building stages.

So whatever you're looking for in either the UK or the USA have a look first on the Seek Network - you could well find just what you're after.

Can a Man Look Good in a Dressing Gown?

2011-09-29T15:03:00.000+01:00

I think the answer to this question has to be an astounding yes. Of course, dress a man in a Black Space Rug - Fleece Hooded Dressing Gown and it could be anybody as all you can see when the hood is up is the dressing gown with no sign of the man, no expression or his general demenour. However, put a man in a smart and comfortable Tartan 1 luxury dressing gown by Derek Rose and he can look like a man with stature and pride, so long as he remembers not to wear his fluffy slippers as an accessory; that can somewhat destroy the desired effect. Spending a lot of money on a dressing gown is not an necessity in order for a man to look good wearing it. What is important is for the man to look as though he's comfortable wearing it and the easiest way to achieve this effect is for him to actually be comfotable. The Satin Kimono with Embroidered Dragon on sale for just £39.99 (at the time of writing) is a great example of a dressing gown which doesn't cost the earth but can make a man feel and look great. Kimono style dressing gowns are brilliant for doing this and the number of kimono style dressing gowns available for men online is quite high considering that kimonos are generally considered to be women's attire.

So men, yes you can look good wearing a dressing gown, just leave the fluffy slippers in the bedroom.

Allow Earrings Into Your Life

2011-09-18T21:17:00.000+01:00

Do you know anyone who has wholeheartedly asked earrings to come into their life and welcomed them with open arms? Welcoming earrings into your life can start you off down a road of personal fulfillment that may not have been possible in your previous earring-free existance. It's very hard to explain to a non earring believer just how big an impact earrings can make in your day to day life. It's important to realise that the amount of this impact can vary with the type of earrings you are drawn to and that the same type of earring can effect people in different ways. In general it's been found by studiers of the phenonenom that chandelier earrings tend to be the style that gives the most consistent and common level of personal benefits across a broad spectrum of believers. A large amount of research has been undertaken by the Newport Pagnell Lady of our Lords junior school into why this might be and the reason they came up with was because chandelier earrings look nice. But then so do pearl drop earrings but these have been shown to have much less influence and far fewer positive benefits. Overall, earrings for women tend to have a greater life ambiance than men's earrings, possibly because men usually only wear one earring which obviously only provides half the available enlightenment energy which you'd get when wearing two. Now you'd be forgiven for thinking that on this basis all you'd need to do to find absolute enlightenment and to live a life of abundent happiness is to cover your ears in as many pairs of earrings as you can fit on. This unfortunately doesn't work and it's believed that this is because people with big ears would have an unfair advantage.

The best way forward as usually suggested to people who want to bring earrings into their life is to try as many different styles of earrings as you possibly can until you find those which offer the best benefits. The Earrings Store has over 7000 earrings displayed, both for pierced ears and un-pierced with prices ranging from just £1 right through to £10,000 so with this many earrings at such a range of prices you're sure to find some earrings which will help you find your true path. Happy searching!

Greater London Hotels -Book Now For The 2012 Olympics

2011-09-14T23:16:00.001+01:00

It's unbelievable how suddenly the London Olympcs are nearly here. It seems almost like yesterday that we were enjoying the buzz of having been chosen to host this prestigious world event. Since then the speed at which the new olympic buildings, roads, stadiums and other infrastructure has gone up is quite remarkable. Of course what is also remarkable is the number of people who will be staying in the capital for all or part of the games. Loads of Londoners are opening their doors to these visitors hoping to cash in on the event which is good for them and any visitors who wish to do this but of course many visitors will be wanting to stay in boan-fida hotels and the need to book these up now cannot be over emphasised. Many hotels are already booked for the duration and for that reason travellers are having to book into hotels elsewhere in the Greater London area and beyond and travel in to the city from there.

Seek London has got together a great range of hotels to make it easier for prospective visitors from around the world to find suitable accommodation for their stay in London whilst the 2012 olympics are taking place. If you're wanting a London hotel with wifi access for example or if you'd rather stay in a London Heathrow hotel and travel in, or maybe a London Kensington hotel with wifi maybe something that takes your fancy, then have a look around to see what's on offer. Seek London Hotels offers guest reviews and easy 'check availability' buttons for all the hotels listed so you can see at a glance not only which hotels have accommodation available but the cost as well.

If you're considering coming to London for the olympics and haven't yet booked your Greater London hotel, then visit Seek London and let them help you in your search for suitable London accommodation.

Earrings; A Perfect Christmas Gift For The Ladies In Your Life

2011-09-13T01:26:00.001+01:00

However many ladies you have in your life you really couldn't go wrong if you decided to buy all of them a pair of earrings. The earrings available in the Earrings Store are so many and so varied that even if you had a hundred women and girls to buy earrings for, you'd be able to make a selection where not one of them was similar to another and yet each one would be relevant to the lady concerned either in her taste of jewellery or in her interests or even in her oulooks and demeanour. A young girl in your life, perhaps a niece or daughter, who had a love of butterflies would surely love the Sanctuary Butterfly Drop Earrings Earrings which you can find on this fashion earrings page. A lady friend who simply had a love of chandelier earrings would love the silver waterfall earrings on that page and the pearl-lover in your life would be entralled with the Argento Purple Pearl Drop Earrings.

It just takes a little thought to bring a little joy to the ladies in your life. A site such as the Earrings Store makes searching for earrings such an easy and actually enjoyable task. You no longer have to flit through dozens of websites searching for earrings. The Earrings Store has done the searching for you and has over 5000 earrings on display. So what are you waiting for?

Online Stores Uk

2011-09-05T23:56:00.000+01:00

Well I thought it was about time I wrote another blog and what better time to do so than when I've just created a new website. I've been working very hard putting together a site which came about as a result of a discussion with my niece and my sister about having an easy way to visit online stores in the UK. What they wanted was a list of online stores which they could use to buy certain products such as jewellery or furniture or toys etc. Looking for certain products in Google and then visiting each site in turn can be a very difficult and time consuming process and for people such as my sister's mother in law who is new to computers and elderly, quite daunting. It was decided that the ideal would be a website which listed dozens or even hundreds of online stores split up into various category types so that if you're looking for womens clothing or fashion for example then all you have to do is look at the list and visit any store on the list which takes your fancy secure in the knowledge that the visited site is going to be relevant and safe. So that is exactly what I've done. Online Stores UK is not only lists of online stores in several categories but a useful reference for online stores which currently have sales along with very useful voucher code listings. There's also a featured store section but most importantly of all it has its own online multi-department store selling a huge range of products from across a broad category base. The first product to be listed was girls heelys which was closely followed by mens suits, basques and french knickers.

The site still has a lot of work to be done on it but it's at a point now where I need to get it listed in the major search engines, hence the point of this blog. I'm hoping for big things with this site and am looking forward to a good Christmas with it. Many experts will tell you that large stores such as this don't work and that the way forward is niche, niche, niche but I beg to differ. I always maintain that the search engines look at each page of a website as a single entity and thus the overall size of the site is of little importance. If Google and Co get confused about a site's true nature if it's about lots of different subjects then how do sites such as my Seek Network get such a high number of page one, even position one, results? The answer is that each page of a website is looked upon as effectively being a website in its own right. That's my firm belief and the way I look at each page as I'm building it. So as I said, I'm sure that this new site will go from strength to strength and once I've built its own blog and start doing a daily blog, EVERY day, I'm convinced that i can get up there with my rivals for a large number of search terms. Just £10 a day from the site will do nicely and a figure which I feel can be readily accomplished. I'll keep you informed.

Bikini Store UK

2011-06-07T22:52:00.000+01:00

I'd like to take this opportunity to introduce to you a new online bikini store which is replacing Bikinis4sun. The look of the site hasn't changed but I feel that the name might help attract a few more visitors. So whether you're looking for a sexy string bikini to maximise your exposure to some summer sun or an attractive popular style bandeau bikini you'll be sure to find just what you're looking for on this new online bikini store. There's over 1500 bikinis available on the site including a huge range of bikini tops and bikini bottoms as well as an excellent choice of tankinis. Tankinis are a very popular compromise between a bikini and a one-piece swimsuit giving you that little extra bit of cover where it's often appreciated. So if you want to buy a tankini online, again this site is worth looking at. It's also possible to look for your bikini by colour although at present this choice is limited but work is underway to improve the available selection.

In addition to all the bikinis available on the site we're offering a range of beach accessories including beach bags, beach towels, flip flops, sarongs and sunglasses making it easy to get everything you need for a day at the beach or pool all in one convenient place.

UK Caravan Parks

2011-05-16T20:56:00.000+01:00

Whether you're used to going abroad for your annual holidays or whether you prefer to spend your time in the UK, trying out some of the splendid UK caravan parks that abound all over this country, especially along the length of our coastline, is something I would heartily recommend. I've been staying at UK caravan parks, and several in various European countries, in excess of ten years and always look forward to my next trip, even if it's only a couple of months since my last. I always take my work with me when I go and it's this working on my laptop within the peaceful confines of one of the caravan parks which I find most pleasing. So long as I have my dongle with me so that I can access the Internet I always manage to get plenty of work done and am never stuck for words or wondering what to do next. I suppose I'm lucky in so far as I work from home and have the freedom to go and visit my caravan anytime I like. Although mu own caravan is in East Anglia, a trip I always make from Devon by train, - driving that far gives me no pleasure at all - I always take a couple of holidays each year to a different site for a change of scenery. My two favourites are a site in the Peak District not far from Bakewell and one near the little town of Simones a stone's throw from the French Riviera. Again, I always travel to these by train. Long distance train travel is so restful compared to driving such long distances although sometimes things happen which makes you wonder if perhaps driving might be a better alternative. Many years ago I caught an overnight train from Paris to Lyon, before the days of TGVs, and settled into a crowded compartment. Just about every seat on the train seemed to be taken except the one next to me but because the compartment was busy I suppose, the space in the next seat was probably about enough for a child. To my dismay, a man entered the compartment, obviously intent on taking this last remaining seat. I say to my dismay because he was about three feet wide. OK he was fat, enormous, whatever. I was just trying to be polite. Anyway, needless to say by the time we pulled into Lyon at about six the next morning I was never so pleased to reach my destination. I always think that people that big should be made to buy two tickets as they're taking up the space of two people and surely they could at least have the decency to make sure there are two seats next to each other on which to sit instead of forcing fellow passengers to endure six hours of great discomfort. Anyway, I'm rambling again. All the UK caravan parks I've stayed in have been great when it comes to the standard of the caravans. I've almost always stayed in the lower priced caravans, being a man of limited means, but these have invariably been of perfectly adequate quality, always clean and nicely furnished. I've made many friends over the years and visited many caravans in the luxury brackets as well and these are certainly worth every penny if your budget can stretch to it. One luxury caravan I stayed in with friends for a few days was almost right on the beach and we would open the door in the summer long before the rest of the camp was awake and run straight down to the water and have a lovely swim in the stillness and quiet. For me, that's part of the essence of staying at one of the UK caravan parks, the freedom to be yourself and do what you want, when you want to do it. Give it a try - I'm sure you won't regret it.You'll see caravans for sale at dozens of places throughout the Internet and buying one is no problem if you seek advice from the experts.

Static Caravan

2011-05-14T13:29:00.000+01:00

When is a static caravan not a static caravan? Trick question. The answer of course is never. As soon a static caravan moves it's no longer static. But then why would you want a static caravan to move unless you're transporting it to a new resting place? If you're lieing in your bed then you should learn to tell the truth. If you're laying in your bed and you feel your static caravan moving then you've got problems, especially if your caravan is sited at the top of a cliff. At this point you should say goodbye to your weekends away in your second home.

Otherwise you can carry on enjoying your caravan breaks for years to come. Think back to when you first saw your selection of static caravans for sale and decided to take the plunge and buy a caravan. Have you ever had any regrets? Probably not. Research shows that over 93% of people who buy a static caravan sited on one of the UK's many seaside resort caravan parks, or one of the numerous inland caravan parks, remian keen caravan owners for many years and frequently pass the bug on to their children. Once you've bought your second home, which is how I like to look at my caravan, sited somewhere on the Norfolk coast, there's generally no looking back. I've been visiting my static caravan at least once a month for the last six years and couldn't imagine life without it. A bit like a life without a computer. What did we do before PCs, laptops and the Internet? There are still people without a computer, who would probably have a job even turning one on. And I'm not talking just about old people, who are understandably often reluctant to embrace new technology, in the same way that it took me years to obtain a mobile phone; I still don't have an iPone, don't have an iPod and must admit to being a bit behind with the latest electronic innovations. But I'm rambling again. back to the title of this blog, all I can say is that owning a static caravan is one of my better decisions. If you're considering buying a caravan yourself then try ringing Freephone 0808 1807871 and talk to the experts for advice on buying a caravan and help with the purchase and finance.

Glass Home Office Desk

2011-05-13T20:39:00.001+01:00

Once upon a time there was a glass office desk. It lived in a little home office on the ouskirts of Newport Pagnell. All its life it dreamt of being a grand, traditional type of desk, sitting proudly as the centrepiece of a famous Internet entrepreneur's grand home office. But it was not to be. It passed its days being used as a footrest for the oafish, scruffy, self-employed graphics designer who had located the desk under the only window in the room. He invariably kept the window open nearly all day even in the coldest weather, with his little CD player pumping out country and western as loud as its little lungs could manage. This meant that the poor little glass desk had to endure a constant breeze across its mottled glass surface whilst listening to El Paso at least ten times every day.. It was hard going but the glass home office desk got through the days with the help of its dreams. It was convinced that there had to be better times ahead, that one day it would be appreciated and be owned by someone who cared. Someone who would give it the occasional wipe down with a damp cloth, someone who wouldn't thump it everytime something went wrong. How it dreamt!

This went on until just after the desk's tenth birthday. It was a cold November morning when into the office came a young woman, dressed smartly and carrying a stack of files. Its rivets nearly popped. Was this its dream coming true? It had waited ten years for this day if it was. Ten years was a long time for a glass desk which had been mistreated all its life. For sometime it had feared being sent to the scrapheap but now it looked like things were changing. And it was right. That day the window was left shut all day, the desk listened to a mixture of modern pop and something called sixties. Most impressed it was too. And not a foot was laid on his glass. But what pleased our little glass home office desk more than anything was the way his new owner wiped up after spilling a drop of coffee. She didn't just wipe the spill but cleared the desk and gave it a complete wash down all over, not just the glass surface which afterwards almost sparkled, but its chrome legs as well. This, it decided, was the best day ever. Shortly after that, the desk's new owner moved house and little glass office desk was located in new, large home office, surrounded with posh works of art and sited on a plush, royal blue carpet, nowhere near the window. Although its new owner wasn't the famous entrepreneur of its dreams, the little glass was happy and lasted another five years before finally giving in to old age and ending up on the scrapheap with piles of other now useless, unwanted articles.Its rivets gradually rusted and its glass smashed, the chrome legs became buckled and unable to support its legs. After fifteen years, the little glass office desk was finally gone.

Girls Bikini

2011-04-28T12:54:00.001+01:00

If you're looking to buy a girls bikini for the summer then why not have a look at my new girls bikini online store.

There's a great selection of girls bikinis for all age groups and they come in a good range of designs, colours and styles including:

The girls bikinis we show above include but not limited to:
Halterneck Butterfly Girls Bikini
Limited Square Neck Cropped Girls Bikini
Halterneck Spot Girls Bikini
Halterneck Floral Denim Girls Bikini
Cute Kids Strawberry Pattern Swimsuit Two Piece Girls Bikini
Cute Girls Floral Triangle Bikini Swimsuit
Ballambie Girls Bikini in Yellow or Blue
3 Piece Girls Bikini Skirt Set
Super Cute Girls Two Piece Halter Top Swimsuit Swimwear
Kids Halter Style Bikini Swimsuit
Super Cute Girls Two Piece Halter Top Swimsuit Swimwear
Halter Style Girls Bikini Swimsuit
Duckling and Butterfly Pattern Two Piece Kids Swimsuit
Victorian Doll Calypso Girls Bikini
Girls Pebble Beach Skirted Bikini - Pink
Cute Two Piece Triangle Top Girls Bikini Swimsuit
Alice Spot and Flower Halterneck Girls Bikini
St Ives Nautical Bandeau Girls Bikini
Maisy Frill Triangle Bikini
Stylish Little Bear and Flower Kids Bikini Swimsuit
Cute Dots Style Childrens 2-piece Swimsuit
Kids Lace Up Bikini Swimsuit
Cute Childrens Flowers Pattern Bikini Swimsuit
Ruffle Floral Halter Top Two Piece Girls Bikini Swimsuit

Also on the site is a good selection of girls tankinis, as popular with the younger generation as they are with adults.

Buy a Property in Spain

2011-04-01T23:47:00.000+01:00

Thousands of Britains dream of owning a property in Spain. A property in the sun. And of course if you want to make the most of the sun which Spain has to offer then you can't beat a property in Southern Spain. Spanish properties come in a variety of styles with the majority of British purchasers wanting to buy a villa in Spain, with Spanish townhouses and of course people wanting to buy an apartment in Spain coming in close behind.

Popular regions of Southern Spain include the Costa Calida, Costa Blanca and Costa Del Sol with favourite towns being Malaga, Alicante, Almeria, La Coruna and Murcia. It's possible to buy an apartment in these regions from around 85,000 Euros but if you have a little more money available there are some superb luxury villas in the five million Euro range. Have a look at this one, on the market for €5,900,000.

With six bedrooms and six bathrooms and an 800msq living area it's a delightful example of a Spanish villa in the Gualdalmina Baja area of Malaga. Visit this Spanish villa in Malaga page for full details and more photos.

Buying a property in Spain can be a lot easier than a lot of people realise, so long as you have the correct people helping and giving advice and who better than Spanish property agents themselves? Monkeytree Estates have teamed up with some such Spanish property experts providing access to a large range of Spanish property through our UK based website. However, once you've shown an interest then the Spanish team will take over, leaving you in the hands of people who are based in the area and who will be able to assist you right through the transaction including making the arrangements for your visit to Spain to view some properties and to help you to get to know the local area.

So whether you're looking to buy property to move to Spain permanently, for a Spanish holiday home or even just as an investment opportunity then contact Monkeytree Estates for your intoduction to experts in Spanish property purchase by people from the UK. It's easier than you may think!

Kate Middleton and Prince William Engagement

2011-03-22T21:27:00.001Z

Ever since it was announced, the Kate Middleton and Prince William Engagement has caused scores of businesses around the UK to produce Royal souvenirs and royal wedding collectibles of every type imaginable. Of course, this couldn't possibly all go off without causing problems, arguments and upsets. Many people are incredulous that royal wedding souvenir teacloths have been officially banned by the Palace, presumably as being in poor taste but I must suggest that the Palace is completely out of touch with the common person as whilst there is ample being produced in the way of tasteful and admitedly delightful china and crystal items for example, what on earth is wrong with having teacloths depicting this big event? I'm sure if Prince William and Kate Middleton were asked themselves, and after all it is their day, they would have no qualms at all with having official royal wedding souvenir teacloths. I'm pleased to say that I am able to offer a selection of royal souvenir teacloths on my website, Royal Souvenir Store, along with several other items of which I'm sure the Palace would not approve such as the 'Thanks for the Free Day Off' plate and the Kate and William teashirt also available. (Actually, teashirts are another item banned by the Palace. Obviously the Palace is run by a laod of old fuddy-duddies).[fuddy-duddy as defined in the Readers Digest Oxford Complete Word Finder means old-fashioned or quaintly fussy ; I'd add completely out of touch. Incidentally, fuddy-duddy comes after the word 'fuddle' meaning to confuse or stupefy, a word I must say I've never heard before so I've learnt something today). Anyway, I digress yet again. One item in particular which has shown a lot of interest is Kate Middleton's cubic sapphire engagement ring. A replica of the Kate Middleton ring is available on the site but to save you having to visit the site I've shown it below, along with a few of the other items available.

Royal Souvenirs to Buy Online

2011-03-22T14:02:00.000Z

Royal Souvenirs are of course in the headlines at present due to the forthcoming wedding of Prince William and Catherine 'Kate' Middleton. However, royal souvenirs are always a popular purchase amongst collectors, especially by Americans, many of whom seem to have a great fascination for the pomp and ceromony which always surrounds our Royal family. It's not just the royal wedding this year that many people are keen to buy souvenirs but previous royal wedding souvenirs such as the wedding between Prince Charles and Princess Diana are still in big demand as are other royal souvenirs such as those depicting the Queen, the Queen Mother and other Royals such as Prince Charles, Princess Anne and the Royal princes, William and Harry. The website Royal Souvenirs Store also has a page devoted to Royal Reads offering a hundred books on not only the present day royal family but an interesting insight into members of our historical royal families including King Henry VIII and Queen Victoria. There's also a page showing a huge range of items available for anyone planning a Royal Wedding party or intending to visit London for the big occasion.. The page is headed Flags, Bunting & Royal Celebrations which sums it all up nicely. There's a choice of hand waving flags and large Union Jacks up to nine feet long, bunting and ribbons and tableware such as paper plates and napkins. So whatever Royal Souvenirs you may be in the market for, have a look at the Royal Souvenirs Store, you may just find what you're looking for.

Barcelona

2011-03-12T00:17:00.000Z

Well I wanted something to keep my Cyprus site company so the logical answer was of course a Barcelona Holiday site. You may well be wondering what the connection is between Barcelona and Cyprus. Other than the obvious one that they're both on the Med, allbeit at different ends. Well the logic is this. Barcelona has numerous regions where it's possible to enjoy a great holiday in lovely weather. So does Cyprus. (Did you know that globally over 135,000 searches per month are made on Google for 'Barselona' - and all that education!). Both Barcelona and Cyprus have a rich history and an interesting culture. Neither place has any letter in its name which the other has. Both are part of the EU. Neither of them are anywhere near London. The similarities just keep pouring in. Anyway, I digress from the real point of this blog. It's to suggest that if you're not thinking of taking a holiday in Barcelona this year then perhaps you should consider Cleethorpes. It's where I always go if not soaking up the mediteranean sun and to be quite honest I'd live there if only I could get to grips with the dialect. Brummy I can manage, even Geordie, but Cleethorpian? Never!

Hotels in Cyprus

2011-03-08T20:42:00.000Z

With the Internet opening up the world like it's never been opened before, it's now so easy to book an independant holiday anywhere in the world without having to book a pre-packaged deal. However, unless you intend to go to way out places and actually have a hectic schedule planned, there really is nothing wrong with package holidays. They give you peace of mind and are so easy to arrange. Take websites such as this cheap holidays to Cyprus website. They make it so easy to book everything you need including the all important airport transfers the other end, car hire in Cyprus and holiday insurance. They have listings for apartments in paphos, Coral Bay hotels, Ayia Napa hotels and Larnaca hotels to name just a few.

Cyprus is of course advertised as an all year round island and whilst the winter sun cannot be compared with the eighteen degrees you can expect in the Canary Islands, it does never the less deserve the acolade. The food in Cyprus is just exquisite, the beaches are divine and the accommodation is so varied that whatever you're looking for you'll find it on Cyprus.

Of course, one of the great features of Cyprus is the rich history and legiondary stories which abound all over this fascinating island and you can't help but feel an overwhelming sense of this history everywhere you go.

Cyprus can be reached from airports all over the UK making a holiday to Cyprus so easy. If you want to holiday somewhere with a vast cultural presence whilst at the same time stay in some of Europe's most modern accommodation, with beautiful landscapes and seascapes, then consider Cyprus amongst your choice. You won't be sorry.

Bathrooms Fitted In Situ

2011-03-01T12:01:00.000Z

Well hello. I've just found a bathroom and kitchen installation company which will install a brand new kitchen or bathroom in your home without the need to transport your kitchen away for fitting. However, if you live in the Cairngorms or anywhere near Scunthorpe then I'm sorry to say that this business is based in Essex so you may as well stop reading now. However, if you're lucky enough to live in say Basildon or maybe East London then you could have your dream bathroom fitted out by these fine people. Have a look at this bathroom gallery for examples of their previous work or at this fitted kitchen gallery. The work they do is top notch and previous customers are happy to offer their recommendations.

Cheap Cyprus Holiday

2011-02-19T16:41:00.000Z

If you're looking for a cheap Cyprus holiday then have a look at this selection of hotels and hotel apartments from eight of Cyprus's most popular resorts. These are Paphos, Larnaca, Limassol, Protaras, Aiya Napa, Polis, Coral Bay and Latchi.

If you can find the same cheap Cyprus holiday cheaper elsewhere then the difference will be refunded. There's no hidden charges and free supplier failure cover is included with all the holidays. In addition every holiday is ABTA bonded for your financial protection and finally should a supplier cease trading you can claim your money back.

If that wasn't enough, you can also book your car hire from the site, arrange airport transfers to your resort and airport parking in the UK. You can even sort out your holiday insurance without having to go trapsing around the Internet and if you're looking for something last minute then there's also a selection of Last minute Cyprus holidays.

So why not treat yourself to some of Cyprus's all year round sun and have a great time on this fabulous holiday island this year. Visit www.cypruseu.eu . You'll be glad you did.

String Bikinis

2011-02-13T02:46:00.000Z

The title could have been bandeau bikinis, black bikinis or white bikinis, it doesn't really matter. String bikinis is as good as any. I could even have titled tonight's blog as flip flops or even belly bars and toe rings. I suppose I could even have called it Uncle Fred's Cafe but the real Uncle Fred's Cafe which I believe is somewhere on Newport Pagnell's high street might have complained. I've never been there but apparantly they fry the eggs on the floor to save on renewing the vegetable oil. By the way, in case you ever wondered, Fred Bloggs used to live up the road to me when I was a young boy. I never realised that one day he would have been so famous. I'd have got his autograph if I'd known. Actually, I've never understood why people want autographs, I mean what do they actually do with them? Get them out on a cold winter's night for something to read I suppose. What if you've actually only managed to collect one autograph? Wouldn't exactly take you long to read. In fact it would only take you a little longer than it takes to read The Sun. I had a great idea earlier today for something to write in tonight's blog - trouble is I can't remember what it was. At least I've remembered tonight to put my blanket on so I shall be getting into a nice warm bed very shortly but first I think a nice hot cross bun for supper wouldn't go amis. Do you remember the days when you used to have hot cross buns on Good Friday and only Good Friday? The only time that rule was broken was when Good Friday fell on a Saturday. Now, as soon as the January sales are over out come the hot cross buns. Mind you, I'm not complaining. The Co-op does a dozen hot cross buns for £1.50 so at just over 12p each you can afford to eat them like sweets - which I do. Except of course that they're hot as opposed to sweets which are usually cold unless of course you're referring to a sweet in the pudding sense. I remember when I was on holiday in North Wales at the age of two that the waitress in the cafe where I'd eaten with my mother asked us if we'd like a sweet. My mother said yes and I was most upset when the woman came back with a bowl of custard. I was expecting a lolipop. Have you noticed how young some lolipop ladies are these days? They always used to be retired people but now even twenty somethings dress up in white and carry their giant lolipop out into the road. I wonder if their lolipops were actually lolipops how long they'd take to eat. I often wonder things like that, sad really. I must get out more instead of sitting here building websites about bikinis. Well I have to make a living somehow. Actually, considering that I only put my bikini site live two days ago I'm pleased that 'buy beach bags online' already has a number one position in Google with 'buy beach towels online' coming in at number two. It was my sister's idea to add beach accessories to the site and it looks like it was a good idea. Still a lot more different bikini styles etc to add but it's getting there. I'm working on red bikinis at the moment but I had to stop to write this blog and then it's cup of tea and hot cross bun time, then bed. I'll spend all day tomorrow adding more bikini pages then I should be able to leave the bikini site to get properly indexed ready for the summer rush. Well, I hope.One thing I'm glad I don't have to do any more, talking about rush, is deal with the queues from behind the glass of a railway ticket office window at a busy south east commuter station. Starting work at five thirty in the morning and having to face an immediate queue which you can't see the end of and doesn't disappear for at least three or four hours would not be my idea of fun these days. Not that it was then. But it paid well if you were prepared to do the overtime. Nowdays I can work 80 hours or 0 hours a week and it makes no immediate difference to my income - but should hopefully affect my future income. At least if a few friendly women were to visit my bikini site and buy a bikini it would. Or a Buddha, or a dressing gown - I don't care - just buy anything!

Well the time has come the walruss said for all good men to go to bed. Goodnight.

Buy Earrings Online

2011-02-11T03:37:00.000Z

I decided at last to split the earrings from the rest of Jewellery Stores Online and give them their own site bless' em. They deserve it. All that hard work they've done and all that getting nowhere. I really hope this will make a difference. There's still a lot of work to do but at least this is a start. There's still 46 pages of pierced earrings by price and by the time the site's completely finished there'll be around 5000 earrings to choose from so whether you're looking for some lovely emerald earrings, a dazzling gold and diamond earring, perhaps some ever popular chandelier earrings or just an inexpensive earring there's something on this site for everyone whatever their taste or budget.

So give yourself a little while to have a look round the site, I'm sure you'll be glad you did. Even if there's nothing there you want to buy at the moment, earrings make a great gift at any time of year.

Last Minute Valentine Gifts

2011-02-10T14:22:00.009Z

When I used to work in Morrisons it always amazed me how many people used to come in the day before an important event, such as Valentines Day, bemused that we'd sold out of Valentine's cards and not happy that we didn't have any flowers left either. So far as I can remember Valentine's Day has always been on February 14th so how people can leave it till the night before to buy a card is beyond me. However, if you are someone who falls into this category, I've been having a look round for some ideal Valentine gifts to buy online. Just click on the links below for full details.

1) Wrap yourself up and give him a present he really REALLY wants - YOU!

2) Guys - forgotten your valentine's gift? You need flowers from M&S. Order online

3) Limited collection contrast lace padded bra and matching bikini knickers with silk

4) A touch of class

Buy Bikinis Online

2011-01-24T02:19:00.001Z

I'm not sure quite what a one piece bikini is but apparantly you can get them. In fact I'll put it below so you can have a look for yourself. Isn't 'one piece' and 'bikini' a contradiction in terms? Oh well, here it is.

It's like having a bisexual who only swings one way or a bi-annual event which happens every year. Anyway, once again I digress. The whole point of this blog is to introduce to the world my new online bikini store. Everybody seems to have a dressing gown now and is obviously happy with their pyjamas and nighties so I thought it was time to get my bikini store up and running ready for the spring and summer holidays. Following on behind will be my new suitcase store. I've only completed the home page so far and the start of a black bikinis page but it's enough to at least get it listed by the search engines and hopefully doing this blog will help. Having to spend hours looking at pictures of women in bikinis is one way to earn a living I suppose. I don't somehow think suitcases will have quite the same attraction. My jewellery stores online website is taking a while to get anywhere and I'm seriously considering splitting it up into its various parts, with an earring store being the first to be done. I'm also going to split the nightwear away from the dressing gowns and give it it's own domain. By the time I've done all the splits and completed the bikini and suitcase sites that will be nine stores up and running so I think then I need to spend a month or so getting them to top standard before I start building any more.

Well, I'm starting to ramble so it's time to go and make a cup of tea. First I need to find my new bifocals. They're the latest sort - the glass is uniform right across the lens. Then tomorrow I'm out for a ride on my one wheeled bicycle. Oh Uncle Rhubarb, shut up, you're getting boring! We get the message.

Happy Easter

2011-01-12T01:36:00.000Z

Good Moaning

Anybody who's an Allo Allo afectionado will know where I'm coming from with that. One of my favourite all time comedy greats. It's now about a quarter to one in the morning and I feel more awake than I have done for days. Last night was the first night for several that I haven't ended up watching tele at four or five in the morning in front of the fire with a cup of tea because I couldn't sleep. And what a load of drivel is on the tele at that time in the morning. Ok, so I'm a skinflint and only subscribe to the lowest television package but even so unless you want to 'lower the price' or similar your only option seems to be either a Holyoaks omnibus or, thrills of thrills, Les Deniss's home video clips supreme or whatever stupid title he gives it. Why he lowers his actual talents to even get involved in such an unfunny load of rubbish I don't know. Must pay well that's all I can say. There's only so many ways someone can fall over at a wedding and as for the clip of a young boy's sandcastle being washed away by the tide...well to hear the accompanying laughter you'd think it was the funniest clip ever...say on line with something actually funny. I would have turned over but I wasn't in a Price Drop mood. Nighttime tele is in serious competition with daytime tele for the highest drivel awards. My fifteen year old niece loves watching Jeremy Kyle. Where on earth does he find the gormless gits and dreggs of society that he usually has on his show? OK, sometimes some of the people have sad stories and are quite touching but mostly his guests are drunken, doubletiming pregnant, druggies, slobs, delinquents...and that's just the parents. OK I'm on my soapbox...it's my blog. Talking about soapboxes, I'd love to go to speakers corner one day and have a rant, just to see if anybody actually listened. Trouble is these days you have to be so careful who you upset. Can't upset anyone who's not white, can't upset anyone who's not a Christian - I guess even athiests probably have something in their favour - , can't say anything about gays or lesbians so I guess I'd just have to play safe and have a rant against white Christians, seems to be the only safe course of action. Unless of course they're gay white Christians in which case they're safe. I was thinking the other day about starting a new group and calling it the Plymouth And Nearby Caucasean REal Ale Society (PANCREAS for short) but realised that I probably wouldn't be allowed and would be accused of racism. Hang on a minute, isn't there an Asian Police Officers Association? Must be different laws for them I guess. Bit like Sikhs being allowed to wear turbans instead of crash helmets I suppose.

Anyway, where was I? Oh yes, I'm feeling quite awake. Earlier this evening, thanks to having a mild hypo, (my blood sugars only went down to about 3.3 but that can be enough), everything I could envisage coming up in the near future became a big problem and very unfaceable. The Plymouth business networking fair in February at which I have a stand became something of dread and something I was definitely not going to proceed with, even though it's all paid for and sorted. I was even planning earlier on going out to buy a new jacket for the occasion, something smart casual which doesn't look too suity, When I say new, I mean new to me, actually I mean charity shop new, maximum spend £4.99. Well, it is an important event so I don't mind splashing out. Then there's the chap from the FSB whose proposal for a joint project had left me keen to find out the details who suddenly became someone I was dreading meeting up with again and I was planning ways of not being in on Thursday when he comes round which included either spending the evening with my sister or partaking of a few in the Hyde Park Pub. Then I tried to do some promised adjustmets to my brother's website but got upset because I couldn't understand the code even though I'd written it. Other times of similar low blood sugars have included a strong belief that my house was about to collapse because the walls were too thin and nights where I've stood for hours on a dark landing not knowing where I am. Believe me it's not pleasant. I've been told by people who don't know me and who are ignorant about diabetes that it shouldn't happen and that I just need to take more care. My friends and family know otherwise and are all supportive of me and realise what a problem it can be. One of my old supervisors, back in the days when I worked for a living, used to get very cross if I got low, proclaiming that her mother was diabetic and it never happenned to her. Well bully for her! I used to say to my supervisor that I'd love to see her try and she just used to scoff and say I just wasn't careful enough. Unfortunately it's not that easy. I've been diabetic for eighteen years so if I don't know by now what I'm doing I never will. So please, anybody out there who's not diabetic, until you've actually tried living your life twenty four hours a day balancing everything you eat with your insulin intake and taking into consideration exercise, stress and ailments and with the prospect of diabetic complications hanging over you (including heart disease, blindness, leg amputations, kidney failure and neurological problems to name a few) then give it a rest and appreciate the fact that the only diabetic on earth who never has hypos or hypers was my old supervisor's late mother and as she's no longer around then her secret died with her.

I digress again. I'm still feeling quite awake at one thirty in the morning and still plan on doing a bit more work once this blog's finished. I think I need to go in for a refit. I'm sure my sleepometer has been put in upside down. At least if I go to bed tired later this morning I won't have to endure any more Les Dennis's "Oh look, he fell over, isn't that funny". Actually Les, no it isn't. But for those that don't believe me just have a look at the attached - It's so funny I'm sure you'll be rolling about on the floor - Yeah right! What's funny about a seven year old girl with three missing top teeth. I thought it happenned to everyone at that age but maybe I'm wrong. Anyway, if you actually laugh at the following clip please let me know. Because you laughing at the clip would be funnier than the clip itself.

A Girl in Every Port

2010-12-30T01:20:00.001Z

It seems that every time I go away I come back leaving another heart stranded alone in some far away place. I keep in touch with all my lady friends but very rarely ever get to see them again and make sure that every Christmas I send each of them a gift to help them remember the good times we shared during our brief acquaintances. Several of them now have new partners but our long distance relationships still flourish unhidden. This year I decided that as I now run an online jewellery store what better presents could there be than earrings to match their personalities. Maria, an adorable, sweet natured blonde from Malta is pink. There's no other way to describe her. She was pink as a child and even now that she's fast approaching her 50th birthday she's still pink. She always wears something pink, even if it's only her socks and her bedroom is pink from the carpet to the bed. So for her it was easy. I chose a lovely pair of silver pink CZ earrings at a comfortable £126 which would compliment anything that she was wearing. Next was Floreta, my flower girl who I've known since I was in my late twenties. Floreta is the only one who I have met a few times since and she's as lovely now as she was then. I met her on a train coming back to London from the Lake District. She was over here on holiday with a friend and lived in Belgium although she has since moved and lives in the South of Spain with her husband and two boys. So for my flower girl I chose a pair of 14K Rose Gold Earrings, beautifully crafted in the shape of two roses at just £233.
In all I bought ten pairs of earrings which came to less than £2000 the lot so who says that you have to spend a fortune on Christmas presents for them to be appreciated? - it's the thought that counts. My other earrings presents included a pair of solid silver Chrismas puddings for Matilda (she loves her food), a pair of white gold dangly dream-catcher earrings set with an assortment of bright, miniature gemstones for Jasmine (she's very into dreams and all that sort of stuff) and a pair of 18ct Yellow Gold Amethyst Drop earrings for Zola, the most expensive at £315, a Swiss language professor, serious minded, but funny when you get to know her and with a heart of gold. The sort of person who'd give her last rolo to a diabetic in need.

Well it's half past one the day before New Years Eve so as I won't be writing a blog tomorrow I wish anyone reading this all the best for 2011, may all your plans come true and all your problems be little ones. See you next year. Cheers!

Mishmash

2010-12-18T00:47:00.002Z

I was about to have an early night when I decided it was time I wrote a blog so here it is. I have no idea what it's going to be about so how about Christmas? No, too topical. How about jewellery? No, I think this site's all jewelleryed out. How about Thornton's special toffee? Now you're talking. Anybody who loves toffee can't help but love Thornton's special toffee and if you like nuts as well then look no further than Thornton's Brazil nut special toffee. A magnificent creation. And no I'm not getting paid to say this. I just happen to have a pack of not Thornton's brazil nut special toffee but chocolate smothered brazil nut special toffee on my desk. Doesn't get much better. Of course, if my doctor knew I was sitting at my desk working with a packet of Thorntons toffee to keep me company I don't think he'd be too impressed but heh you only live once and I intend to keep Thorntons brazil nut special toffee as part of my life. Sad I know but let's be honest if you had a choice between going down Mutley Plain on a Saturday night, being jossled at the bars and getting merry on a few pints of John Smiths or spending the evening in working with a pack of Thorntons chocolate smothered brazil nut special toffee there's just no contest. Anyway, it's cold out there.

I've decided that I will write a bit about Christmas and a bit about jewellery, and why not, but I'll combine them and write about Christmas jewellery. In particular, about Christmas crystal drop earrings. Now you may well be wondering what is so special about Christmas crystal drop earrings and ordinary earrings for sale that you could buy at any time of year. Well, funny thing is that I've been wondering that myself. I mean, what does make a pair of Christmas earrings? Is it that they look like a Christmas tree? Or is it just that they're bought at Christmas? If you happen to buy a pair of earrings online at Easter time, do they become Easter earrings? I'm sure if you Googled the question some bright spark would have already answered it. I Googled a question earlier during a discussion with my brother, ' what would happen if the earth was nearer to the sun?' (We have these high folluting discussions from time to time) and one answer on one website was, 'It would get very hot and we'd all die'! I kid you not. This was on the Yahoo question and answer forum where people can submit a question and people are free to submit an answer and then people can vote for the best answer. Personally, I'd rather go down Mutley Plain and get merry. Actually I am very tempted to write a reply and see if I can beat the current number of votes for best answer. (currently 2). My answer would be 'The erf wood get nice and ot so we woodnt haf to go to to mayorka for our ols we cood just sit at ome and we cood save money on the flite and stuff and buy moor booz'. I too can be intelligent when I want to be.

As it's Christmas I thought I'd leave you with a few ideas for Christmas presents, for anyone like me who has left their Christmas shopping to the last minute. If you order now, you might just get them in time for Christmas. Or you might not.

And how about a bit of Christmas comedy. Steptoe and Son Christmas classic. If you're a bah humbug just don't watch it.

Anolon Knives

2010-12-10T17:02:00.004Z

Have been asked by a good friend if I could source some Anolon knives as these are her favourite and something she can't be without in the kitchen. Decent knives are a must if you're serious about cooking and a set of Anolon knives is something you should seriously think about investing in for your kitchen. They're great knives available below for a great price.

Raymond Blanc Anolon Knives are hand crafted to the most exacting standards, are perfectly balanced and hold their sharp edge longer. The stylish, ergonomic design of the full tang handles provide a safe comfortable grip while the blades have being fully forged and ice hardened to give superior quality.

In addition to a great range of knives, Anolon products are available throughout the kitchen. I hardly use anything else ever since I was given a set of Anolon saucepans as a present. I was so impressed with the quality and feel, and the usage, of the item that almost everything in my kitchen is now Anolon from my vegetable peeler to my giant stockpot, non stick frying pans and carving sets. Even my tin opener is Anolon.

JuliePrs Jewellery and Ladies Pyjamas

2010-12-10T02:36:00.002Z

I'm in the process of building some new pages for my online jewellery stores website to house a display of authentic JuliePrs jewellery including earrings, necklaces and bracelets. There'll be over 250 items in total, enough to satisfy any JuliePrs affectinado, and nothing over £28, so all very affordable. So why JuliePrs you may ask? Well anybody who's come across her jewellery products will know that they're just great and if you haven't then come back here tomorrow for the link and you'll find out. I think to use the word unique is not an exaggeration. Beautiful, of course. Different definitely. Exquisite is a word that can also be used. There's already quite a few JuliePrs earrings featured on the site such as the lovely rose earrings at buy earrings online and this beautiful collection of JuliePrs earrings. Whether you've already fallen in love with the JuliePrs collection or would like to be given the chance to then come back tomorrow for the link to our collection of over 250 JuliePrs pieces - you won't regret it. At this point I was going to put up a selection on this blog but unfortunately the links won't work so I'll go straight on to the next subject - ladies pyjamas.

I'm pleased to say that www.dressing-gowns.org.uk has just added another 400 pairs of ladies pyjamas to its range, bringing the total on the site to now 700 pairs.With the mens pyjamas and kids pyjamas included it makes a total of over 1400 pairs of pyjamas listed, with hundreds more mens and kids pyjamas to be listed soon. With that many to choose from you can't fail to find a pair you like at a price you like. The page at http://www.dressing-gowns.org.uk/pyjamas-nighties/pyjamas-womens.htm has some lovely vest and short pyjama sets from la Senza along with a large selection of comfortable and stylish pyjamas from the popular French company, La Redoute, with nothing on this page over £23.00. Moving on to our most expensive pyjama range you'll find some gorgeous Le Monde dAlba Violet Arlette Pyjamas from Mio Destino, some comfortable lounge pyjamas from Idlewild and some great classic pyjamas from companies including John Lewis, Surfdome and Rowlands Clothing, all well known and respected online fashion stores. You'll find them at pyjamas-nighties/ladies-pyjamas-online.htm . I'll leave you with a selection of the ladies pyjamas you can find on the site. Happy shopping!

Earrings and Lip Piercings

2010-12-04T01:40:00.001Z

I've been thinking a lot just lately about earrings but I have no idea why. [ :)] I've never worn them and never will. If men want to wear an earring then that's up to them of course. Personally I don't even like wearing rings. I have a nice fashion ring, plain stainless steel with a snake pattern etched on but I only ever wear it for short periods. Not that I don't like it, I just find it uncomfortable, a little like sleeping in a sleeping bag. I'm always glad to get it off in the same way that I'm always glad to get out of a sleeping bag. Earrings on ladies however is a different matter. Many women have a large collection of earrings which they can wear depending on their outfit and mood, much like the way they collect shoes. A new pair of shoes is always the order of the day when a new outfit is purchased and of course a new pair of earrings should be another automatic necessity. After all, it's not necessary to spend a fortune on a new pair of earrings unless of course you want to. It's easy to pick up a lovely pair of earrings for under a tenner such as these chandelier earrings or these lovely Swarovski Crystal Drop Earrings to buy online.

Of course if you want to splash out then something along the lines of these gorgeous gemstone earrings would add a bit of glamour to any outfit. Or why not choose a matching necklace and earrings set? Again, there's no need to spend a fortune unless you really want to.

There is one type of jewellery I've never understood and that's body jewellery. Why on earth does anybody stick a pin through their tongue or lip out of choice? Or opt to have a stud stuck into their nose. Doing this whilst under the pressure of a shotgun placed at close quarters I could understand but deliberately making a hole in your tongue and then walking around with a stud permanently in your mouth? It would drive me mad. You'll find nose rings and nose studs on this body jewellery page. As for nipple rings, just don't get me started on nipple rings. The mere thought of having this done brings tears to my eyes. But everyone to their own.

I thought it was time I left you with a Youtube clip so without furher ado here's Cameron.

Canadian Mars Bars

2010-12-01T10:21:00.000Z

My dressing gown has been dispenssed with this morning. I'm sitting here in my office with the electric heater by my side wearing a thermal vest, then a pullover, then a soft cotton shirt, then another pullover and then a thick zip-up cardy. And I'm still not warm. But I shouldn't moan. Cold as it may be in Plymouth, with the Arctic winds freezing peoples' collywobbles off, we're not having it as bad as other parts of the country and as yet we've had no snow. My niece, however, did come in from the garden a couple of days ago telling me that she thought she'd seen two snow flakes. I told this to my brother, who lives in Newcastle, where of course it hasn't stopped snowing for a week and he's not been able to use his car as it's been snowed in, and he creased up. "Two snow flakes! Two snow flakes! My God, be careful when you go outside!" He wasn't impressed. Actually, I must tell you what happenned to him yesterday. As I said, he hasn't been able to dig his car out for a few days but his daughter particularly needed a lift yesterday so he had a go at making a shovel out of wood. To no avail. He stood by his car, looked up to heaven and said, "Please let me get this damned car out of here". Within ten seconds a council worker walked past holding a shovel full of grit! He saw my brother's dilema and promtly placed the grit in front of each wheel which allowed my brother to drive off. Coincidence or divine intervention? You tell me. But I digress. Cornwall is having it bad as well what with the recent floods and now loads of snow again keeping people in their homes, especially those living in rural communities. But Plymouth? Just cold. It always amazes me, talking about the cold and the snow, how things in this country come to such a halt so quickly once the snow arrives. Schools close, road accidents galore, train services disrupted. We're just not geared up to it. Let's face it, we're not generally used to the sort of temperatures we're experiencing at the moment. A couple of degrees or so below freezing is usually about our limit but large parts of this country having temperatures of more than ten below? And they talk of global warm ing? Global freezing I think should be a better name. Think I'll start a national campaign to get people to turn up the heating - all public buildings, all public transport should be hot. A national system of giant street heaters should be set up all over all town centres and free heating, as much as they want, should be provided to all people over 53. Vote for the Warm party. Sod the Green party.

I had a Mars bar yesterday, first one for years, but it reminded me about the little used system for using Mars bars as a means of showing real inflation and for showing costs of living between different nations. It's a great system and whilst used by a number of people for various statistics it's a system I'd like to become more widespread. A mars bar is seen as something which has kept its 'worth' steady over the years and of course has been around for a long time so is something which is ideal for the purpose. An average three bedroom terraced house in Plymouth will currently cost around 360,000 Mars bars. If a similar house in 1960 cost the same number of Mars bars then you know that in real terms house prices haven't gone up. Similarly, a ladies gold watch might now cost around 2500 Mars bars. If back in 1960 the same watch would have cost only 1250 Mars bars then it's fair to say that ladies gold watches have doubled in price in real terms since 1960. Mars bar comparisons are also, as I said, a great way to compare costs of living between countries. Cost of living abroad has nothing to do of course with exchange rates whic is a mistake many people make. The exchange rate only effects the foreign visitor or business. It has no meaning to local inhabitants whatsoever. If a house in Canada costs the equivalent of 300,000 Canadian Mars bars but the same house in Britain costs 400,000 British Mars bars then it's fair to say that British houses are more expensive. It's so easy to say that if a house in Canada costs say $100,000 but the same house in Britain costs £200,000 that Canadian houses are cheap. You can't use the exchange rate as a guide because that only tells us how much things cost in Canada based on our own currency. If the exchange rate suddenly doubles or triples, this has no effect on the local inhabitants at all. Their house is still worth the same to them, it's only us who are paying more or paying less. If a Mars bar in Canada currently costs $1 then that $100,000 house is worth 100,000 Mars bars. If a Mars bar in Britain costs 46p, then the £200,000 house is worth 434782 Mars bars, over four times as much as the same house in Canada. Therefore, if these figures were actually correct, then it would be very fair to say that housing in Britain costs an absolute fortune. But then who needs Mars bars to tell them that!

Gold Pyjamas and Murano Glass Nighties

2010-11-28T03:45:00.000Z

At last! I can put my dressing gowns site away for a while and apart from making sure that the stock level is kept up I can get on with stocking up my jewellery store in anticipation of getting some customers. the reason is that I've now added almost 1700 pyjamas and nighties to the dressing gowns which probably means I've got more of them than I have dressing gowns. There's now almost 500 childrens pyjamas to choose from, almost 300 ladies pyjamas, 500 ladies nighties and hundreds of mens pyjamas, girls nighties and baby nightgowns to choose from. With such a huge choice there's something on the site for everyone whatever their taste or budget.

www.JewlleryStoresOnline.co.uk went live on 24th November at 14.00. By 25th November evening it had been listed by Google and was able to be found. Obviously this depended on the search term. 'Buy mens watches online' came in at page 10 and 'earrings for sale online' at the top of page 5 (UK Google). Admitedly these aren't great search terms but to even have these the day after going live is I think quite impressive. It gives me great hope and assures me that putting the jewellery on its own domain was a good move. Obviously time will tell.. Well over two million jewellery and watches related searches are made on the search engines every month. Even 1% of those searching clicking through to my site and then 1% of them buying a basket of jewellery averaging just £20 would bring in a nice additional income of around three hundred pounds a month. So thats just one ten thousandth of all jewellery related searches buying jewellery from my store is all I'm asking for. That's not a lot, is it?

New Online Jewellery Store

2010-11-24T14:13:00.000Z

Following on from Royal Jewellery, I thought I'd let you know that my new online jewellery store is now up and running. Most of the items featured on the previous blog won't be available on the site but several will. There's over 5000 earrings listed before you even start looking at the necklaces, bracelets and watches along with the body jewellery, brooches, charms and everything else.The earrings range in price from inexpensive earrings for sale right up to jewellery earrings costing a few thousand pounds.

With Christmas coming up now is a great time to buy a new piece of jewellery whether it's something inexpensive for a stocking filler or a lovely piece for someone close. And of course talking about someone close, what's better to buy your loved one as a Valentine's gift than a gorgeous gold necklace or a beautiful pair of earrings. Eternity rings are ideal presents for Valentines, sealing your intention of a long relationship.

Whatever your reason for buying some new jewellery, then a visit to www.jewellerystoresonline.co.uk will not disappoint you. Why trawl through dozens of websites and spend hours searching when we've put thousands of jewellery items together for you all in one place.

Happy browsing!

Royal Jewellery

2010-11-18T00:50:00.001Z

According to a website I viewed earlier today, Kate Middleton's engagement ring is an 18-carat white gold blue sapphire engagement ring enhanced with fourteen diamonds, apparantly William's mother Princess Diana's very special and much photographed engagement ring that Prince Charles gave her when they decided to get married. Originally costing £28000 and simply chosen from the Garrard catalogue, after Princess Diana's death it's shot up in value to around £250,000. So I thought I'd put together a few engagement rings chosen from the Seek the UK Jewellery site, although I'm afraid I don't have anything quite so pricey, for all you individuals so madly in love that you're happy to fork out lots of your hard earned money to give your better half the ring of their dreams. For more info on any of the rings shown below, or to see the full range of engagement rings or other jewellery from the relevant retailer, simply click on the picture.

I saw a photo of Kate the other day in a national newspaper and I couldn't help thinking that the earrings she was wearing, lovely as they were, were actually no better looking than some of the earrings you'll find on this Seek the UK earrings page but probably cost ten times as much or more. So here's a few of Seek the UK's more pricey earrings, well worth a look at.

If your budget is a little smaller than this, visit the Seek the UK Jewellery Store for a choice of almost 5000 earrings to buy online. With prices ranging from £1 to £3999 there's something for everyone. And of course, a pair of earrings makes a fantastic and welcome stocking filler so get on over and have a look through our choice of 400 earrings at under £6. See you there.

UK 2057

2010-11-16T00:21:00.003Z

I've just noticed that this is my 50th blog since I started writing them. Not a great achievement by any means but there seems to be something about the number 50. A 50th birthday marks a half century and something usually celebrated in a little more style than you may have done the previous few years. I know when I was fifty I contemplated then just what the world, and this country in particular, would be like in fifty years time when I get my telegram from whoever the reigning monarch is at the time, if we still have such an establishment as a monarchy in the year 2057. Somehow I don't think we will. I shudder in despair at times when I look at the way the country's going in terms of population growth, mass immigration and the total change in our culture and traditions. Couple this with a growing selfishness and an almost complete lack of respect for other people and other peoples' property amongst not just the younger population but an increasing percentage of people in general and I don't see a pretty picture being painted. Talking about mass imigration and not being able to walk down a street even down here in Plymouth without hearing a deluge of foreign languages being spoken, there's often comments in various publications about the number of signs now being put about in Polish. This is something I find quite offensive. This is Britain and the national language is English. Signs should be in English (or Welsh in Wales). If I moved to Poland I'd expect to see signs in Polish and wouldn't expect the local council to start putting signs out in English just to keep me happy. And you know what? The other day I saw a sign in Chinese! Yes, you read it right, CHINESE!!!! Mind you, I was in a Chinese restaurant at the time.

Some people reading this will say I'm exagerating and things aren't that bad, and they'd be right. The fact is that I can't think of any country in the world I'd rather live in and let's face it, it must be good or why would so many hundreds of thousands, or even millions, of people be so keen to come here. Cynics would say it's because of our generous welfare system and our inability to control our illegal immigrant problem but I like to think it's because of our easy going and relatively care free way of life. In this country if you behave yourself and just get on with things you're usually left to your own devices and life's a whole lot better than in a lot of the countries from which people are leaving in their droves. And herein lies the problem. If all these people coming in would mix and accept living life as we live it and adopt our generally held values then the future would be fine but too increasingly they want to continue their old way of life alongside the British way of life and expect us to bend over backwards to help them achieve this. This is why I say I don't see a rosy picture in my crystal ball for the generations that have still to grow up and who'll still be working and living in forty or fifty years time. Complacency is the biggest danger but shrugging our shoulders and just carrying on is what we do best. Until our politicians wake up and see what lays ahead then there's no hope for the rest of us.

Some weeks ago I predicted that my dressing gowns store would be receiving 200-300 visitors a day by November. Well today, half way through the month, it received 398 visitors and 1163 page views. So naturally I'm well pleased but what I want now is for my other emerging stores to catch up and do just as well.
Home Office Desks is hovering around ten visitors a day, the Buddha Store about half that and Puzzles and Board Games just gets visitors occasionally. Give them time I'm sure they'll do well but my biggest hopes are pinned on the Seek the UK Online Jewellery Store. It's been indexed by Google and Yahoo but to date I've received only one visitor directly from Yahoo. Again it's just a question of time. I've been busy today stocking up the earrings and every time I do this I discover a whole new batch of beautiful earrings to delight anybody looking to buy perhaps some lovely chandelier earrings or perhaps a pair of exquisite amethyst earrings for a loved one or as a present to themselves. By the time the whole jewellery store is finished there'll be over 10,000 pieces of jewellelry available to buy online including watches, necklaces, bracelets, anklets, tiaras, cuff links, body jewellery, fob watches, sport watches, a large selection of brooches, clip on earrings and charms. So get yourself over there and have a browse. With that many items, there's something to suit every taste and every budget.

I'm leaving you today with a range of products from the popular online fashion store, Aftershock. For more information on any of the products shown, simply click on the picture.

With Christmas now looking up fast, I thought I'd join the masses and offer a few Christmas bits and pieces, below.

Emeralds

2010-11-07T01:35:00.001Z

If you want to be scientific about it, emeralds are the premier gem in the Beryl family, the formula for which is Be₃Al₂Si₆O_{18. If you understand that you're a genius. My limit is h20 but even then I don't understand how you can get to drink a mixture of two hydrogen molecules for every oxygen molecule, and that's after doing three years of chemistry at school. Mind you, it is about thirty nine years since I stopped studying it so maybe I've simply forgotten everything I ever learnt on the subject and as that was never very much in the first place I guess that wouldn't be difficult. Emeralds have a hardness of 7.5-8 mohs, a molar mass of 537 and a specific gravity of 2.65 to 2.85. So now you know. I'll be testing you later.}

_{Emeralds have been one of the most valuable of all jewells for over four thousand years. Mining for emeralds began in the Egyptian desert near Cairo before 2000BC and continued there until}_{around 1200 AD.Throughout the biblical times and right through the middle ages, the known world was supplied with emeralds by Egypt although most of the stones would hardly be classified as gems these days. It wasn't until Spain conquered the New World and found Indians wearing magnificent emeralds that Europe found out just how fine emeralds could really be.}

_{These days, most commercial emeralds are mined in Columbia, Brazil and Zambia although other countries such as Pakistan and Zimbabwe do provide a smaller amount.}

_{Emeralds can make some magnificant jewellery, with emerald earrings being amongst the most popular along of course with emerald rings and emerald necklaces.}

_{Well that's it for tonight folks I'm afraid, another blog on jewellery. Yeah great. But it has to be done. Tomorrow's blog is on the life and times of Herman Munster. I'm entering the next season of Mastermind so getting some practice in. I used to work with a man who used to call Mangus Magnason, Mangus Manguson which actually I prefer. It's what the Icelanders do. So you'll have Stuart Stuartson or Peter Peterson. I like it. Better than a man I used to work with who was called Simon Simon. I mean how lazy can the parents get. I mean Mr and Mrs Simon naming their child. "What shall we call him"? "Duh, 'ow about Simon"? "Ur, yeah, like that's a good idea like".It's parents who don't think when naming their children who really get me. Like a Mr Gull I once met who'd been named Chris and was therefore a seagull or a Mr Ancy whose name was Nigel and a right nancy he was too. And I'm not making this up, I worked with a chap whose surname was Turbot and who was named Rye and a right herbert he was as well.}

_{I'll leave you with a YouTube video of Herman Munster - classic! Oh, and before I go, without looking and for six points- what's the molar mass of emeralds?}

Buy Jewellery Online

2010-11-03T19:31:00.005Z

I've decided to put my dressing gown and slippers on early tonight. I've just made an important discovery and urgent action is required. My jewellery site has yet to be indexed by Google, Yahoo or any of the others. Although, of course, once you get indexed by these two the rest soon follow. So tonight this blog is going to be about jewellery and its various forms. Boring if you're not into jewellery - and probably boring if you are!

Going back 5000 years to the days of the Pharaohs, gold was the preferred material for jewellery making as it was easy to work, didn't tarnish and was of course rare in those days. Gold rings, gold earrings, gold body ornaments and gold head collars were the order of the day. This preference for gold lasted for a few thousand years to the Ancient Greeks and beyond. Of course in those days there were no tele adverts suggesting that if you send in a few old bits of gold you were going to receive a handful of twenty pound notes in exchange. More likely a slap round the face with a wet fish. However, the Ancient Greeks became very keen on using beads shaped in natural forms such as beetles, flowers, rhubarb and shells and started manufacturing these on a large scale. By around 300BC the Greeks were making beautiful multi-coloured jewellery from a variety of gemstones and particular favourites were amethyst earrings, pearl earrings and other gemstone earrings. They also used enamel, coloured glass and coloured stones. The common way to make beads was to join two flat pieces of gold and fill them with sand.

Around 800BC the Italian Etruscans in the Tuscany region began making necklaces, bracelets and earrings from finely textured and granulated gold and of course the Italians are still reknowned today for their groundbreaking work in gold design and for taking new initiatives in the jewellery markets. Inevitably these take off and become the new world standards for gold and jewellery craftsmanship. Italians are also well known for their expertise in making spaghetti. However, their explorations into making jewellery from pasta never really took off even though Italians wearing spaghetti necklaces always had something to eat. Today of course it's possible to buy spaghetti jewellery shapes but it's not advisable to wear them as the tomato sauce can seriously damage your clothing.

Gradually over the centuries jewellery became the order of the day for not just the nobility but for the lower classes of society who would wear jewellery often formed from beads carved from wood and painted in magnificent colours using natural dyes and paints. The sumptuary laws of 13^th Century Medieval Europe limited the wearing of luxury dress and jewellery. For example in France it became ilegal for townspeople to wear coronols or girdles of pearls, gemstones, gold or silver. Why the hell anyone would want to wear a girdle made from pearls is beyond me anyway. Similar laws existed in England where it became a no-no to wear solid gold toe rings except on a Tuesday and medievil health and safety laws prohibited the wearing by peasants of jewellery made from animal bones on the grounds that they weren't healthy or safe.

Quality gemstones and pearls originated from the East and the majority were purchased from Italian merchants who then sold them on to the rest of Europe. Perfect, natural, large white round pearls became treasured far more than precious gemstones.The finest pearls came from India and the Persian Gulf and the enormous cost of these gave rise to a lucrative market in imitation pearls. The Italians, particularly those from Murano and the Venetians, became expert in producing excellent likenesses of the real gems from glass and thus mureno glass jewellery was born. Today, mureno glass jewellery is much sought after and a firm favourite of anyone who has a taste for fine jewellery. Some of it, I must say, is quite exquisite. The glass is mixed with precious metals such as gold, silver or platinum to produce some truely amazing jewellery. The Seek the UK Online Jewellery Store has a good range of murano glass jewellery including a selection of beautiful murano glass charms. However, it doesn't sell Buddhas, 3D jigsaws or home office desks. For those you'll have to look elsewhere. Sorry about that.

Chinese Dressing Gowns

2010-10-27T01:25:00.001+01:00

Well this is my first blog for over a week. No excuses other than the fact that I've been busy. I've been breathing earrings, dreaming about earrings for several days but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Just three more pages to optimise out of forty six and that's all the basic pierced earring pages done. That's about three hours work. I still have the forty six page links to add to each page, each of which needs individualising for any particular page. That's probably about another four hours work. But when that's all done there'll be 4600 earrings to choose from and that's without the stud earrings, clip-on earrings and earring and necklace/pendant sets. All in all there'll be around 5000 earrings on the site. I'm then going to do a big batch of individual earring pages to make it easier for visitors to find what they want and there can be no limit to this as I can just keep adding pages to the drop down box on each page. Such pages will probably include magnetic earrings, flower earrings, mens earrings, hoop earrings, pearl earrings, butterfly earrings and so forth. These are not random choices but all taken from Google Search results stats. When the earring section of the Seek the UK Jewellery Store is finished I'll come back here and link all the categories mentioned above but not until. I'm hoping for good results from the jewellery store and if they don't come I will be disappointed. Time will tell.

Changing the subject just slightly, I predicted on this blog a few weeks ago that by November my dressing gowns site would be receiving over two hundred visitors a day. Well this isn't Tomorrow's World and my name's not Raymond Baxter. On this site predictions come true. Yesterday it had 203 visitors with a total page view of just under 600. So I'm well pleased. What the conversion rate was I have no idea but it's a well known fact that most customers will look around and go elsewhere, then come back if they still want to purchase, often two or three days later. Out of those 203, 18 were return visitors. I still think that with the weather getting colder and the Christmas present purchase season starting, visitor numbers will have increased to over 300 by the end of November. Watch this space. I'm hoping that the jewellery store will have been well indexed by Google and Yahoo in time for the Christmas rush. The Seek the UK Lingerie Store is going up next as lingerie is such a good seller and obviously a popular item for Christmas presents. Anybody reading this who fancies purchasing a dressing gown as a Christmas present for someone, have a look at the kimono style dressing gowns page. There's some lovely kimono gowns available starting at under £15 with the most expensive coming in at £235, a luxurious backless kimono gown in silk.

Well in my wisdom I've agreed to meet my friend at the pool at 8.00 in the morning for an early swim. This means leaving out at 7.30 to walk through the park which means getting up at 6.30. I never realised I enjoyed swimming that much. Seriously though I'm looking forward to it - but not as much as I'm looking forward to cooking a Chinese meal for friends and family on Saturday. The numbers have dwindled from a possible 13 to just 7, including three children, so it means back to the drawing board to remove a few dishes along with removing the appropriate ingredients from the shopping list. I've already bought a lot of the ingredients such as the fish sauce, Chinese rice wine, tamarind paste, prawn paste, bamboo shoots etc, along with big bottles of hoi sin sauce, light and dark soy sauce. So whatever happens, the kitchen's going to smell like a Chinese restaurant if nothing else. I've never cooked Chinese before so it should be an adventure. If it all turns out OK then it's something I'll cook for myself occasionally. Each dish in itself doesn't take long but as I'm cooking several dishes coupled with my inexperience I expect to be in the kitchen most of the afternoon. I'm starting to feel hungry now thinking about it. I'll leave you with a YouTube video - if you want an assistant in the kitchen, how about asking this chap round?

Seek the UK Online Shopping Store

2010-10-17T01:32:00.003+01:00

I now promounce the Seek the UK Online Shopping Store well and truly open and may God bless all who sail in her. OK, so at the moment only the jewellery store is actually open and only earrings, bracelets and mens watches can currently be purchased but one day...one day. The biggest buildings in the world are started with the first foundation stone and I see my first earrings page as just that. Next will be the whole jewellery site followed by many more, all linked and easily found by any visitor. The building will just keep getting taller as more and more floors are added, all with a super-fast lift service to easily travel from one to another. A visitor friendly building with easy navigation and great direction signs. There'll be no getting lost in my building. My niece was watching me work the other day, showing an interest in what I actually did for work. I don't think she finds it easy to grasp how I get money as I don't even have to leave my house and as to how I sell things without ever having to even see an item, let alone wrap it and post it, is totally beyond her. When I told her I could sell hundreds of different things she looked round the room and said, "laptops". Yes I could sell laptops, and I will, I told her. Picture frames. Yes picture frames. Photo frames. Yes photo frames. Carpets. No I told her but rugs yes I would. And paintings and pictures, washing machines, wardrobes, sewing machines, teasets, cutlery, cycles and accessories, fashion and clothing, shoes, lingerie, tables and chairs, toys and games....the list went on. And what is great is that I'm enjoying it coupled with the idea that it is of course all for a good cause. Me. At the moment, my aim is just to get the jewellery site finished, which at present is earrings, bracelets and mens watches but will by tomorrow evening include ladies and kids watches, charms, necklaces and pendants, body jewellery, chains and rings. Then it's off to build my cycle store. Virtual of course. Not a brick or dollop of mortar in sight.

Once the store has got a few categories properly up and running I've decided to change the look of the Seek the UK website directory to that of the shop. Currently the bounce rate is too high and I feel that the site, along with the entire Seek network, is due for a facelift. It also gives me the chance to write the code in XHTML and CSS as opposed to the table-orientated HTML which is the legacy of building the sites years ago before CSS became the industry standard for design and element positioning. Of course, you always have to be careful when changing a design that it doesn't have an adverse effect on such things as the Google ads so it's necessary to do it slowly and test the results before making a drastic network-wide change. I feel though that the new look is going to be far more visitor friendly and encourage people to stay on the site a little longer.

I also have to get http://www.buddhastore.co.uk/ properly sorted as that is now starting to get more frequent visitors. Less important but still to be built is my new suitcase site, bikini site and personalised store. I've bought the domains already so I might as well. Then I must remember that I still have work to do on the Seek sites in general, with Seek Home Counties currently in build and Seek South Midlands and Seek North Midlands still to build. Once they're done that's the whole of the UK covered. After all, whilst the affiliate sites are establishing themselves, the Seek Network is still my bread and butter.

That leaves Seek USA. The plan for that is to build a Seek USA Online Shopping Store in the same vein as the Seek the UK version. With a population of over 310,000,000 people, I should be able to grab a little of the online shopping revenue fortune which is generated there every year. It's possible to build up your merchants using Commission Junction and there are other networks you can also use for an American target.

I can't decide whether to do books but I'm veering towards doing them. The fact that Amazon has the lion's share of the UK online book market doesn't mean they have a monopoly. I think the thing to do is specialise in certain types of books, depending on the availability. Perhaps educational books or children's. I'm not sure but that's for the future. I have a long way to go but if I just keep working at a steady pace things will happen, I have a feeling. After all, http://www.dressing-gowns.org.uk/ is now regularly getting between 100 -130 visitors a day and that will improve as the weather gets colder and Christmas approaches so that augers well for the others. I'm hoping my jewellery store will produce good results for Christmas too and if I can get my cycle store up and running in the next couple of weeks, especially the kids bikes, I might even sell a few of them.

I was planning on having a long night tonight but my blanket's on just in case and I'm getting tired so I've decided to have an early night and start sharpish in the morning, Sunday or no Sunday. My dinner's all cooked for tommorow so I can spend all day working, I'm determined to finish the jewellery site before I go to bed. And who knows, I might even treat myself to a cooked breakfast.

TTFN

The Mayonnaise Jar and Two Cups of Coffee

2010-10-12T02:54:00.002+01:00

All work and no play make Jack a dull boy, or so they say. And there's a lot of truth in this and I ought to take heed myself considering the time I spend at my computer. But then I have a living to make. If I don't do it, no one's going to do it for me. However, that said, I came across a sheet of paper during a recent sort out given to me by my mother a year or so back. The paper was entitled 'The Mayonnaise Jar and Two Cups of Coffee' and is one of those articles which is profoundly true and makes you want to re-evaluate the way you carry on. If you haven't read it before then please read on...

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day are not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and two cups of coffee.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly, he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls.

He then asked the students if the jar was full...they agreed that it was. The professor then picked up a box of small pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course the sand filled up everything else.
He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with a unanimous "Yes".

The professor then produced two cups of coffee from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the space between the sand. The students laughed.

"Now", sid the professor, as the laughter subsided, "I want you to recognise that this jar represents your life.

1) The golf balls are the important things - your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favourite passions. Things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

2) The pebbles are the other things that matter, like your job, your house and your car.

3) The sand is everything else - the small stuff. If you put the sand into the jar first", he continued, "There'd be no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.
Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.
Play with your children.
Take time to get medical check ups.
Take your partner out to dinner.
Play another round of golf.
There will always be time to clean the house and cut the grass.
Take care of the golf balls first...the things that really matter.
Set your priorities.
The rest is just sand".

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the coffee represented.
The professor smiled. "I'm glad you asked. It just goes to show that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a cup of coffee with a friend!"

When you've got a few minutes to spare, there's nothing better than to read a book. I'm leaving you today with a range of bestsellers from the popular online bookstore, Blackwell Books. For more information on any of the books shown, simply click on the picture.

Mothers in Law

2010-10-06T20:27:00.000+01:00

When I first met my mother in law she was quite old, or at least I thought she was. In fact, she was the same age I am now and that's scary. Of course, I'm blessed with eternal youth so I'll never actually get to that age in reality. We all lived in Swindon back then and every Saturday morning I would take my mother in law into town in the car but every Saturday morning she'd do nothing but moan all the way there.This used to drive me mad week after week. Mind you, once we got into town and I let her out the boot she was fine. My mother in law (or ex mother in law as she is now) had a lovely Buddha statue in her lounge and she still has it. It's made out of solid hard wood and weighs a ton. It's a lovely piece, in stark contrast to the old record player unit she keeps sitting there even though she doesn't own any records. She ought to sell it as an antique, I'm sure it must have collector value. Last year she treated herself to a new Buddha water fountain for her garden, again a lovely piece which makes a fantastic feature in the middle of her lawn. Anybody who has a boring garden should consider buying a Buddha garden statue to bring a little character into the setting. Visit www.buddhastore.co.uk for all your Buddha artefacts be it a Buddha book or Buddha fine art print. Mother in law jokes apart, she has a heart of gold and which she shares with a great sense of fashion, especially when it comes to her jewellery. Her earring collection would be loved by anybody who wanted to add some gorgeous pieces to their own collection.

Well I haven't added a Youtube video for a while so to finish off tonight, here's one I hope you'll enjoy.
Godnight!

Christmas Earrings

2010-10-04T03:34:00.000+01:00

It's three o'clock in the morning and I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to write. Other than whilst washing up at my sisters yesterday I noticed that the washing up liquid was pomegranet and cinamon or some similarly ridiculous flavour. I asked my sister why washing up liquid had to have such fragrancies and she replied that women do the washing up and they want things to smell nice. Well I'll have you know I want my crockery and cutlary to smell of nothing in particular. If it has to smell of something why not peanut butter and marmite? Or even better maybe a butterscotch angel delight fragranced washing up liquid. The ideas are endless. But here's a good one. How about nothing at all?

I've just been building my new Super Store, the Seek the UK Online Shopping Store. It'll sell just about anything and everything and hopefully will one day be as well known as Woollies. Anything people will want to buy online, they'll say, "Have a look on Seek the UK, they'll have some". Well that's my aim. So far I've built five pages - five thousand to go (OK I exagerate). I've started with jewellery, with earrings being the first pages. Now you can buy earrings online from the store and already there's over five hundred to choose from and all at £12 or under. I was amazed when choosing the earrings to display just how many different types of earrings and earring designs that are available and just how cheaply it's possible to buy some really lovely earrings. Whether you're looking for a pair of long, dangly earrings or just a little gold stud you're bound to find what you want at www.seektheuk.co.uk/online-jewellery-store/earrings-for-sale-uk.htm. Within the next few days the jewellery store will be finished and well stocked with watches, necklaces, brooches, bracelets, rings and charms from jewellers and fashion accessory retailers from around the UK. Then I think I'll do bikes and trikes ready for the Christmas rush. Thinking about it, if I could really get good search engine positioning for my jewellery store by end of October that could do well for Christmas. The directory side of Seek the UK is going to stay as it is but with a large number of affiliate listings blended in surreptitiously with the others.

All of this is the numbers game. 200 product units each making just 5p per day brings in £300 per month. Get to 600 units making 10p each and that's just about two grand. It could happen.

Well it's half three so it's goodnight from me.

Wonderful News

2010-10-02T00:12:00.002+01:00

I sat down to dinner this evening and as usual put on the news just in case anything catstrophic had happened during the day whilst I've been cocooned in my office in my own little world oblivious of everything going on around me. I was absolutely astounded at what I heard. I haven't heard such great news for so long. The minimum wage is due to go up this month by 13p per hour! Not 5p or even 8p but a whole, amazing 13p per hour. This news must have had people dancing in their homes and pubs all over the country. Admitidly after the government has clawed back their 20% you'll be left with just over 10p per hour but think what this means. All you have to do is slog your guts out for ten hours and you'll have a whole pound extra in your pocket. I can even see street parties being set up to celebrate, I mean people will be able to afford them now. After all, you'd only have to work a hundred hours and you'd be the owner of an extra clean, crisp ten pound note. You could then buy a decorating table in B&Q which you could use for the party. So not only has the government made people on minimum pay so much better off, they've potentially revived the community spirit in the process. Hurah! I've been doing some calculations on what you could buy with all this extra money you didn't have before. For just 5000 hours work you could treat yourself to a Scott Scale 80 2009 Mountain Bike, a snitch at £500. Or why not treat your kid to a new buggie? After you've worked another 2600 hours, you'll have enough extra money lining your pockets to be able to afford a Graco Symbio Stroller complete with car Seat. The ideas are endless. Of course you could just go and drink it all in your local. After all, after a hundred hours work, why the hell shouldn't you? A hundred hours work will buy you three pints of best bitter that you wouldn't have had before this increase. A drink well deserved I think. Just tell the kid they'll have to walk!

Now how about you treat your partner to a nice piece of jewellery. I've given you a few ideas below which might well be worth thinking about. After all, even the Omega watch I've chosen would only take you 42 years if you saved all the extra money you've now got. And that's without interest. You could probably do it in less than 40. If your partner moans that that's too long, then just do some overtime for the next few decades you lazy sod.

Real Wood or Veneer?

2010-09-30T22:07:00.001+01:00

When buying your new furniture, a little planning can go a long way and making some sensible decisions can help make sure that you are happy with your purchases. Probably the best way to buy furniture these days is to shop online, simply becuase you have access to such a huge range of styles and designs and such an large choice of wood types and colours.

It's important when buying furniture to identify exactly what is your personal style. After all, the piece is probably going to be around you for some time, especially if you're forking out on an expensive item. Ask yourself whether the furniture is going to be country style, traditional or contemporary in design. Have a look around at other items in your house, not just furniture but your lifestyle items such as your car, your tele, even your magazines. What do they tell you about your design tastes? Do you like bold colours or do you prefer softer pastels? natural wood or are you happy with wood effect? Do you like dark hardwoods or light fruitwoods? If the furniture is to contain fabric is it to be solid colours or stripes?

Decide which rooms need the new furniture and spend time in each room to get a real feel for exactly what it is you want and the type of furniture which would create a pleasant ambiance in that particular room. Maybe you could even consider redecorating rather than buying furniture to fit what you already have if you feel that you wouldn't be so comfortable with that particular design or colour.

For example, home office furniture needs to have a much warmer feel about it than just plain office furniture, especially as is often the case that home office desks and bureaus, wall cabinets and filing cabinets have to double up as general home furniture. Dining rooms are often used as home offices and as such the furniture should somehow reflect this dual role.

Ask yourself also just who is going to use the furniture. If it's going to be used by children, then you really shouldn't even think about buying anything expensive. Children are children regardless of how good a home they're in and furniture used by children will get spoiled. Fact.

A minor consideration is to ask yourself if you're going to be moving shortly, something often not considered. If you're moving yourself then the thought of carrying a heavy, solid oak desk down from your second floor office may be less appealing than the idea of waiting and buying the furniture once you've moved. Of course, you need to take into consideration the fact that there is often a wait of several weeks for delivery of furniture bought online.

Have a good look around online before making your final choice and take all the above items into consideration so that you'll have a good idea exactly what it is you're looking for. It can be a great time saver and effort reducer to look at a site such as www.homeofficedesks.org.uk as these sites have searched the Internet and provided a great selection of products all in one place. You'll often find discount codes available as well which you won't always have if you go direct to an online retailer.

The important thing is to enjoy your search, take your time and don't be afraid of your own judgement. If you think something will work then it probably will. If you're unsure then the best course of action is to say no and keep looking. You'll know what you want when you find it.

I've had a search myself for a few quality products which you may like to have a look at. They're not cheap but I think they're all stylish and would add a certain je ne sais quoi to any home. Have fun!

Laptops and Penny Farthings

2010-09-30T00:44:00.006+01:00

These days it's hard to imagine anybody not having, or even wanting a computer of some sort. OK, perhaps some people of a certain age may have no interest in them whatsoever but I know a number of people well into their eighties who are keen computer users. However, there are still people out there who show not the slightest bit of enthusiasm when it's suggested that perhaps they invest in a computer and get themselves online. This is 2010 for goodness sake, not 1970. Do these people still boil their kettle over a wood fire and wash their clothes using a twin tub and mangle? Maybe they ride penny farthings and jump in terror every time a motor car drives past them at more than ten miles per hour. It wouldn't surprise me. I just can't fathom out how anyone can not be interested in getting online and experiencing what has to be one of the most important inventions of the twentieth century, if not the most important. Although I did see a device once for collecting rain water from an upside down umbrella. Now if everybody was to carry one of these every time they went out in the rain, the total amount collected could be quite enormous and if properly administered a scheme to fill spare water-holding facilities could actually become so big that it could rival the Internet for the acolade of best invention ever. If anybody's interested in starting such a scheme, let me know. I have a spare umbrella which keeps turning inside out anyway and a bucket but you'll need to provide the hosepipe. I know it's only one bucket of water but Plymouth has some quarter of a million residents and lots of rain so you do the maths.

Going back to computers, these days it's possible to pick up a laptop for less than three hundred pounds or so and Internet connections are pretty cheap so there's really no reason why everybody shouldn't be online.

Have a look at some of the laptops below and be amazed at just how cheap they can be for any given specification. Included is a good range of refurbished laptops. These refurbished laptops have been professionally checked, tested and repackaged and usually come with a reassuring 12-month warranty and offer fantastic savings over the 'as new' price.

Of course the other computer related phenomonom of the twentyfirst century is the amazing rise in popularity of the electronic game consols and the recent success of the mega multiplayer online games such as World of Warcraft which is played worldwide by hundreds of thousands and are probably collectively responsible for more marriage breakups than secretive affairs with dishy secretaries and blonde bimbos. It's a far cry from the days when playing 'tennis' on a consol consisted of a little white square flitting backwards and forwards across the screen being hit by a rectangular white bat. Every now and then we'd say, "Let's play ping-pong instead", and changed the game accordingly, to be met with a little white square flitting backwards and forwards across the screen being hit by a rectangular white bat. Oh the joy! Well we didn't know any different.

Whilst on the subject of electronic games consols have a look at the offers below.

The graphics on the modern computer games are just out of this world and I have a great respect for the programmers who write the stuff and the designers who come up with all the ideas. Although I'm not a gamer myself, mu niece is a World of Warcraft addict and I've been shown the game in action on many occasions and to say I'm impressed is a gross understatement. A bit like saying Shakespear's good or Leonardo da Vinci wasn't a bad painter. Or that that Beckham bloke is pretty good at football. Makes you wonder, well it does me, just what is going to be the next big invention and just what is going to be around in say twenty years from now. I'd love to see a re-run of some of the old Tomorrow's World programmes going back to the early sevnties to see how many predictions given to us by Raymond Baxter actually came true. One I can think of certainly didn't. He told us that by the end of the eighties, all cars would run on hovercraft type cushions instead of wheels and here we are, nearly out of the naughties, and cars still have wheels. We were also shown a house (real, as in full size) being built out of giant lego bricks and were told that one day we'd be able to go and buy a house kit and build our own house. OK, so yeah I know there's absolutely thousands of giant lego houses all over the country. One advantage of living in a lego house is that if you divorce it's easy to split the house in two, you simply take it apart and each person can then go away and build a bungalow, albeit one won't have a roof or a front door.

If you thought you were going to get away tonight without a Youtube video, you're wrong. Here's a Tommorows World clip from 1967 - The world's first home computer, connected to a giant brain, apparantly. I don't think we've got quite as far as having our thoughts stored on computer for later analysis but it's fascinating stuff none the less. Goodnight!

Google for Dummies

2010-09-28T01:16:00.003+01:00

If you UK Google 'ventriloquist dummies' then http://www.kallinipuppets.co.uk/ventriloquist-dummies/ comes in at number one. And so it should. Anybody looking for an expertly made, professional quality, full size, moving mouth and moving eyes ventriloquist dummy at a price that I'm sure will peasantly surprise you, should take a look at the dummies which are available on this site. Here's an example.

Other outfits for the 'cheeky boy' include boy scout, three different schoolboy uniforms, two waistcoat outfits, a full Scotish Highland outfit including kilt and sporon, a thirties northern boy (picture Hovis ad), dress suit and a tartan suit with matching beret. There's also a ventriloquist girl dummy and a grumpy old man ventriloquist dummy. All three dummies have videos available on the site which really bring the dummies to life.

Ventriloquist dummies have often been used in horror movies and other productions with a scarey sort of theme which has led to many people having a fear of ventriloquist dummies, known as autonomatonophobia. This can of course be treated usually pretty effictively through the use of hypnotherapy or other therapy procedures. Films such as Magic and Chuckie really do give vents, as they are commonly known, a bad name but all the film companies are doing is expoiting the fact that dummies were not designed originally for use on the big screen or for close up work. In order to be seen from the back of a theatre, dummies were made with exagerated features and it is these, along with the mechanical mouth, that can make ventriloquist dummies seem so creepy, especially when seen full size on a cinema screen or television.

Ventriloquist dummies are making a comeback with modern ventriloquists such as Jeff Dunham pulling in huge audiences wherever he goes. Jeff's Achmed and Walter dummies are so funny that whenever I see his sketches I crease up whether I've seen them before or not. They're a far cry from Ray Allen's Twitch and Crackers and Lord Charles which I grew up with and loved as a kid. So without further ado, for those who haven't seen the great talent of Jeff Dunham, and for those who have, I'll leave you with Achmed, the dead terrorist. Enjoy!

What's On The Tele?

2010-09-26T01:11:00.001+01:00

A very posh woman and her daughter were lounging around watching the tele when the daughter said to her mother, "Mummy dear, where's the thingy that changes the channel?" "Oh I'm sorry darling", replied the mother, "It's thingy's day off". Corny I know. I was reminded of this when watching the TV earlier with my eight year old niece and her nine year old friend when I was asked at least three times to find a different channel, and I wasn't even sitting in the same room. Have you ever tried finding suitable programmes for girls that age after the watershed? I thought, ah Ken Dod, they'll like him. But after about five minutes with me rolling about, not a flicker of a smile from them. Last night they'd enjoyed watching Open All Hours so I thought a bit of Only Fools and Horses would be good. I told them the man in it was the same one who had played Granville. But again not even a grin from either of them. In the end they decided to watch a DVD but then they both fell asleep before it finished so I've left them to sleep in the lounge. I expect they'll be up before me in the morning as tonight I'm not going to set an alarm. What luxury!

My dressing gown site had its first day with over a hundred visitors yesterday so I'm well chuffed but I can't work out for the life of me why http://www.homeofficedesks.org.uk/, http://www.buddhastore.co.uk/ and http://www.puzzlesandboardgames.co.uk/ are still getting nowhere. Oh well, give it time I suppose. My new venture is to turn http://www.seektheuk.co.uk/ and http://www.seek-usa.com/ into online shopping sites and fill the directory side of things with far more affiliate links. The shopping sites will contain content units on just about anything it's possible to buy online with the main index on the directory portion linking straight to the shop where it can. For example, the main category heading sport and leisure will have a sub category cycling but this in turn will have at least two sub categories with cycle routes (or similar) going to a general UK cycling page in the directory while the cycle shops link will go to the cycle shops store in the shopping section. Similarly, the sub category UK photographers will link to the directory whereas the link 'cameras' will go straight to the shop where there'll be hundreds of cameras available for sale. It's a big job but as Seek the UK is already established, I'm sure it will take off.

I've recently found a website which enables you to place ads for voucher codes and special offer codes on your website. An example of how they look can be seen at this ladies dressing gowns page.

To finish off this short blog, I've added a few below just to show another way in which they can be used.

Good night!

Look out for more special discount codes another night.

Look Into My Eyes

2010-09-23T00:42:00.004+01:00

Hypnosis and hypnotherapy have been around for hundreds of years, but most people are still curious about what hypnotherapy is and what hypnosis can actually do. These days if you were to ask the average person about hypnotherapy they'd immediately think about stage hypnotists who use the art of hypnosis to delight their audiences in humourous ways. The fact is, and what isn't shown on the tele, is that the hypnotists will spend quite a while before the show is filmed in choosing who they think will be the most suitable 'victims'. Many people cannot be hypnotised because they simply can't get into a relaxed enough state and choosing these people for the show would not put the stage hypnotist in a very good and professional light.

The world of stage hypnotism is a far cry from what happens at the average hypnotherapy session which people attend for all sorts of problems, both physical and emotional. It is widely believed that hypnotherapy cannot help with physical problems but the truth is that the subconcious has a very good relationship with the concious and very often physical problems can be righted with a little help from your subconcious. After all, it's the same brain which rules over both our emotions and our physical well being so it stands to reason that there should be a connection with how we feel mentally and how we are physically.

To explain exactly what I mean, I'll relate a short about a northeast hypnotherapist, Keith Chaston, and a client of his who had lost all sense of smell and taste after a serious accident. He'd been told by doctors that the nerves connecting his taste organs to his brain had been severed and that he'd never smell or taste again. Naturally this was most distressing for him and on chatting to Keith he decided to undergo a hypnotherapy session to see whether anything might result. As he said, he had nothing to lose. The session went really well according to Keith who said that during his hypnotic state the client experienced a joining together of really strong electric cables, which he took to mean a subconcious, mental re-joining of the severed nerves. Anyway, two weeks passed and Keith heard nothing until he got a very excited phonecall from his client early one evening. The chap had walked into his house after work and immediately said to his wife, "Have you been cooking garlic?" He suddenly realised what he'd said. I don't know if he cried, I only know I would have done. It turned out his wife had put crushed garlic into whatever she'd cooked that evening. He was so excited that he had to ring Keith straight away to tell him. And it's just gone on from there. Two amazing facts from this. One is that during the pre-hypnotic state 'interview', Keith asked him for one item that he would love to be able to smell and taste. His answer was garlic. Two is that over the following months more smells and tastes came back. Not all at once but slowly, one by one. However, and this is the strange thing, he can only smell and taste pleasant smells. Nothing nasty.

The point of that story is to show that the range of problems that hypnotherapy can help with is not necessarily limited to mental and emotional problems. Nobody's claiming that hypnotherapy can cure illness but this does go to show that experimentation with hypnotherapy could help with a lot more problems than those usually dealt with. Keith Chaston has very good results with various problems that he helps clients with including using hypnotherapy to help sufferers of panic attacks, exam nerves including driving test nerves and of course a popular favourite, helping to stop smoking.

Anybody wishing to stop smoking by hypnotherapy must really want to stop smoking. Someone who undergoes the process because they think they might as well, or even someone who believes that hypnotherapy actually won't work, is probably wasting their time and money even trying. Hypnotherapy doesn't work by the hypnotherapist putting you under and saying that when you wake up you'll never want a cigarette and hey presto he clicks his fingers and you're cured from your smoking addiction, which is the impreesion people get from watching the stage hypnotists. After all, you can't hide from your subconciouse, especially when hypnosis. If you don't really want to give up then hypnotherapy is not the therapy for you.

Some people an be put into a trance state very easily, often within seconds, and some will take longer, perhaps half an hour or more. Then of course there are people who just can't be hypnotised but this is often because of fear of the unknown or general tension. Even well known TV hypnotists can fail to be able to hypnotise some people. Then there are various levels of hypnotic state and because sometimes it is possible to carry out certain procedures under a very light alpha state, the person can come out of the trance state having been aware the whole time what was going on and believe that nothing actually happened. Our normal awakened state is called the beta state with the lighter trance state known as the alpha state. The next level or slightly deeper trance is called the theta state with a really deep trance known as the sonambulistic state. It's possible to be put straight into a sonambulistic trance state especially if the hypnotist has dealt with you before and you are comfortable and know what's happenning but usually you'll progress through the earlier stages first. Some procedures, such as past life regression, another of Keith Chaston's specialities, work better when the patient is in a sonambulistic state but this is not always necessary. Spititual regression, where someone is taken into their spiritual life between physical incarnations on Earth , is another popular procedure performed by Keith Chaston. You will journey deep into the spiritual realm where you can meet your guides and soul mates and discover who is part of your soul group. Fascinating stuff.

Keith is currently undergoing trials to discover whether hypnotherapy can help stimulate new hair growth in people who suffer from a degree of hair loss. He is looking for volunteers who are suffering from various degrees of hair loss, who can be available for one one-hour session every two weeks, for three months, with the hope that at the end of the trial new hair growth would be clearly visible. These six sessions are completely free of charge and all he asks of the volunteers is to be able to freely use their images, before, during and after and to publicise the trial and the results. He also asks that you make yourself available for any newspaper interview or other news media if required. For more information visit the Keith Chaston Hypnotherapy hair restoration trials page.

Seeing that we're on the subject, here's a Youtube video of a give up smoking hypnosis session.

Police Tractors and Gnocchi

2010-09-21T00:35:00.098+01:00

The new neighbours are moving in. Haven't met them/him/her yet so I just have to keep my fingers crossed that my landlords have paid their usual vigilance in who they get. So far all I've heard is several young people. When I say new neighbours, I mean the ground floor flat. I live on the second floor and have to share the house entrance with all the other tenants. Being an open house rather than self contained flats, obviously noise can be an issue. Have to say though that in the four and a half years I've lived here, all the tenants have shown great consideration when it comes to noise levels. Most of the time you wouldn't realise that you didn't have the whole house to yourself.

Anyway, my latest plan involves moving from here round about the end of July next year which as I write is only ten months away. So whatever the new neighbours are like, ten months isn't too long a time. Then it's off to a house or bungalow with a garden after spending a couple of months in Cyprus building a new website, cypruseu.eu, which is to be a Cyprus in photos website with tourist information and adverts for holiday accommodation. A working holiday in the sun - sounds like a plan.

I've just been reading through some cook books to try to decide on a menu for my next cook. Jamie Oliver's Cook With Jamie, The Dairy Book of British Food (1988), the Good Food Healthy Eating Cookbook, The Ultimate Chinese Cookbook, The Silver Spoon Italian Food book and Foreign Cooking for Blokes. Unfortunately, as I was watching the tele whilst perusing these gastranomic delights I failed to come up with anything other than Jamie's gnocchi, of which there are several variations, but I have learnt how to cook a fish encased in salt and how to identify the various stages of cooked steak which if I remember correctly range from raw to burnt with numerous stages in between. Thank God I'm not a chef is all I can say because how can you guarantee that the average punter is going to define a medium rare and medium well, or even just a medium, in exactly the same way as the chef that happens to be cooking their steak on that particular occasion. It has to lead to arguments. Personally, I always ask for well done as I don't like eating meat still oozing with blood, and that's usually fine, so long as it's not so well done that it can't even be cut with a hacksaw, let alone chewed. I've also learnt how to make a sexy salad and that fish fillets are usually well behaved. I kid you not. One programme I was watching whilst improving my culinary knowledge of lettuce-leaves bedroom habits was Martine Clune's Small Islands. At one point he was on Sark where of course cars are banned. The only form of transport allowed is a tractor if your buisness really needs it or a horse drawn cart, plus of course bicycles. One chap, who acted as one of only two part time police constables on the island, had a tractor to aid him in his plumbing business. When Martin said that the tractor douibled up as a police patrol vehicle I was in stitches as I imagined a criminal being pursued down a lane chased by a policeman on a tractor. I couldn't help wondering if the tractor was fitted out with a siren and a blue lamp. It's nice to know that there are still places around with such a slow pace of life. They even still have the feudal system, complete with a feudal lord that hasn't changed for four hundred years. Well, the lord has, the original one is actually dead. Having said that though, this system is due to change, partly because of EU guidelines, and have a more democratic system put in place. Many residents, however, are worried that this will have a severe negative impact on their current way of life.

I'm glad to say that http://www.dressing-gowns.org.uk/ had 91 visitors yesterday so the first 100 a day target is not far off. I'm chuffed at that and still hold out for at least 300 a day come the winter months. The Buddha Store is still struggling to get many visitors but it's early days and I am confident that it will improve.as time goes on. I've been busy adding a good selection of Buddha wall murals and fine art prints to the pages with the hope that these will help the overall appeal of the site. The wall murals are truely splendid. Printed on photographic paper measuring 6' x 4' they would add an air of not only calm and tranquility to any home or office but a certain amount of sophistication as well. The wall murals shown on the page include a stunning Sunset Over Big Buddha, Thailand, a captivating mural of the Buddha statue at Parinirvana, Sri Lanka and a mural of the world's largest standing Buddha at Bamiyan, Afghanistan, to name but a few.

My home office desks site is also taking longer to take off than I would have hoped. I think I underestimated the competition on this one. That, though, is one of the biggest problems faced when choosing your niche. The time spent in researching the subject in terms of popularity, product availability and competiton can never be too much. A niche has to be found which not only is something which people are looking for but must be something which is not so popular that getting a good search engine position is like trying to walk up a hill in a downward direction. In addition, there must be adequate products to sell on the site to make it worthwhile building the site in the first place. That's why I think the Buddha Store will catch on once it's been properly indexed. It seems to fit the criteria perfectly and Buddhas are surprisingly popular, whether you're talking about a Buddha garden statue or even a Buddha book. Home office desks, even with its many categories such as home office corner desks, doesn't seem to fit the bill so well but it may just be a question of time. The actual look of the site has no influence on the search engine positions but of course can have a huge impact on whether people stay or go, otherwise known as the bounce rate. Once I start getting a reasonable number of visitors and have an idea of what the bounce rate is, then the site design is something I will have to look into. For now though, it can stay as is. The important thing is to get some visitors.

Well that's all for tonight, but let me leave you with a Youtube video I watched the other night. Hope you find it as funny as I did.

Buddhas Love Cooking

2010-09-16T23:00:00.007+01:00

I've been busy today arranging a new promotion with Love Cooking, one of the UK’s most innovative new cooking events which will be bringing together some of the best-loved celebrity chefs in the UK to present live shows in theatres in Bristol, Scotland, London and Yorkshire. The chefs involved include James Martin, Rick Stein, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Rachel Allen, Gary Rhodes and Ainsley Harriott to name but a few. Seek Scotland, along with Seek London and Seek Yorkshire have teamed up with Love Cooking to offer a 2-4-1 on all tickets for visitors to the Seek sites so you can take a friend to one of the shows for nothing. All you have to do is quote SEEK at the time of booking. the shows are being held in Bristol, Edinburgh, London and Harrogate. The shows will explore the craft and skill of these culinary masters, hear why they chose the ingredients, what inspires their dishes and find out what makes them love cooking. An absolute must for any cooking enthusiast. For more information visit http://www.seekscotland.co.uk/love-cooking.htm.

One positive aspect of the summer starting to turn slowly to autumn is that I should start to sell a few more dressing gowns! Selfish I know. I'm getting over eighty visitors a day to http://www.dressing-gowns.org.uk/ now and as it is hardly what you can call cold yet, I'm hoping that my daily visitors will exceed 300 a day before Christmas. That is also not allowing for dressing gowns being bought as Christmas presents, now that I've brought the subject up. The site has a good range of kimono style dressing gowns, a lovely selection of hooded dressing gowns and a nice choice of children's dressing gowns, to name just a few of the styles of dressing gowns and bath robes available. I've put together below a small selection of dressing gowns from the site for your perusal.

My latest venture is The Buddha Store, a specialist online Buddha shop selling anything Buddha including Buddha garden statues, ornaments and Buddha water features, Buddha books, Buddha jewellery, Buddha statuettes and a huge selection of Buddha fine art prints, Buddha wall murals and tapestries and Buddha posters. So whether you're looking for a Buddha water fountain to feature in your garden or just a little Buddha charm to add to your bracelet, or maybe you want to do a little reading on Buddhism, then have a look through the products we have listed on this site. Again, I've provided a selection below.

0.1% of the American population will do nicely thank you

2010-09-15T00:13:00.000+01:00

An executive decision has been reached. Towns and cities have got to go. New York City, Phoenix, Baltimore, Denver, Salt Lake City, the lot. Seek USA I'm talking about, in case you were wondering. Problem is that to have even a reasonable looking page there must be in the region of ten listings minimum. So take Denver for example. Denevr car hire, Denver jewelers, Denver driving schools. If each city has ten categories and each category has ten listings and I choose to have listings for say just one hundred American cities, which is only a fraction of them, that alone amounts to ten thousand listings. Or thirty listings every day for a year! I must say that I think I have to admit defeat here. Better to have no listings than towns and cities with only a couple of listings each. Doesn't look good. So that's my first job for tomorrow. Now I have to think whether or not to keep all my UK sites towns and village listings. Notice the difference between Seek USA (cities and towns) and the UK seek sites (towns and villages). We have a saying in the UK that everything in America is bigger.

Seek USA is getting an overhaul this week in a concerted effort to get it up in the search results. For some search results I get good positioning. cdl school in fl for spanish speaking page 1 Google, utah advanced driving school, page 1 Google, american caravans sale page 1 Google. And so it goes on. Yet with a population of well over 300 million people Seek USA is lucky to get thirty visitors a day. Some pages, such as the USA dating services pages and the RVs and motorhomes for sale USA pages do a lot better than others but with such a huge population there is a lot of scope for improvement. I think it's largely a case of finding the categories which are going to 'do it'. In the UK, it's caravans for sale. But even here, this category is coming to the end of its best until next spring so I could do with another 'super category' to take its place.

I think that in fact Seek USA is not going to really take off until all the states pages are properly up and running. Some, such as the California section with its California dating and California boats for sale categories are all up and running. Then there's Utah vacation rentals and Florida vacation rentals, and if you fancy a self catering vacation rental on the Hawaiian Islands you know where to look. But there's still a long way to go. It's a pity that you can't wave a magic wand and appear on page one of Google just like that. Of course, everyone would want to but everyone can't. For each long phrase keyword phrase only one website can be number one, only ten can be on page one. That's why I get so cross when I see adverts promising you a top of Google position. It's just not possible. If ten companies are all promising this to ten different companies, all for the same keyword, then at least nine of them are going to be disappointed. Monkeytree Web has pretty good results over all but Seek USA just doesn't seem to want to get there. So it's a little experimenting and testing time. We'll get there. One day, three thousand visitors a day will come a knocking, thats a million a year. When that happens I'll be happy. Thats's still only 0.1% of the population. It's doable. Not sure if that's a word, but it's doable.

Type southwest job vacancies into Google . We're number one (in the world that is!). self catering southwest number four in world Google. I know we can do it. The question is when.

Widgers

2010-09-13T00:40:00.003+01:00

Looking at my map of the UK which I have on my office wall, facing me as I sit at my laptop, it occured to me how difficult it must be for foreigners to understand the concept of the UK and Britain. The various terms are frequently misused by people from the UK so it's not surprising that the various terms used for our Isles and the surrounding areas are often not understood by people from other countries, such as the USA

The United Kingdom, aka the UK, is formed of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Simple as that. Great Britain on the other hand is just Scotland, Wales and England, along with all the little islands that make up these countries such as the Isle of Wight, the Scottish Islands, Burnt Island etc, along with the Isles of Scilly. The Isles of Scilly are represented in the United Kingdom Parliament as part of the St Ives constituency. This is why the UK is often called the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Isle of Mann and the Channel Islands are not part of the UK but are British Crown Dependencies. Now what then is Britain? This is where the confusion arises when people use the terms Britain and Great Britain as if they were one and the same. They are not. In 1975 the UK government affirmed that the term Britain, not Great Britain, could be used as a shortened form of the United Kingdom and therefore the term British refers to all citizens of the United Kingdom. Residents of Northern Ireland are British as they live in Britain but they do not live in Great Britain. It follows that the term United Kingdom and Britain are interchangeable and residents of the United Kingdom are British, unless of course they came in on the back of a lorry which is a totally different ballgame.

That still leaves the British Isles. Now this term has nothing to do with politics, country borders, 1975 or the backs of lorries. The British Isles are simply the collection of islands around the UK which include the Isle of Mann, the island of Ireland, the seven Channel Islands and all the Scottish Islands. There are over 1000 islands making up the British Isles. They do not, therefore, exist as a nation or political entity, they are merely a geographical feature. The islands of the British Isles include Anglesey, Bute, Yell, Jura, Canvey Island, Raasay, Holy Island, Eday, Walney Island and Muckle Roe and many, many more, not forgetting of course the popular Isle of Widgets where the now famous widget was designed in the late eighties. The Isle of Widget would be even more popular if they made it less expensive to get there. During a recent holiday to the south coast a planned trip to the place was changed to a trip to Brighton as the cost for taking a car and six passengers was prohibitive. Maybe we should have sneaked in on the back of a lorry. It's a shame because I was really looking forward to a trip round the widget factory. Did you know that since the birth of the first widget, over 250 different widgets are now available and they form the Isle of Widget's main export. Coming in a close second are the little tubes of different coloured sands which are made in a disused farmhouse near the coast at Freshwater employing mainly retired widget factory workers. These workers can be easily identified throughout the island because after a few years the sand becomes entrenched onto their skin giving them a slightly phosphorescent, multicoloured glow. They are known locally as Widgers. It's said that if enough Widgers were to get together on the beach at Ryde on a starry night, you'd be able to see them from Mrs Hoskilforth's B&B in Anvil Road, Portsmouth. The Channel Islands, although part of the British Isles*, are actually closer to the coast of Northern France than the coast of Britain

[*It must be pointed out that the inclusion of the Channel Islands as part of the British Isles is a hotly contested issue, especially amongst many Channel Islanders. However, the term is used here purely in a geographical sense without any reference to political or national boundaries.]

It's no wonder that the various terms are misused frequently and often by people who should know better.

I've decided to write a short blog

2010-09-12T10:49:00.003+01:00

a short blog

Heavy Mushrooms In a Small Bag

2010-09-12T01:46:00.001+01:00

I'm looking forward to breakfast. It might be eight hours or more before it's ready but I'm still looking forward to it. After all, most of those hours I'll be asleep so it will be here before I know it. Oh, there's another link, fancy that. A Devon bed and breakfast link and totally unplanned. When I got home earlier this evening having bought my three mushrooms ready for breakfast I checked my bill as I thought it seemed a bit steep. It turned out that I'd been charged for just over a kilo of mushrooms at £2.91 so I took them back to the shop, grateful that I live just five minutes walk away. When I got to the shop I showed the girl who had served me the three mushrooms I'd bought and asked her what the big mushroom had said to the little ones. She looked at me funny and said, "what?" I said, "there's not mushroom in this bag". Old I know but the old ones are best. Seriously though, the mushrooms should have cost 41p so after spending quite a while sorting out my refund she gave me my £2.50. In the meantime a queue of at least ten people had built up, all looking most distgruntled at having to wait a few minutes. I half expected someone to shout out, "Any chance of someone opening up anuver till luv?", then I would have loved to see her look in a few drawers and cupboards....hey I'd have even helped. Anyway, going back to breakfast, I've got all my food and drink ready for the morning including some lovely fresh orange juice, not from concentrate. (Notice that link I sneaked in there?)

I had promised myself that I'd get on this evening and start looking through my recipe books to plan a menu for my next meal but by the time I got to go in the lounge I was tired and it was getting late so I decided to sit and watch television so looked at the films menu. I only have a few film channels so the only film I could see, without trawling thru' all the other channels, was Roots which had started at eleven, by this time it was half past so I sat and watched it anyway. It finished at one but it turned out that this was only part one and there was no mention of when part two was to be played. So it was left with Kunta Kinte still on the boat - guess I'll have to search for when part two will be on. Knowing my luck it will be four o'clock this morning or some other equally ridiculous time.

It's now 1.20 and the idiots are out on Mutley Plain. Why does drink turn some men into complete and utter good for nothing antisocial morons? I wish the police had powers to sweep all these idiots up, keep the streets clean and the air quiet, lock up em all up in one big cell where they can all vomit, shout and swear to their hearts content for at leat fifteen hours without food or water then drive them ten miles out of Plymouth and let them make their own way back. May make a few of them think about doing it again.God, put me in charge and I'd sort a few things out!

Tomorrow is my day off, officially, but I've decided to work, albeit slowly. I had to take this afternoon off so that will be catch up time. Not that I intend to get up too early and then of course I have to cook breakfast but all being well I should be able to wrap up a few projects and do a good eight hours. (Double pay of course). At least I don't have far to go to the office.

I called into Blockbusters on the way to the shop this evening with a view to renting a film but two things stopped me. One was the price, they wanted £4 for a DVD! The other was that I didn't have my reading glasses with me so found it hard to read the DVD cases without holding the DVD two feet from my face so I gave it up as a bad job and went mushroom hunting instead.

Talking about mushroom hunting...

Ticket Clerks, Bikinis and Silly Old Sods

2010-09-11T01:31:00.001+01:00

About twenty seven years ago when working as a booking clerk in Basildon station, Essex, one particularlar Saturday trains all over the country were running late, cancelled or whatever. A chap came up to the window and asked when the next train from London was as he was meeting someone. I was unable to give him an answer but a few trains came and went and he was still waiting at least an hour and a half later, constantly asking, constantly moaning, when another customer who had just got off a train came to the window to ask a question and happenned to mention that he'd just arrived from Edinburgh. When he'd gone, the other chap came up to the window most indignant and said, "Hey, what's going on? I'm only waiting for someone from London but that man came all the way from Scotland and he's here already!" If it wasn't so sad that people can be so stupid it would be funny. My favourite line was when someone said, "I'm going to Livepool, do I have to change?", was to reply, "No Madam, you're Ok as you are". Some people can be amazing. I had a chap ring Basildon station one morning, ( in those days you rang your local station for train information rather than the Indian subcontinent. Can you imagine even thinking back then, Oh I think I'll ring someone in India to find out the time of the next train to London) to ask for train times to Colchester. When told that he would have to change at Southend Central, walk up the high street to Southend Victoria and change again at Chelmsford, he replied, in a very snooty voice, "You mean to tell me that there's no direct train from Basildon to Colchester? Well that's damned bad planning!" The silly old sod.

I couldn't work with the public these days. I found it hard in those days to keep my cool with some of the customers. These days I know I wouldn't be able to. If I got a job working with the public now, I'd be sacked on my first day. Actually it wasn't all bad. I enjoyed the three years I spent in Basildon before going back on relief. You got to know your local customers and could have a laugh with them. Going over the pub in the evening when your shift finished would often result in a pint being bought for you, in fact, every year at Christmas some of the regulars would treat us to bottles of wine or drink. My work mate Paul, who I shared every shift with on a rotating basis, used to bring his little dog Ben into the office quite often and one day he stuck him on the counter and we hid round the back and watched to see what happened. The first customer to come up was a little old lady who proceeded to ask Ben for a cheap day return to Southend. We were in stitches. It took a bit of composing for Paul to get out in the office and serve her. One day, me and Paul were in the pub after late turn and had just got a pint in when we decided we should get the train that was due back to Southend as we were doubling back for the early turn the next morning. So we took our pints out the pub and over to the station. We just caught the train and the looks on some of the other pasengers faces when we climbed in with a pint of Guiness each was a delight. Quite often on late turn, after the evening peak, one of us would go over the pub with a couple of cloth cash bags, buy two pints, put them in the bags and carry them back to the station. The pub staff were used to it but we got some funny looks from some of the customers who didn't know us. We weren't supposed to drink on duty but we kept the drinks out of sight of the customers and only ever had one pint in an evening. Mind you, every so often we had to take a large collection of glasses back to the pub. Our manager knew what was going on but he never did late turn with us so sort of turned a blind eye. Those were the days. Mind you, we worked seven days a week, week in week out, with loads of overtime, twelve hours shifts, double shifts, sometimes working from six in the morning till ten at night. The money was great but it didn't do a lot for your social life. Just as an example, I was working at Benfleet one evening when a couple of the regular girls came up to the window and asked for a couple of singles to Southend, wearing a large coat each. I asked them where they were going and they said to Tots (popular Southend nightclub) as it was a beachparty night. I said that if it was a beach party surely they'd be wearing bikinis at which point they both undid the buttons on their coats and pulled them open to reveal two itsy bitsy little bikinis. My eyes nearly fell out of my head. Not what you expect to see near the end of your shift in a busy ticket office. They laughed and said why didn't I go along too as I was about to close. Unfortunately, again I was due to do a quick turn round to open the office at 5.30 so had to decline, much to my gross disappointment. Shift work can be a pain at times but it has its good points as well. Nights especially, are great when you're saying goodbye to everybody at six in the morning when they're just starting and you're off home to bed. Unless, that is, when one of the early turn has gone sick and you're asked if you can stay on. I'd usually agree to stay on till eight if that happened, that was long enough, but the looks you got from the customers in the queue when you turned your light off at eight o'clock. It actually gave me a perverse sort of pleasure thinking about it. Reminds me of the time when I was working in Oxford booking office and the queue was long and slow moving like it sometimes could be. A customer was getting really wound up and he actally left the queue, put his bag and brolly down, jumped up in the air, stamped his feet and got back in the queue. I looked at him in disbelief, stopped serving my customer, jumped up in the air, stamped my feet and carried on serving my customer. Working on that side of the glass does make you see things from a different perspective. When queueing in banks etc or supermarkets, people often ask if there's someone who can open another position. A lot of booking offices I worked in were single manned and on one particular occasion I was really busy, the end of the queue couldn't be seen, I hadn't had a cup of tea for ages and someone asked me to find someone else to open up the other window! So I had a look in all the cupboards and drawers, under the desk, even in the safe, and went back and told him I couldn't find anyone.

Now life's a lot more peaceful. I get up early because I want to, not because I have to. I can wear what colour socks I want for work or even wear no socks at all. If I want to drink a pint of Guiness whilst working I can without fear of retribution. I don't have to look in drawers for spare members of staff who might be laying around and if the phone rings...I don't have to answer it! I earn less in real terms than I did twenty seven years ago but I have my freedom, the freedom to do what I want to do, when I want to do it, and that's one thing that money can't buy.

Oh no, I think I'm going to cras........

2010-09-10T04:49:00.001+01:00

I don't think that tonight's blog is going to go anywhere in particular but I'll start it off in Newcastle. Good a place as any. I've never had to look for self catering accommodation in the Northeast but if I did I'd use Seek Northeast. I did stay in Scarborough once, some years ago when I was a delegate to my union annual conference but that was before the days of the Internet, so looking for self catering holiday accommodation in Yorkshire would have had to be found some other way. Funny thing is, I can't remember how. No kidding. Using the Internet has now become so much the norm that I honestly can't think how else I'd look for say self catering holiday accommodation in the Northwest or to look for a caravan for sale in Wales other than to buy a caravan mag. Even a simple thing like buying a home office corner desk would have meant a trip to your local shop. What if you lived in the middle of nowhere? Where did you buy a Buddha garden ornament other than travelling maybe a hundred mile round trip to get one. And what if you got there and you'd forgotten it was half day closing? I wonder if some shops still close Wednesday afternoons? You know, I'm still thinking about a komono but now I'm veering more towards a mens burgundy dressing gown in a soft thermal fabric double brushed for extra warmth. Ready for the winter. Just thought I'd throw that in. Doesn't have to be burgandy. Dark blue would do just as well. Or even a regency stripe. Just so long as it's warm. Seventy four visitors to my dressing gown site yesterday...getting better. Now I just need the same number to my desks and puzzles sites and I'll be happy. Hopefully people will want to buy jigsaw puzzles online for Christmas so I must get that site properly sorted soon. Come October people start buying presents. Morrisons always puts its Christmas chocolates on the shelves (a start of them anyway) before the kids go back to school. That's one of my pet hates. Drivers who take for ever to get going when they get a green light is another. "Oh, the light's gone green. Well I suppose I better think about getting it into gear and making a move. After all, there is a long queue of traffic behind me who would like to get out too. Now, where's the gear stick? Oh yes....Oh dear, the light's gone back to red. Oh well, better luck next time". I must admit to shouting at other drivers through closed windows but as my niece keeps pointing out, "Uncle, they can't hear you" But it's the thought that counts. Some of these drivers really need to go find a driving school and relearn how to drive. How some of these people ever passed their driving test in the first place is beyond me. That reminds me of the time I took my motorbike test back in 1975 in Southend. The examiner told me he was going to appear unanounced and I was to brake. The silly sod stepped out right in front of me and I nearly ran him over. I didn't pass. Reminds me of the time slightly earlier when I was sitting in a cafe near Roots Hall football ground with some mates when a mate of a mate told us about a friend of his who had had a motorbike accident and was giving us his mate's thoughts as he crashed. "He lived then?", I asked, almost as a statement. "No, he was killed, instantly", he replied. Work that one out if you can.

Well, that's the end of another blog. It's quarter to five and time for bed. I'll leave you with a video that had my little niece in stitches a couple of days ago.

Peppa Pig and Devon Car Hire

2010-09-09T12:57:00.002+01:00

I've decided to take a break from tradition and write a morning blog. And why not? I've given myself an hour to write today's blog so it may go on a bit. So if you don't get to read it all I don't blame you.

I was watching Peppa Pig yesterday, as I do occasionally, and Peppa and Mummy Pig were waiting at the bus stop. Mummy Pig looked at the timetable and said that a bus was due at 10.00. "What's the time now?" asked Peppa. "Ten o'clock", replied Mummy Pig, "snort". Then along came the bus. Yeah right, like that happens in real life. They should be showing kids what really happens. Quarter of an hour later Peppa Pig should be saying, "Mummy, why are there two buses both turning up together?"

Anyway, talking about reality, I want to carry on from yesterday's blog and talk about a self catering holiday in Yorkshire I had some years ago. But of course I'd be fibbing, it was actually a holiday cottage in Devon. Really nice it was too, somewhere in Torbay, can't remember exactly where. But I digress, what I really wanted to say was simply how nice renting a holiday cottage can be. Just getting up in the morning, lounging around in your dressing gown and doing some light reading on Female Deities in Buddhism or something similar. Talking about dressing gowns, I've been very tempted just late to treat myself to a nice Kimono Style Dressing Gown for Men but I'm in two minds about it.

Changing the subject a little, I must say how impressed I am with the way that blogs can help with search engine positioning. They won't help with your broadband speed but by linking your websites from a blog, as I'm doing here, then pinging the blog, it will certainly help. Doing this with http://www.buddhastore.co.uk/ got me a visitor from Google three days after putting the site live. Amazing!

I sometimes wonder how some people can be so thick. Seek Southwest is obviously a website directory. When you're on the southwest car hire page, it's quite obvious what it is. There's even a car hire enquiry form where you can put in your vehicle requirements and a quote will come back to you in seconds. I've included these forms for everywhere in the UK from car hire in Northern Ireland to car hire in kent, it's not difficuly, not exactly rocket science, so why do I get a phonecall asking me if I've got any M3s? "Good morning, Monkeytree Web". "Allo, av you got any M3s?". "What's an M3?" "Are you a car 'ire place?" I dispair but I suppose it's nice of these people to ring. Happens quite a lot and I get a lot of enquiries by email. "I want to go with six kids me and two dogs and a bughi to a caravan in cornwall hav u got anyfink sootable in april fanks dawn". I tell dawn to find a kennel and a child minder, give her some advice on contaception, and tell her to visit the UK dating website. (Mine of course). And whilst she's at it, maybe a book on Buddha might help her. Don't know how but it might. Did you know, and I don't suppose you did, that Allposters has over a thousand Buddha posters available? I've just signed up to Allposters so that's something to add to my site.

I've recently decided to do a website on charms shortly. Top price of a charm I'd be able to advertise is around £134000. Yes three zeros is correct. That would bring in a whopping ten grand or more in commission. Nice. Jewellery is certainly something to start selling but it's finding the right niche within the jeweller sector. Charms sounds good, thousands of Google searches made every month. More research to do but it's promising. Another one I'm definitely going to do is sewing machines. Great little niche.

I've recently started adding affiliate links to my Seek sites. These are taking the form of a screen shot of the website and blend in streamlessly with the othet photo ads on the pages. A link to eHarmony on the dating page has already earnt me a pound. Not a lot but if I could do that every day that's £30 a month from just one ad. As With all my work, it's the numbers game. And in my case a waiting game. Talking about games, it's a shame that kids don't play childrens board games as often as they used to years ago. Although having said that I watched my nieces having a game of snakes and ladders a few days ago. Brianna, the three year old, wanted to do her own thing as usual and certainly wasn't having any of this going down a snake nonsense. But all kids love doing jigsaws, especially the young ones when wooden jigsaw puzzles are the favourite.

Well, since I started writing this, I've taken three phone calls and time is getting on and my stomach is telling me it's time for lunch. I'm going to eat it today on my home office computer desk rather than mess around setting the table in the dining room. Much as my dining room is one of my favourite parts of my home and garden, sometimes it just has to be ignored. The office is fine for eating in.

Will write again tomorrow, when once again I'll be talking drivel (wasn't sure if that was the correct word but my word finder says it's silly nonsense so I guess it was), this time concentrating on the north of England, including Yorkshire, Northeast England and Northwest England.

Bye for now.

Devonshire Buddhas and Electric Blankets

2010-09-07T23:06:00.001+01:00

Well, here we are, the summer's now officially over, the kids are all back at school and my feet are back under my home office desk as I sit here building my new affiliate empire. Some empire it isn't at present but out of small potatoes giant chips will grow. (Or is it something to do with acorns and oak trees?). At present I've finished work and am sitting here with my bournevita, in my dressing gown and slippers, listening to songs about hanging and being shot (I love country and western) and looking out over my neighbours' rooftops.Actually it's pitch black but I know they're there. Is everybody really in bed already? It's only half ten. Maybe they're saving on electric or perhaps the BBC has started playing the national anthem again and telling everybody to remember to swittch off their sets. Those were the days. Yeah right. When I told a young, 24 year old friend recently that that's what they used to do I don't think she believed me. She looked at me incredulously when I told her. Funniest thing since sliced bread she thought, not that sliced bread is particularly funny, not quite on par with say Tommy Cooper but then all I'd get from her would be Tommy Who?

Anyway, as I said, summer's over, like so many summers in the past, and that's got me reminicising (Too many 'i's I think). I've had some great summers over the years, travelling all over the UK, including Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales and also a few trips to the USA. But one thing's for sure,
"There's no place like home
Well I say now home, home sweet home
There's no place like home
Wherever you wander
There's no place like home. "

Ask Elvis, he'll tell you. (Well he would but he's dead).

So here I am at home, just me and my Buddha statue for company, my bournvita drunk, trying to decide whether to do some more Buddha books pages or have an early night. I actually fancy a game of Trivial Pursuit, for some strange reason, but if I played against myself I'd probably win.

I've just been to make a cup of tea, and you didn't even notice. Just think, between the words 'win' and 'I've' I could have been on a fortnight's holiday to Cyprus, got a lovely tan, stuffed myself silly, drunk myself into a stupour and you wouldn't have the faintest idea. It's a bit sureal actually, very Lion, Witch and Wardroby when you think of it. How often do we read something online and not know what's actually happened between the lines, or between the words. How many cups of tea have been made between 'once upon' and 'a time'? A year, or even ten, could stand between them but nobody would ever know. It's almost as if time has stopped still. Something to think about.

Well I missed out on my roast dinner on Sunday so I think I might have one tomorrow, Yorkshire pud an'all. Roast chicken I think is long overdue, or maybe a nice piece of Pork with a big dollup of apple sauce. Dam! Now I'm feeling hungry - time for a bowl of cornflakes with hot milk, my favourite bedtime food. Won't be long before my electric blanket goes back on the bed. Doesn't seem five minutes since I took it off. I said to my brother yesterday that it's only seven months before the warm weather comes back. I'm such fun!

Home Is Where The Wallet Is

2010-08-23T01:55:00.039+01:00

I've been thinking lately, even though I've just spent a great week on holiday staying with a good friend, about the direction I'm going to go with my affiliate websites. Even on holiday, work is always there in the background trying to force its way through to the front during a moment of inactivity. Not that there were many of them what with the fishing, walking on the beach, beach barbeque and picnic, amusements, walking the dog, swimming in the cold waters of Southern England, crazy golf, the Brighton Lanes, cooking, drinking (I must admit to seriously lagging behind both my friend and my sister here), watching Pooh Bear and other kids DVDs countless numbers of times, eating in, eating out, playing lawn badminton, taking the girls to the swings and the death slide and feeding the ducks to name just a few. A great week was had by all and it ended all too soon. Thank you so much Sharon. Next year, when we do it all again we should have slightly better weather than a typical August in England - all being well we'll be in Australia; Perth, Alice Springs, Sydney and possibly Adelaide. Can't wait.

Right back to my affiliate websites. I have decided to go down the line of having one huge site with dozens or hundreds of sub sections for a lot of reasons I won't go into here although cost is one big factor. A hundred sites costing £7 a year each is a lot more than one site with a hundred subsections. Also £7, a saving of £693 a year. Then there's the ease of use and administration plus the difficulty of getting all the individual sites good search engine positions and keeping them there. Another reason is the need to sign up for every merchant again for every website I build and this is a very time consuming process. With one site to deal with, once I've been accepted by a particular merchant then that's it, I'm accepted and can push anything that that merchant is selling.

I'm toying with the idea of having a 'home' site with all the sub sections allocated rooms or areas of the house. There's the obvious ones such as the kitchen which can be used for selling white goods, kitchen accessories, kitchenware etc, the bedroom (dressing gowns!), the dining room etc all with obvious items for sale but there's also rooms such as the hobby room which could contain absolutely any hobby or sport items and the nursery for countless baby products, the study with huge potential, the games room for toys and games, the garage which could include bikes and trikes, the utility room, lounge, sitting room, TV and home theatre, workshop, the garden of course which in itself has huge scope, the library for books (Ok so there's huge competition with the likes of Amazon but there's 60million people plus in the UK) - the list is endless and if you include slightly tenuous links (tenuous is fine) the list is endless plus one. Of course, I'd also have one big index which would take customers straight to the page selling the item they're after and with one big site I could add a search facility which I wouldn't mind paying for if I had to.

One big problem is what to call the site - the name doesn't have to have the word 'home' in in it as the stuff that will be sold will all be under the page name and this is what will be picked up by the search engines but the name must give the feel of the site. I've done a bit of research on various URLs and as usual many of my ideas have already been taken such as everythingforthehome.co.uk, (all the following are .co.uk), thehomestore, everythingforyourhome, homerooms, athome, yourhome, your-home, homecomforts, home-comforts, thehappyhome, homeideas, thehomestore, roombyroom, homeiswheretheheartis. Homeiswherethewalletis.co.uk is available as is whatmakesahome, thehomerooms, thecomfortablehome, thehomestartshere and whatsinyourhome.co.uk are all available. Any more ideas are welcome. I'm going to spend some time thinking on that tomorrow. For example, if I chose thecomfortablehome.co.uk then the URL for electric lawnmowers would be thecomfortablehome.co.uk/electric-lawnmowers.htm . It would be this URL plus the well optimised content that the search engines would index. I'm also leaning towards having the front page written with Wordpress so that I can ping it regularly but not designed to look like a blog, which is the last thing I'd want.

Whilst just making a cup of tea I thought of 'nothingquitelikehome.co.uk' which is available so I'll add that to my list of contenders. Also there is 'walltowallhome.co.uk', which I quite like along with 'thatnicehomefeeling.co.uk', both of which are available.

Since starting to write tonight's blog, I feel even more that one big 'home' site is the way to go and that one day whenever someone wants something for the home they'll say "Let's look on Wall To Wall Home, they're bound to have one". I've just thought of another available contender - 'ahomeforeverything.co.uk'. Also everythingathome.co.uk, ahomeandplaceforeverything.co.uk and everythinginthehome.co.uk

Decision, decision - it's just so hard. The choice really isn't now for the search engines, it's for visitor impact. What will help make them stay, what will help make them go so far as the name element is concerned.

I'll work on it.

Eureka!

2010-08-05T01:16:00.004+01:00

My sister has put my niece's old bike in the front garden, leaning against the wall, in the hope that someone will take it. Two days later it's still there. Action has been taken. As my sister says, you can tell you live in a good neighbourhood when you have to put a sign on the bike saying, "Please take me!"

Last weekend I purchased a blow up bed from Millets to use when visiting friends but only discovered yesterday that I had in fact purchased a kids bed as it was only 156cm long so would have left either my head or my feet hanging precariously over the edge. I went back to Millets to change it without a problem. The new one, though, doesn't have a secret compartment for my dollies. Maybe the picture on the box and the name 'Secret Sleeper' should have given the game away.

I was asked the other day what had been the inspiration for my dressing gowns site. It was simply that I'd been laying in bed and looked up and saw my dressing gown hanging on the door. And I thought, "Ah, dressing gowns!" It was the same with home office desks. I was sitting at my home office desk, wondering what to sell, and looked down. Eureka! Countless inventions, products, services, organisations, discoveries etc must have come from Eureka! moments. The amazing thing about Eureka! moments is that they can happen right out of the blue when you're not even thinking about what it is that the Eureka! moment is about. You can be mowing the lawn and suddenly the idea that you've been waiting for for years can suddenly pop into your head. Nothing to do with lawns. What causes them I have no idea. My brother would say that it's the Universe passing on information that you have requested from it, allbeit possibly sublimily. If it's the Universe, why does it sometimes take so long? Couldn't it just get a move on sometimes? Or should we just be thankful that we're getting its help at all? I prefer to think that it's our brains suddenly releasing a thought that's been held captive somewhere in its deep recesses and doesn't care if you're in the middle of an important social gathering when you get the "Yeeessss!" moment and a few funny looks to boot. A bit like when you're walking down a busy street and for no obvious reason you suddenly think of something funny and can't help chuckling out loud.

I was just thinking, I haven't put any Youtube links up for ages so maybe it's time I did. It's fittingly called, "Elmo's Eureka Moment".

Disappearing Macs

2010-08-02T01:15:00.008+01:00

http://www.seeksouthwest.co.uk/surfing.htmI spent another lovely few hours today down at the Hoe even though our summer was on form and subjecting us to a constant drizzle. This didn't seem to deter the holidaymakers though who just carried on as though the sun was shining. There was even a few people swimming in the Tinside lilo. And why not? They were wet anyway. Seeing all these people walking about in their t-shirts did bring back a long-forgotten memory however. Plastic macs. Whatever happened to them? I haven't seen anyone wearing a plastic mac for years, not even the older generation. When I was a boy and went out for the day in summer, such as on a church trip etc, I was always told, "Don't forget your plastic mac". Everyone had one. Horrible things. I'm really not sorry they've all disappeared.

Back to the Hoe, I parked myself in the walkway under the main pavement along the front. There's plenty of seats here and views right out over the sound and Drake's Island. I made a start on reading Grantchester Grind by Tom Sharpe, a book I first read several years ago. I've decided to re-read my entire collection of Tom Sharpe books. Tom Sharpe has to be one of the funniest writers I've ever read. His books are laugh out loud funny, the plots are outlandish and the characters just totally bizarre. Every book is full of black humour and comic anarchy, literature at its finest.
I've put three of his books below, in case any of you glorious readers are interested in seeing what Tom Sharpe's about, if you've never had the pleasure of his aquaintance.

Thinking about it, there's a lot of things that have disappeared over the years. Spangles for one. Bubble cars. My mother had a bubble car, bright yellow, when I was about ten or so. I suppose they were quite dangerous really as to get in the whole front was lifted round so if you were caught in a head on collision you'd be trapped. Manual typewriters. Clank, clank, clank. Ding! The key bars for ever getting caught up together if you tried to type too fast. At least you could choose between black and red printing. Wow, that was amazing. And I suppose with typewriters goes duplicators. Twin tubs with wringers. Wonder if anyone still uses them? And oat crunchies. One of my all time favourite breakfast cereals just doesn't exist any more and there's no equivalent. And one thing that's on its way out...feet and inches. Once my generation has all gone that will be it. I recently asked a chap in his late twenties, who was helping me with a project, to pass me about three feet of string. He looked at the string and started pulling loads off the ball. "How much is that? I have no idea how much three feet is". He wasn't joking. About a meter I said. I was gobsmacked, but as I've said before, my gob's easily smacked.

As well as people swimming in the lodo, there were a few boys swimming in the sea but they were wearing wetsuits which I thought most sensible. It reminds me of a former work colleague who used to spend all his spare time surfing, right though the year and used to make a point of going out Christmas day if he could. He used to say that when he'd get out the water in the middle of winter, getting out the wetsuit was really hard as his fingers had no feeling because of the extreme cold. Wetsuits are great he'd say and whilst in the water you generally feel fine and one way to help keep warm is to pee into your suit. So a word of warning - never buy a second hand wetsuit!

The water today was flat calm, Plymouth Sound not able to generate a slight ripple to break the monotony of smoothness. Even the Pont Aven with its hoard of Spaniards and returning British tourists glided in without denting the surface, like an ancient Chinese warrior walking across a sheet of ricepaper leaving no footprints. Ah Grasshopper! How I'd love to own a little wooden cabin boat, moored off Saltash and go out on a day like this round to Rame Head, anchor up for a while, do a spot of fishing or just make a cuppa before heading back. One day, maybe, when all my new affiliate sites actually come into their own, I'll be able to buy myself a boat.

But that's another story.

Braless Trivia

2010-07-29T23:30:00.004+01:00

Otto Titzling did not invent the bra. Although with a name like that he should have. His name was given as the answer to the question, who invented the bra? , on a Trivial Pursuit card some years ago. This rogue answer was a favourite of one of the Canadian co-founders of the game, Chris Haney, who died earlier this year aged just 59. I suppose even researchers of Trivial Pursuit questions can get it wrong but they have to be careful. I mean, when Trivial Pursuit first came on sale in 1981, the Internet hadn't been invented. Nobody knew about it, except for time travellers. So imagine the arguments that must have ensued with questions like that before instant clarification could be found. Families could be split up, marriages put at risk. Wars have been started over less. There has been over 90million games of Trivial Pursuit sold in 26 countries and 17 languages since Chris Haney and Scott Abbott put it up for sale. There's also been 42 different editions of the game, including one for Baby Boomers, one for Disney fans and one for people who love the Eighties. There's even been a Beatles edition for Fab Four affectionados. How's that for a bit of trivia?

Right, here's some useless facts that you really should know, just in case you ever get asked;

1)When airplanes were still a novel invention, seat belts for pilots were installed only after the consequence of their absence was observed to be fatal - several pilots fell to their deaths while flying upside down. I don't supposed the planes survived either.
2)In Lehigh, Nebraska it's against the law to sell donut holes. Next time I go to Nebraska, I'm going to ask for one.
3)In Idaho a citizen is forbidden by law to give another citizen a box of candy that weighs more than 50 pounds. I'd setlle for a 49 pound box of candy.
4) Forty six percent of the world's water is in the Pacific Ocean. The Atlantic has 23.9 percent; the Indian, 20.3; the Arctic, 3.7 percent. I joined the Navy to see the world and what did I see? I saw the sea.
5)The Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland was a symbolic character for the hat makers in towns of the late 1800's. The large felt hats of the day had supports made out of lead. The lead caused an organic form of psychosis (brain damage) to develop in the hat makers causing them to be declared crazy.

Going back to Trivial Pursuit, have a look at the four Trivial Pursuit products below. They just go to show how things have moved on in the last three decades.

And here's an old pic of Chris Haney and Scott Abbott with their invention.

More trivia. I've just had a chocolate twist for supper. Not many people know that.

Tuesday Lottery

2010-07-28T07:48:00.002+01:00

I won the lottery yesterday. I won, on a Tuesday using the numbers 1,1,1,2,2,8. Not many people can do that. It turned out that I won several prizes all on the same ticket and my win came to several million pounds. I used a special electronic ticket generator and my nieces were warned not to turn it off as it was the only proof of my chosen numbers. My sister Maria confirmed the win, even though I'd checked it several times myself, of course. Naturally I was elated, over the moon, jumping for joy - you get the picture. The feeling you get when winning such a huge amount of money is just undescribable. I suppose it's a bit like the feeling you're suppossed to get when falling from a great height - your whole life flashing before you except in this case it's your future life flashing through your head giving you glimpses of what's to be. Good glimpses, of course, nothing bad like befalls a lot of winners of large amounts of money. Everyone believes that suddenly having loads of money will make them the happiest people on earth, and so it should. Unfortunately there's a lot of idiots out there and when an idiot is handed a fortune on a plate they just can't handle it. They buy a helicopter or the most expensive car on the market. They buy a ridiculously large house with acres of land. They spend, spend, spend and end up back where they were, or worse, before their win. They may have had a fun-filled two years but that's it.

Going back to my feeling of elation, this was of course short lived. My alarm went off and I hit the ground with a thud, metaphorically speaking. I made my first cup of tea in a bad mood, upset that my win wasn't to be. But one day maybe it will. I have a one in fourteen million chance the same as everybody else and to be quite honest a win of a just a few thousand would be great right now, it would pay for next year's holidays to Canada and Australia.

My ideal win would be around eight million pounds. Not sure where I got the figure of eight million other than that was the amount that had been won by a couple who featured on a television programme a few years ago. They'd given the whole lot away and thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it. Ever since watching that I'd wished I could do the same. Some years ago I read the story of a young girl who had cancer but the NHS refused to fund any treatment as they said her chances of survival were slim and it wouldn't have been a prudent use of funds. I was incensed and wished I'd had the £25000 needed. The pleasure to have been able to hand the money over would have been immeasurable. As it happened, a mystery benefactor did pay for the necessary treatment. The girl died fairly soon afterwards but the point is that at least she was given the chance. That's what I want to do. Be a mystery benefactor - Captain Cash . Nobody would know it was me and nobody except close family and friends would know about my winnings. The last thing I'd want would be begging letters, they'd go straight in the bin. A win of £8,000,000 would probably be split up into a gift of a couple of hundred thousand to each of my brothers and sisters and my mother and a tidy sum put aside to help my daughters out as they go through life. I wouldn't hand everything to them on a plate, however, I'd just make sure that they were never short of anything. I'd buy a modest house and car and having made sure my (real) friends were all Ok as well, put a few hundred thousand away to see me through the rest of my life. Having done all this I'd still have around six million pounds left. What on earth could I do with six million pounds? My life would be complete, my family's mortgages would all be paid, they wouldn't go wanting for anything. My daughters would be well looked after and my friends would do alright. The interest on what was left alone would be more than I would ever earn each year. I could up and go on holiday anytime I wanted, I could buy anything I wanted. Hence the reason for giving the rest away. Slowly, over the years. I wouldn't need it. I couldn't sit there with six million pounds in the bank whilst I read about a situation like the girl I mentioned above and do nothing about it. The proviso would have to be that my bank swore my activities to secrecy. Cheques from Captain Cash would have to be untracable, I couldn't handle begging letters and I really wouldn't want anyone knowing it was me. The recipients of my gifts would be carefully researched to ensure their genuineness. (I had to check my wordfinder here, genuineness didn't sound like a proper word).

Of course, the above is never going to happen, not by me at any rate. I don't really believe that my ticket is ever going to be the one out of the fourteen million but I can dream along with the millions of others who pay their weekly pound hoping for a sudden answer to all their financial problems and a sudden change of lifestyle.

Oh well, guess I'd better get on with some work, I have a living to make.

No Idea

2010-07-21T02:50:00.007+01:00

Tonight's blog is titled 'No Idea' although I actually have no idea what it will be about other than no idea. If that makes any sense. I think I'll Google 'no idea' and see what it comes up with...Well I just Googled it and you know what Google replied? "No idea". Stumped it..Uncle Rhubarb 1, Google 0. Reminds me of that great series, 'The prisoner' when at the end Patrick McGoohan was given the chance to get out if he could ask this supercomputer a question it couldn't answer. He asked the computer the question "why?" and it did a double somersault and half back flip and blew up. Think I'll ask Google why? No 1 is WHY ON MYSPACE MUSIC. Interesting I'm sure. At least my laptop's still in one piece.

Going back to Google's 'no idea' results it actually came back with 392 million results. That's 392000000+ web pages containing both those words. No surprise there but what is astoundingly amazing is that it took Google just one fifth of a second to come to that conclusion. If you stop and think about that it is just mind boggling but then my mind is easily boggled. Let me go through some of the results. No 1 is a Youtube video, (what a surprise) NaS, No Idea's Original. And guess what, at no expense spared and for your enjoyment I Give you, 'No Idea's Original'. If you don't like rap you can skip to the next paragraph.

Next up is the No Idea Tavern located in Baltimore, Maryland. They do home made chips and Salsa for $6.00. I wasn't planning on visiting Baltimore any time soon, but if I do I'll be sure to drop in. Suppose a little on the spot research for Seek USA wouldn't go amis. Next up (Don't worry, I'm not going to do all 392 million) is a site giving information on how to do a sales presentation. Must bookmark that. Might want it one day. That's the day when pigs learn to fly. Further down page one, 'Shenae Grimes Has No Idea Who Cory Monteith Is' They've got to be joking. She doesn't know who Cory Monteith is? Actually, who is he? Come to think of it, who the hell is Shenae Grimes? Well let's have a look. Apparantly she's a Canadian actress. She currently portrays the role of Annie Wilson in 90210. Well there you have it. Fancy me not knowing that. I need to get out more. That reminds me, who is Cory Monteith? Let's look. (Bet you didn't see that coming). He's a Canadian actor, obviously extremely famous as Shenae Grimes doesn't know him, apparantly. But then why should she. Maybe he's never heard of her either. Maybe someone should set up a blind date. Visit http://www.actorswhodontknoweachotherbutwouldliketobecomebetteraquainted.com/ . to set up such a date. Seriously, for dating in the USA, you should visit the Seek USA dating section.

I Googled my telephone number the other day, without the area code, well I was bored, and first appeared on page 16 under http://www.buyorrentahomeinspain.co.uk/ . I share my telephone number with several photos, a calculated transition probability of transitions from the 3d54p (What do you mean you don't understand it? and all that education!), and Clint Adams of 95 CHIMNEY HILL ROAD, Wallingford CT 06492. Hi Clint. I also discovered that The 9th of the Hebrew month of Av will mark the centenary of Natan Alterman, the most prominent of a large group of writers whose work heralded the establishment of a Jewish state. Just think, that without Google I would never have known that and would have gone through life with my knowledge bank just that little bit poorer. Talking about Google, as I seem to be, my sister Helen, about a year ago was asking herself a question out loud and Niamh, just seven at the time said, "Just Google it Mummy". They learn young.

Breakfasts for Small Countries

2010-07-19T01:09:00.001+01:00

I decided to have a Dutch breakfast this morning, not that it was necessarily typically Dutch, I mean for all I know the Dutch may never eat it. I had it because it's quick and easy and tastes nice. What more can you want from a breakfast? The reason I call it a Dutch breakfast is because loads of cafes in Amsterdam sell it. It may be there just for the tourists but I shall always think of it as a Dutch breakfast whether it is or isn't. By the way, in case you're wondering, it's just ham on toast, topped with two or three fried eggs and covered in grated cheese. Simple but delicious, especially if accompanied with a good dollop of ketchup, Heinz of course, none of your cheap rubbish. Isn't it funny that when Heinz got to 57 varieties they started advertising the fact and have kept to the number ever since. Why 57? Why not Heinz 68 or Heinz 264? I suppose it hasn't got the same ring to it. I've just checked the label and it still says Heinz Tomato Ketchup 57 varieties. One thing though that does concern me is that the label says, 'grown, not made'. Really? How on earth do you grow ketchup? Well Heinz has been around since 1869, thats around 140 years so I suppose they've had a while to perfect it, but between you and me I think they're lying. It says on the label as well that it contains 0.1g of fibre per serving. Well they haven't seen my dollops! There's actually quite a lot of information on the bottle most of which of course never gets read except by bored people. There's a careline number. A careline number for tomato ketchup? What's all that about? The people who work there must have the most boring job in the world because I really can't imagine anybody ever ringing it. I mean how would they answer the phone? "Hello, this is the tomato ketchup careline. Please press one if you have some ketchup which is being abused, press two...." Also Heinz tomato ketchup is by appointment to Her Majesty the Queen. What does that actually mean? I really can't imagine the Queen at breakfast, "Oh Phillip, please pass the ketchup". Maybe she does but she looks more like an HP sauce person to me. There's also a website, www.heinztketchup.co.uk . No, I'm not going to look at it, I'm not that sad. Although I must admit to having had a look at the Baby Bel cheese website after I saw their ad on tele so maybe I am. Anyway, one thing's for certain, I'm definitely going to start reading these bottle and jar labels more often. I mean someone's gone to the bother of writing all this stuff and designing the label so I suppose it's the least we can do occasionally. Actually, I just rang the tomato ketchup careline and they're closed. I think that's terrible just because it's ten to one in the morning. They don't open till 8.30. They don't really care. Not only that but they don't open bank holidays. Or Sundays. What is this country coming to?

Anyway, back to Dutch breakfasts, I always think it's amazing how little countries like The Netherlands and Britain, Italy and Belgium to name just a few, have had such a phenominal impact on world history. When you consider the sizes of the British Empire and the Roman Empire before that it really does start you thinking. But what really starts me thinking is when you hear that some Emperor of Gaul got a message from Rome, for example. How does that happen? I mean it's a bit more than just a day's horse ride away. How does the messenger feed his horse? Where does he sleep? What happens if he's twenty miles from his destination and he drops the message in a muddy puddle? Oh dam! So he has to go back and ask Julius Ceaser for another one. Oh stupid boy, be more careful next time. Can't say I'd have wanted to be a postman back in those days. Dangerous job. These days the biggest danger is getting bitten by an oversized sausage dog.

Anyway, I'm off to do some reading. There's a pile of tins in my larder which I haven't read yet and I might just curl up on the sofa with a box of cornflakes. Good night.

Lay In For a Dummy

2010-07-18T01:07:00.007+01:00

I had a lay in this morning but I'm not very happy about it. You see, the problem is that I was asleep at the time. If I have a lay in, I like to be awake so that I'm aware that I'm having a lay in otherwise what's the point of having one? I went to bed at eleven last night and didn't wake up till nine this morning. What a complete waste of time. However, had I got up at six and then gone back to bed and actually been able to enjoy the fact that I was about to have a lay in that would have been great. And even better if I'd woken up again at seven and been able to have the experience all over again. But sleeping right through a lay in serves no purpose at all. It reminds me of when people say, "Did you have a good night?", I'm always tempted to say, "I don't know, I was asleep at the time", but it always seems a little sarcastic for what is meant as a genuine enquiry.

I've spent a lovely day at my sister's house, preparing her garage for changing two thirds of it into a den for my nieces. I've promised them a settee and carpet and I've said I'll install some sort of walkie talkie system so that their mum can call them into tea or bed without having to trapse down the garden. Although if the call is for the latter I'm sure that there will be some trapsing involved. Imagine the scenario of my sister calling the girls in for bed and they go in straight away. No, I can't imagine it either. There'll also be some sort of music system, probably just a CD player, and there's an old portable tele belonging to a cousin of theirs that they've made a claim to but I'm not sure that I'll be able to receive anything as of course we've all gone digital so I guess it will have to be a freeview box as well. There's also a desk top fridge that they've laid claim to. I've had instructions from the girls that I must make the den 100% spider proof so I'm having to bear that in mind as I make my plans although I think in reality it's going to be nearer 98% spider proof. I'm sure some little ones will slip in somewhere but I won't tell them that.

It's only a week today before Helen's barbeque, something we've been looking forward to for ages. Just hope the rain keeps off but if it doesn't I have a plan B. I'll be able to cook on the barbie still and pass the food into the kitchen, all under the cover of a makeshift binbag marquee. Useful things, plan Bs. There's a universal enjoyment of barbeques whether it's a small gathering with a couple of bangers being cooked on an instant barbie or a large get together with tables of food and drink. We're expecting coming on to forty people if everyone turns up, including about a dozen kids, so it should be a nice do. It's not just the food, it's the getting together, the socialness, the laughter, the beer and wine, all done under the smell of charcoaled sausages and blackened burgers, heaps of coleslaw and hot, fiery ketchup. That reminds me, I must dig out the recipe for the barbequed Burmese steak strips I mentioned in an earlier blog.

Personally, I prefer cooking on a traditional charcoal barbeque but I know a lot of people swear by gas barbeques these days. I'm still old school on the subject and I think anyone would be hard-pushed to get me to think otherwise.

Whatever type of barbeque you prefer using, have a look at all three shown below, you never know, you may just change your mind.

I've just finished uploading my brother's latest ventriloquist dummy video to Youtube, see below, as his site, http://www.kallinipuppets.co.uk/, has now had the third dummy, Grumps, made available for sale.

Black Pudding and Aubergines

2010-07-16T01:34:00.002+01:00

I've recently decided to take up cooking as a hobby rather than just as a means of survival. Of course everyone cooks, either that or they eat raw meat and vegetables, which maybe some people do. Reminds me of the film, Notting Hill, during which one of Hugh Grant's dinner dates says that she doesn't eat fruit and vegetables because they can feel pain. I don't think she got past the first date. No, by cooking as a hobby I mean cooking the sort of meals that you don't cook every day. Bangers and mash, fish fingers and chips, a full English breakfast with black pudding and hash browns...talking about breakfasts, there's a very popular cafe just up the road to me called Goodbodys, just off Mutley Plain, Plymouth. They have about a dozen or so full breakfast menus including a Devon breakfast, Irish, Welsh and Cornish to name just a few. Now the Cornish breakfast consists of a Cornish pastie along with all the usual bacon and eggs etc. I know a thoroughbred Cornishman, the sort who believes that England ends at the River Tamar, and he says that he's never heard of such a thing. But I think that Goodbodys should be allowed a little artistic licence as both the Cornish breakfast and the Irish breakfast (with black pudding and white pudding) I would whole-heartedly recommend. Talking of black pudding, cooking a breakfast a few weeks ago for my two young nieces I asked them if they wanted to try some black pudding. "What's it got in it?", they both immediately asked. "Oh, just stuff", I told them. They looked at me suspiciously but both agreed to give it a try. Keira turned her nose up with the first bite but Niamh, the elder niece, said it was lovely. That was until later in the day when her good friend Nyah told her that it was made with blood. The look on Niamh's face told me that she wouldn't be having any more in a hurry. All in all though I must say that for a six and eight year old they are extremely unfussy in what they'll eat. Most things put in front of them are eaten without question but I think that what I cooked this evening, my first dinner cooked under the auspices of my new hobby, may not have been enjoyed too much. The adults, that's me and three others, all thought it was lovely and are now looking forward to the next one.

Starters was Aubergine and Mozeralla Stack, a simple recipe from a book entitled "Healthy Eating Recipes" or similar. (This book and the pudding book mentioned later are both still at my sisters so I'll include details of the books in a later post). Consisting of a chopped tomato with garlic and olive oil base and topped with a triple layer sandwich of grilled aubergine and melted mozerella with prostuicco ontop and decorated with fresh basil leaves it looked lovely when brought into the room and went down well with all the guests. I had intended to do individual peppered goats cheese souflees (see Delia Smith online) but I couldn't find any goats cheese, peppered or otherwise, in my local Morrisons so had to apply plan B. Glad I had one. The souflees can wait till next month.

Main course was also a plan B but I'm not sure why. Plan B consisted of a yellow rice with cheddar, topped with roasted vegetables and streaky bacon and served with a little cheese sauce. Again it looked nice as it was served and I'm sure that psychologically if the food looks nice it probably tastes nicer. Again it went down well, as did the accompanying red and rose wines. A dinner party, even if only small like ours, has to have wine. It's the law. This came from the same healthy eating book but the cheese sauce was my own idea and I must say was an improvement. Without it, the dish would have been a little dry, other than the drizzled vegetable cooking juices.

Main course was a bread and butter pudding and if I do say so myself, was absolutely delicious. This one was from a book, 67 (or some similar number) simple pudding recipes. I've always been a lover of bread and butter pudding and this one was a treat. The butter was unusually coated with coarse marmalade before being put in the dish and a layer of grated apple was also used to give an overall very tasty effect. Eaten straight from the oven with fresh double cream, this finished the meal off nicely.

So that was my first major cook since starting my new hobby but with nothing too strenuous or difficult. I've never made souflees so when I get round to that it'll be a new experience. I want to try my hand at numerous different techniques including making a baked alaska. It's just something I've always wanted to do.

Well, I haven't offered up a Youtube video for a while so here's one below. How to make a triple layer cake. I'm going to add this chef to my list of favourites. Enjoy!

SEWBAS works

2010-07-14T00:18:00.000+01:00

I've had a guinea pig (well my bruvver actually) trying out the SEWBAS I described in an earlier blog and he was delighted. He said that the thrill of putting his hand into the bag and not knowing what he was going to pull out was akin to a child opening up a mysterious Christmas present. The result was that he ended up doing jobs that he just wouldn't have got round to doing had he not used SEWBAS. For those who haven't been reading my blogs, SEWBAS stands for the Self Employed Work Block Allocation System and is a new method, invented by yours truly, for deciding what you're going to do each day. Keith, my brother, is a puppet maker and is currently developing a new range of marionette puppets. The first work block he picked out was to finish the clown marionette's head, something he'd been meaning to do for ages but something else always took priority. That's the beauty of this scheme, everything has a chance of being done and you can even weight the odds if a particular item has a bit more importance.

My niece, however, was somewhat bemused. "Well if the clown's head needed doing why didn't you just do it?". And when she was told by her dad that he could weight certain tasks to give them a higher chance of being picked she thought the whole idea ridiculous. "That's cheating!". Sceptics. There's always people keen to pooh pooh a great innovative idea before it even gets off the ground. I mean, look at the Wright brothers. I can just imagine people standing watching saying, "If God had meant us to fly he'd have given us wings". No, SEWBAS is a system to be reckoned with.

Of course, you could really take it to extremes and turn it into a sort of Russian roulette. Let's say that there was a task that you really didn't want to do but you knew had to be done. Well you could put a work block in the hat saying "perform task A" and then five work blocks in saying "go back to bed". Can you just imagine the thrill of digging in the hat and just hoping that you don't pick the wrong one and the frustration you'd feel if you did. Of course that's the extreme but it goes to show the great flexibility of the system. If you're feeling a bit fed up one day, stick a work block in saying, "take an hour off". This may be a one in twenty or whatever chance of happening but as you're digging deep there's the eager anticipation of being able to take time off. Or my niece would say, "For God's sake, why don't you just go and have a lay down?". Quite, but it's not so much fun. Working in an office or shop or any normal work environment there's usually a degree of banter going on which helps lighten the day. When you're self employed and have no employees, sitting at a desk for twelve hours plus on your own can get very monotonous and it's things like this which help alieve the boredom. But don't get me wrong, going back and working for someone else is not something I'd relish, banter or no banter. Anyway, I do a pretty good job of talking to myself and if I have an argument I always win.

Without SEWBAS it's so easy to keep putting tasks to the bottom of your pending tray to the point where they never get done. Using this system gives all pending tasks a chance. Of course, you have to be strict and actually do whatever gets picked out. If you're selective at this point you might as well not bother. But being strict is one thing you soon learn when you become self employed. At the end of the day it's your livlihood, your business that suffers if you have no self control, no motivation to get on and do what needs to be done.

SEWBAS, I think, is here to stay and is something that could catch on throughout the self employed sector. Kallini Puppets is certainly a convert and so is everyone at Monkeytree Web of Plymouth, the home of the Seek Network.

Saving For Oz

2010-07-12T00:18:00.005+01:00

I've just finished building a safe to save all my £2 coins in along with any spare note I might end up with occasionally which I think I won't miss, in preparation for paying the deposit on my Australia trip in October 2011. I've tried doing this before and of course I always miss any note I put in as soon as I put it in. The difference is that this time I have a solid reason for saving and I have a completely unopenable safe. This might cause problems later when one day I decide that the time has come. However, I'll worry about that when I need to which will either be in November when we'll be booking our tickets or as soon as I can't cram another coin through the slot, whichever comes sooner. I know I could simply put my cash into a savings account but as the interest paid these days is so low I think I might just as well stick to the under the mattress arrangement. Actually I did try this once but the mattress was rather thin and I could never get to sleep very well.

Also this arrangement makes it very difficult for burglars who would have to take the entire wardrobe with them which wouldn't be something they'd have been planning on. No all in all I think that my home made safe is a master plan and perhaps something I could mass produce and market. Sell them on eBay. I jest of course but you never know. People do buy a lot of junk on eBay. A programme on TV about eBay followed the life of a length of string from the moment it was put up for sale right through to the moment it was purchased and then waved goodbye to by its tearful owner. It had to go, it was taking up too much room. The programme makers later tried phoning the purchaser but apparantly he was a bit tied up at the time.

The reason I say the safe is unopenable is because it's built of a double layer of solid wood, glued and screwed together with a sandwich of brass plate between them. This whole thing is securely screwed to my wardrobe floor from the inside during construction so of course unless someone changes the laws of gravity, which I suppose with a new government is always possible, my money will stay down. I could always stand the wardrobe on its head but I've fitted a non-return valve in the coin slot just in case I eat some spinach and am tempted to perform this feat, one handed whilst drinking a cup of tea with the other.

If having read this you're now thinking of making a similar contraption for saving your hard earned pennies, of course it might be better and just a little easier, not to mention fairer on your wardrobe, to invest in a ready made safe. However, if the amount being saved is on par with the cost of the safe then I guess it's similar to a couple paying for a child minder which costs as much as one of the parents earns or like me buying a van to do my car boots where I'd end up doing the car boots to pay for the van I got so I could do the car boots...you get my drift. Anyway, have a read on the three safes I've found for you below.

Home and Away

2010-07-11T01:59:00.003+01:00

A For Sale sign has just been put up in my sister's neighbour's front garden so we've decided to throw a street party to celebrate. I've already put up the bunting and my sister's organising the food. My sister's been looking forward to this ever since she moved in just over a year ago. Talk about neighbours from Hell. Well actually to be fair that's a slight exageration. Let's say neighbours from Purgatory. I'm going to celebrate and I only stay occasionally. The family consists of husband and wife and three kids all living in a two bed house, the second bedroom of which is about the size of a giant box of cornflakes. Most mornings you are woken about six am by screaming and this goes on for the best part of a long time. After a while the kids will join in with the screaming, obviously trying to outdo the parents so it ends up with a screaming contest to see who can be the first to rupture their neighbours' eardrums. The dad usually wins with the oldest boy coming in second and the mum crawling in at third place. The baby is usually last but that's probably because of its immature lungs. But it's learning fast. Children do. Whilst doing my car boots until recently, I was always impressed with how good the foreigners are at bartering. (A euphanism for trying to do thr seller out of a decent price). Here again the children are quick learners. A young Polish girl asked me how much a certain item was and I told her three pounds, to which she replied, "I like two pounds". I had to stop myself from saying, "Well I like three pounds, now naff off!". Dziękuję bardzo.

Going back to the original subject, I really don't understand why people like that have children. Maybe just to annoy the neighbours. Ideally they should be forced to live in a house in the middle of a field far away from humanity. That way they can all shout and scream at each other till the cows come home. That reminds me of years ago whilst camping with friends we put our tent up in a field (with the farmer's permission) and happily went off to bed. I was the first one up in the morning and on opening up the tent flap was greeted with a close up of a very inquisative cow. Made me jump I can tell you and my friends were asking me why I was swearing. The farmer had forgotten to tell us that he'd be letting the cows into the field first thing in the morning. Suppose he thought it was funny. Well, suppose it was really. When I went to ask him if he had any milk he did have a funny grin on his face. It was a wonder he didn't say, "Milk?, well you've got a field full of bloody cows over there, go and help yourself!". But he didn't. He gave me a bottle and it was cold. Had it been warm I think I might have foregone milk that morning. The idea of drinking milk straight from a cow's udder has never really appealed to me. Talking about camping, earlier on the same trip we'd stopped at what we thought was a farmhouse to ask the owner for permission to camp on their land. The woman who answered said that the fields didn't belong to her but if we wanted we could camp in her back garden. We gladly accepted her offer and that evening not only did she allow us use of her bathroom but she even cooked us all dinner. That was thirty five years ago. I can't imagine a single woman these days being so willing to help three sixteen or seventeen year old lads out in that way. I don't believe that sixteen or seventeen year old lads are actually any worse these days, I think it's peoples' perception which has changed, fueled by alot of negative media attention on all the bad aspects of society in general. Although having said that, would groups of young lads these days spend their holidays hiking across Norfolk with tents and sleeping bags in their rucksacks, having maps but no itinerary and no stopping places booked? I don't think they would.

Anyway, going back to my sister's house and her neighbours, I do think myself lucky that I've always got on with all my neighbours and have never had people living next door who have caused problems. My few recent residencies have resulted in my being on nodding terms only with my neighbours but over the years various places have been fairly friendly. My last address in Swindon was probably the most sociable place I've lived and quite a few of us were on first name terms and in and out of each others houses fairly frequently, but nothing like the sort of neighbourleigness which is depicted on the likes of Eastenders or Coronation Street. I really don't believe that such neighbourhoods exist. And I don't think that in reality I'd want to live in one. Why in Eastenders does everyone constantly eat in Ian's cafe when they only live down the road and why does nobody in Albert Square own a washing machine? And everyones's always so miserable.

Now I've just had an idea. Albert Square sounds like the perfect place for my sister's neighbours. I'm sure they'd be right at home.

Higher, Faster, Twistier, Madder

2010-07-09T00:09:00.006+01:00

I've just been discussing with a friend where may be a good location to stay for a week on our way back from Australia next year and she's come up with Vietnam. Apparantly they've got this superb theme park which many people rate even better than Disney World with a great water park and some really lovely beaches. The theme park and water park will appeal to the three younger kids whilst the beaches will appeal to the three older kids (all over forty). So that way we all win. I must say that a holiday in Vietnam isn't somewhere I'd think of off the top of my head any more than I'd think of spending a week in Scunthorpe or a long weekend in Newport Pagnell. But now that it's been suggested then why not indeed.

Certain aspects of theme parks I really enjoy. The food halls for one. Dodgems for two and for three I absolutely love the virtual rides where you sit in a chair, the lights go out and the chair moves in relation to the film being screened immediately in front of you. One part of your brain tells you that you're safely sitting on a static chair securely attached to dry land but the bulk of your brain believes that you're about to go jumping off a tall cliff or you're skiing down a mountain at fifty miles per hour about to break the world ski jump record. One virtual show I went to took place in a huge tent in which everybody was asked to lie on the ground facing up. The film was then shown on the roof of the tent and included the effect of being troden on by a giant foot. Frightening but fascinating stuff.

But big dippers? (Or should I say roller coasters?), what on earth are they all about? Why on earth would someone think that being strapped to a seat and being shot along at around a hundred miles an hour several hundred feet in the air whilst doing a triple back summersault before hurtling vertically downwards at around 4Gs into a black hole in the ground is fun? Not only do they pay for this but they queue up for over two hours for the privilege. I'd rather be forced to sit and endure two hours of Slipknot from the front row.

If being shot out over the edge of a 900ft high building appeals to you then check this out - if it doesn't, check it out anyway.

Problem is the kids love them and I know that as their fearless uncle I'd be expected to go with them on some of the rides. I've already been with them on the mini roller coaster at the Gateshead shopping centre and didn't like that, but that's so small it would make the Calgery Tower look like Smeaton's Tower in Plymouth compared with the latest roller coasters that the fans seem to crave. Higher, faster, twistier, madder seems to be the order of the day.

If theme parks are your cup of tea, then the Camelot Theme Park might be somewhere for you. Click the button below for more information. Talking of cups of tea, that sounds like a good idea.

Past, Present and Future

2010-07-07T23:54:00.004+01:00

Do you ever wonder what it was, one particular event, that momentously changed the course of your life? I can pin the turning point of my life, the course of the last twenty four years down to a phone call. A phone call that very nearly never happened. Everybody has a moment like that, in fact if you really think about it, thousands of moments like that. Almost everything you do can have a knock on effect that can change your future if even just slightly. The 1998 film Sliding Doors starring Gwyneth Paltrow as Helen Quilley shows this extremely effectively with two scenarios running side by side throughout the film depicting two entirely different futures for the film's main character, Helen, depending on whether or not she'd got onto a subway train or just missed it.

My phone call was to my future wife, or as she was then a girl I'd met. I'd ummed and arred (not sure of the spelling as not in the dictionary) as to whether or not to ring her back and decided against it. Having made the decision, I walked out the bedroom and immediately thought, "Sod it, I will", walked back in the bedroom and made the call. So you could actually argue that it wasn't the phone call but my change of mind that did it.

Had I not made that call, I wouldn't be living in Plymouth now, I wouldn't have lived in Swindon for thirteen years and just about everything I've done since then wouldn't have happened. Most importantly of all, my two wonderful daughters wouldn't have been born. I can't imagine having lived the last twenty years without them. How different my life would have been had I not made that call. This sort of thing actually makes your head spin if you think about it too much. It is so mind boggingly amazing how one small action can have such dramatic influences on events. But here's the crux, such actions don't just effect the individual but every person who that individual subsequently comes into contact with. And I mean EVERY person.

Consider this.You decide to go into town on a Saturday morning. In so doing you probably walk past maybe a thousand other people. Whether you intentionally interact with them or not you have changed the life, the history, of every single one of them simply by being there in the same way that their presence has changed your life, allbeit in a very small way. You stop and have a coffee. You change the life of the person who serves you simply by asking for a coffee. Had you not gone into town, the coffee server's life history would not have included you asking him/her for a coffee that particular saturday morning.

Now take the fact I mentioned earlier about my daughters not having been born had I not made that phone call. Imagine every single thing that they've ever done in their lives and all the millions of interactions with other people that have taken place over the years. Not one of these would have happened.

I think, therefore, it is fair to say that that phone call has had an absolutely huge impact on events over many years, affecting thousands upon thousands of peoples' lives and across many countries. And that's just one phone call made by just one person. If you multiply this phenominum by the billions of people in the world performing life changing actions, unknowingly, every day you get a very big picture of how we can all affect people we don't even know, people who live thousands of miles away and even people who aren't even born yet.

This may sound far fetched but think about it. My daughters' boyfriends lives have obviously been changed by meeting and falling in love with Emma and Kayleigh. Had the girls not been born they wouldn't have met them of course. When I made the call, the boys hadn't yet been born. So my making the call changed the lives of two as yet unborn boys over two thousand miles away. QED.

So next time you make a phonecall, please think of the possible consequences.

A SEWBAS a Day Helps You Work, Rest and Play

2010-07-06T23:58:00.005+01:00

People who moan incessantly about the time they spend at work should think themselves lucky they don't live in the eighteen hundreds. Having just been perusing Wikipedia, I came across this quote. "Women and children in England were granted the ten-hour day in 1847". Only ten hours a day? Must have been heavenly. Seriously, the way children were treated a hundred years ago plus, and still are in some communities, doesn't bear thinking about. People harp on about "the good old days' but in reality would they really want to go back? In fact, as early as 1817 the slogan "Eight hours labour, Eight hours recreation, Eight hours rest" had been formulated as a goal of the eight hour day.

Even when my father started working for the railways back in the early forties the normal working week was still 48 hours over six days with just one week holiday per year. So these days I think we have it pretty good especially with the statutory four weeks holiday now guaranteed for all employed workers. I appreciate that millions of people work far in excess of eight hours per day but if this is the case they're usually getting paid overtime for so doing. However, most people who work for themselves would love to work as little as eight hours a day.

The problem is generally that there's not enough hours in the day to do everything that needs doing. In theory there should be. I only sleep about six hours during the week so this leaves eighteen hours. Allowing three hours for meals, getting up etc leaves fifteen hours a day making it theoretically easy to work a seventy five hour week and still have the weekends off. Yeah right. In practice it just doesn't work like that. There's always things cropping up to eat into the working day and unless you're capable of being strict with yourself then being self employed is probably not a good option. However, there are ways to get closer to reaching your aims and this is where a good time management system comes into its own. I usually use an A4 sheet split into the hours of the day with every hour allocated what I call a work block. I have a list of work blocks which cover every concievable item which needs to be covered on a regular or even occasional basis and estimated how many of each need to be performed over a two week period. If for any reason a work block isn't covered then this can be carried forward to another day. Using a system like this ensures that over a period of time certain tasks won't get forgotten. Also, by splitting the day up like this it makes for a far more interesting day and helps stop boredom kicking in.

I have been thinking recently though of a new system. Simply write every work block on a small piece of paper and place into a bowl. Then every hour choose a new work block at random. This would bring a new surprise element into play and the law of averages should dictate that over a period of time every task should get accomplished. More important tasks which need more time allocated could always be weighted with extra pieces of paper thus increasing the liklihood of that task being chosen. I call this system the Self Employed Work Block Allocation System (known as SEWBAS for short) and although it is as yet untested I feel it could catch on. The beauty of this system is its flexibility in so far as giving you leeway to allow for the unexpected. Talking about SEWBAS this reminds me of all the TBAs I've used over the years in the various businesses I've worked for. A lot of companies thrive on TBAs, which isn't a bad thing at all, but my favourite TBA of all time and the one which has to be the one which best defines a TBA is TBA itself.
Three Letter Abbreviation. TBA. How appropriate is that?

Recipes from the North Pole

2010-07-04T22:36:00.012+01:00

Something amazing has just happened. I opened a dictionary, totally at random without any estimation, to check on my understanding of the meaning of the word nuance and it opened at the required page. Page 608 out of 1174. Nowadays to nursery school. I was gobsmacked. My sister, who was sitting in the same room, was unimpressed, almost as though it was an everyday occurance like opening a fridge door and hey, there's the ketchup. Maybe I just find things amazing that other people take for granted. For example, one thing I always find amazing is how an email can find its way from my laptop to my daughter's laptop in Canada even when the laptop is being used wirelessly. How on earth does the email know where to go? I mean does it exit my laptop and then think, right where's the satellite? Last time I went to Yellowknife, it took me 24 hours and five planes. An email which I've just created gets there in about two seconds. Amazing.

Another thing I find amazing is how anyone ever navigates away from the North Pole. As every direction from the North pole is south, how do they know where to go? And of course, if you walked say twenty yards from the North Pole and then walked due east and carried on walking, you'd end up just walking round in circles.

Anyway, back to the topic of tonight's blog. Food. One of my favourite topics. I love my food and love cooking. It has been an aim of mine for some time to start cooking what I call 'proper recipes' at least once a week. Like most people I have a good collection of recipe and cook books and of course the Internet is awash with cookery and recipe sites with recipes from all over the world and for every type of food available. Along with this there's all the TV programmes dealing with the subject and the abundance of celebrity chefs showing us how to do it and truely inspiring us with their creations. (Or just making us hungry, depending on how you look at it). In reality though, how often do we actually get on and create a dish using this vast resource? I intend to change this and start 'cooking' as a hobby.

Talking of celebrity chefs, there are several I particularly like in particular Jamie Oliver and Rick Stein. In fact it was reading one of Jamie's books that really made me decide to take up cooking seriously. It was written in a very friendly, chatty style, typical of Jamie and was truely inspirational. I've included a few books and DVD's of Jamie's below which you may like to read more about. I find Rick Stein very down to earth and enjoy his presentational style. I particularly liked his barge through France series which was on TV a couple of years or so back. Another celebrity chef I like is is Nigella Lawson. She's attractive and has a very sensuous sound to her voice making her cookery shows very alluring. I suppose her cooking's not bad either. One celebrity chef I can take or leave is Gordon Ramsay. Mostly leave.

My method of deciding what to prepare is to pick a recipe or cookbook or an online recipe site and simply search at random for a main course recipe which takes my fancy. I then search for complementary starters and sweets. A heavy main course obviously calls for a lighter starter and pudding whereas a light main course allows you to be a little more heavy on the starter. Of course, cooking dishes like this means eating them afterwards and for this I have at present enlisted my sister Maria to assist. She works just up the road to me so on a Thursday evening she'll be stopping for dinner. In addition to this, I'll be doing the occasional Sunday dishes for friends and family. I'm cooking at my sister's BBQ in July and I'm going to try a lovely sounding recipe for spicey barbequed beef steak strips from Burma. Just hope that the beef's still fresh when it gets here. Burma's a long way away.

I'm also toying with the idea of starting some sort of supper club, using Seek Southwest and local newsagents for the advertising. I'm not sure how it would work exactly yet but it was Jamie again who gave me the idea during his American food series when he went to an 'underground' supper club which was put on by a couple of friends in a big house and attended by about half a dozen guests. Good food and good conversation followed. It was 'underground' because the hosts didn't have food licences etc so the events are technically illegle. If I was able to get a similar scheme off the ground (although my second floor flat in a shared house wouldn't have the same appeal I think), I'm sure that asking for a voluntary contribution to cover food costs and claiming that all visitors were friends would satisfy the law. Or maybe not. I suppose you then have to think about health and safety. If a guest slipped on a banana skin or I spilt a cup of gravy over them etc could they sue me? Years ago such things wouldn't have been considered but these days with so many companies now encouraging people to sue someone else for what is often an occurance of their own doing, the American culture of sue, sue, sue has crossed the Atlantic with a vengeance. Maybe I'll just stick to friends and family.

The menu for my first attempt, which is going to be on Thursday week, is;

starters: goat's cheese soufle
main course: roast veg lasagne
sweet: chocolate hazlenut gateau

I haven't baked a cake for years but this one looks so mouth wateringly scrumptious in the recipe book that I just have to give it a try. And I've never cooked a soufle so that will be interesting. I'll keep you pasted on how they turn out. In the meantime, check these out.

Spanish monkeytrees

2010-07-03T23:36:00.004+01:00

It's been a dream of mine for some years to live and work somewhere hot, at least hotter than the UK, and that shouldn't be difficult. Now that I'm in the fortunate position to be able to work anywhere in the world that has an Internet connection, my dream is fast approaching becoming a reality. I've Chosen Cyprus as my ideal location, not that I've ever been there, but everybody I know who has, sings its praises like there's no tomorrow. Of course, there's dozens of places all over the world I could choose but I want somewhere fairly close to the UK. (As in hours on a plane. I could be home quicker from Cyprus than by train from Newcastle, to me that's close). I could choose to buy or rent a home in Spain, Southern Spain of course, as this has the hot all year round climate which I'm seeking.

If you are considering moving down to southern Spain, either permanently or perhaps as a winter resident, then visit Monkeytree Estates, based in Plymouth. Monkeytree Estates can arrange tailored service trips on a one to one basis to enable you to sample your selection of properties in your prefered area. The office in Spain will have all your information concerning your requirements and your accommodation will be located in your viewing area, enabling you to get a feel for the locality during your stay. Their website can be found at www.buyorrentahomeinspain.co.uk/.

Going back to Cyprus, my latest plan (which changes approximately weekly), is to spend two or three six week periods a year working on the island and whilst there build a new website which will be a photographic tourist site to include adverts for the letting of apartments and villas. I've already purchased the domain which is www.cypruseu.eu. In reality, I don't know how much work I'd actually get done but the aim would be to work on the laptop in the mornings and get out with my camera for the website in the afternoons and use the weekends for relaxing and touring. I'd stay in a simple apartment, probably in a complex with a communal pool, and hopefully get to know some of the locals in a nearby taverna. Eating out would be the norm although of course I'd always have a well stocked cupboard to cater myself and maybe even do some entertaining. In order to really enjoy being out there for such long lengths of time, being sociable is going to have to be at the top of my agenda.

I think what started all this idea of living or at least working part of the year abroad was when I watched Love Actually for the first time. Colin Firth, working in his French cottage with a Portuguese house maid. To me, that's an absolutely idylic set up. The house, the lake, the house maid, I could live like that for a while. If I could find a house like that in Cyprus, complete with house maid, I'd be a happy man. If anyone knows of one, please let me know.

None of this is going to happen till at least the Spring of 2012 as I have already made plans to visit Canada and Australia in 2011, so I have nearly two years (That's 100 change of plans) before I go. It's certainly something to look forward to.

The embedding for the Youtube video showing Colin Firth in the cottage when he meets his housemaid has been disabled so here's the link.

Waffle in the USA

2010-07-01T00:34:00.004+01:00

I have no idea what my blog's going to be about tonight so it might just be about waffle.

Dictionary definition of waffle is, "n. esp US a small crisp batter cake". Esp US ? well what about Canada. Has the Readers Digest Oxford Complete Word Finder got something against Canada. Don't Canadians like waffles for breakfast as much as their North American cousins, The USA? Actually waffles for breakfast don't really do if for me but having said that one of my best breakfasts ever was an all you can eat at a hotel in Yellowknife. We got there about ten am and I think they were just starting to serve the evening meal when we left. Seriously though, there was everything you could want for breakfast and more and as much as you wanted all washed down with as much coffee as you could drink. I must admit I stuffed myself silly but not a waffle touched my mouth nor even a hint of maple syrup.

I really shouldn't call the USA cousins of Canada. There seems to be some inborn loathing of each other for a reason I don't know. My daughters did explain it to me once, them living in Canada like they do, but the explanation is either buried deep in my brain or has since flown the nest.
American comedians are always cracking jokes about Canadians

"
Canada, also known as America’s Frosted Hat, Soviet Canuckistan, Canuckland, Canadia or The Shizzle North of Hizzle, but more commonly known as “The Great White North”, is situated somewhere near the inconsequential continental U.S.A., and slightly south of the North Pole. The United Nations has managed to narrow it down further to not only north of the U.S. but also up, eh? Canada is the USA’s largest national park, and tourist attraction.
"

and Canadians are always cracking jokes about their southern cousins. (opps, sorry).

"
A Mexican, A Canadian, And An American are walking together down a road, when they stumble upon a lamp with a genie in it.After they rub the lamp, a Genie pops out and says"Okay, you all get 1 wish each, who's going first?"

The Mexican says"Oh, ME, ME!" "I want A 2-mile wide road across Mexico"

Genie, "Granted!" POOF!

American, "Now me! I want a 20 foot brick wall around all of the USA to keep the Canadians out"

Genie, "Granted!" POOF

Genie, "Okay Canadian, It's Your turn!"

Canadian, "Is that wall you put around the USA waterproof?"

Genie, "Yup!"

Canadian, "Fill 'er Up!"
"

This brings me conveniently to a Youtube video concerning the Canada/US border. Worth having a look at.

Didn't you just love the original Candid Cameras? I'm not talking about recent copies or the awful Jeremy Beadle series which used to make me cringe, the things he put people through. No I'm talking 'Please wipe your feet before entering the park' and people did! Or the classic 'Can I park your car for you sir?' Hilarious stuff. And silly ones like moving teacups - simple but side-splittingly funny. I don't want this blog to become a Youtube extension - hey if Youtube is full then please visit http://dressinggownandslipper.blogspot.com - but I just have to include a Candid Camera clip now that I've extolled them like I have. So here we have "The lift to nowhere"

OK back to waffle. That dictionary definition was the wrong one. Correct definition, "n. & v. Brit. colloq. v. verbose but aimless, misleading, or ignorant talk or writing. n. hot air, prattle, twaddle, blather.

Well I guess this just about sums this blog up. Goodnight!

Fresh Fish Supper

2010-06-30T00:20:00.006+01:00

One of the reasons I moved to Plymouth from Swindon some eleven years ago was because I missed the sea. Having lived in that land-bound town for around thirteen years I longed for the smell of the ocean and the sound of squarking, argumentative seagulls. And fishing. To go sea fishing in Swindon is quite difficult so in order to participate in this, one of the world's most popular leisure activities, I had to travel a good number of miles either by car or train. As travelling on a train stinking of fish guts and worms is not a pleasant activity, either for yourself or innocent bystanders, the car usually won. Now that I live just a stone's throw from the ocean, or the English Channel to be precise, I can just hop on a bike. Or walk. Having said that, I guess the Atlantic must start somewhere between Land's End and Plymouth but where exactly? I'm sure there's not a giant sign ten miles out that says, "Welcome to the Atlantic Ocean". Or is there?

One of my favourite times to go fishing is first thing in the morning. Standing in a cool breeze as the sun is rising over your twitching rod, first sandwich of the day in hand, is one of the most relaxing, stress-relieving pastimes I know other than climbing into a soft bed, pre-warmed by an electric blanket, on a cold winter's night. Fishing is a great way of providing something to free the mind and body of the worries of preceeding days and to set you up mentally for the week ahead.

If you're new to fishing then as with all new pursuits it's a great idea to read up a bit on the subject before you start spending any money on fishing tackle and bait etc. Have a walk round a few popular fishing spots and see the type of tackle local anglers are using and what type of bait works best in a particular venue. The ground can make a big difference to the bait used. For example on muddy ground it's often good to use worms such as lug or rag but then again the bait can vary depending on whether you're going after bottom dwellers or mid to upper level fish.

I love to do a bit of spinning as a break from casting and waiting. Feathers, spoons and plastic lures can all be used to good effect and a good supply of mackeral, pouting and other fish can often be caught using this method. Great for topping up the bait freezer for future fishing trips. Feeling the fish bite and fight when caught on feathers puts a little action into what might otherwise be a quiet day.

At the end of the day, if you've caught something of a decent size which is big enough not to have to throw back, there's nothing like taking your catch home and cooking it for tea. It doesn't come much fresher than that.

On the subject of fresh fish, if you're unfortunate enough not to actually catch anything, then why not treat yourself to a delicious luxury fish pie?

Glorious!

2010-06-28T22:39:00.001+01:00

What a glorious day!

With tomorrow being the penultimate day of summer, today has been glorious, as I said. Not glorious in weather terms, that’s just been nice. Oh Ok, very nice, but not what one would call glorious. No, I began the day with a glorious fry up which is always a good start. Turning the frying pan on ready for the glorious sautéed potatoes I must have got side-tracked because coming back into the kitchen just a couple of minutes later the room was thick with glorious grey smoke itching to set the fire alarm into action. By the time I’d turned on the extractor fan its itch had been scratched so I had to go down to the ground floor to turn off the alarm shouting to other residents on the way, “Don’t panic, don’t panic”, sounding like Corporal Jones in Dads' Army. “They don’t like it up’em Captain Mainwairing, they don’t like it up’em”. (Obligatory Youtube video can be found below).

I’ve been invited to stay with a good friend for a week in the summer, I’ve been discussing my glorious forthcoming holiday in Australia, Helen cooked me a glorious chilli for my dinner, I met up, very briefly, with a chap I used to work with going back twelve or thirteen years ago. I had no idea he’d moved down to Plymouth but he said he’s been here about eight years. It always amazes me how you can walk about town, go here and there, and back again, dozens and dozens of times yet rarely see anyone you know. I treated myself this evening to a Thai green special curry takeaway. Glorious. That’s the only word I can find to describe it. I thought I didn’t like Thai green curry for some reason so I’ve been denying my taste buds this exquisite sensation for probably thirty odd years unnecessarily. What a shame. But I intend to make up for it in the future. Bye bye sweet and sour Hong Kong style, hello glorious Thai green curry. I’ve also managed to get some work done today. My dressing gown site is actually nearly finished. Next in the queue is home office desks. Exciting stuff.

Going back to my old work colleague, who I shall for anonymity’s sake call Paul, his favourite word was glorious. “Hi Paul, have a nice weekend?”. “Yes, glorious”. “That cake looks nice Paul”. “Oh yes, glorious”. We used to have a competition to see how many times we could get him to say glorious in one lunch break. I think the record was thirteen. Quite impressive for a twenty minute break. “Paul, sorry to say your dog’s died and by the way, the third world war’s just broken out”. “Glorious!”.

I’ve now started a new contest. To see how many times you can say the word glorious in one blog. I’m winning so far with 18.

What a glorious day! 1819

Coffee Hoe!

2010-06-28T00:08:00.007+01:00

I'm writing tonight's blog sitting looking out over Plymouth Sound, cappuccino on the table, just half an hour's walk from home. It's eight o'clock Sunday evening but there's still a milling crowd. There's a Greek-looking chap playing a bouzouki at a nearby table, the sea is lapping at the rocks thirty feet below me. Drake's Island is sitting alone as usual some three hundred yards out and beyond that the shoreline of the Independant State of Cornwall. (If the Cornish want to believe that the English border ends at the River Tamar, I'm happy to humour them). Several white sails lean at a surprising angle in what seems to be just a gentle breeze. The still, green-covered cliffs of Bovisand look like a newly painted canvas against the ripples of the vivid blue waters below.

The atmosphere is pleasant and relaxing, the sun still tickling the back of my neck. I could be sitting at a Greek taverna by the Aegean Sea if it wasn't for Smeaton's Tower at the top of the hill standing proudly in its England colours. I can't hear any English being spoken around me but that's the way it is here these days. The woman serving the coffee was foreign. Costa del Plymouth. Even the seagulls aren't from around here. They've obviously heard there's a good chip or pasty to be had from unsuspecting visitors. There are warning signs up telling people not to feed the seagulls. You don't have to, they help themselves. Two seagulls talking. "Hey Cecil, you seen that person down there?" . "Yes, Cyril, I just spotted him".

I spent today at my sisters' houses. First at Helen's sitting in the garden in the blazing sun with a glass of Pyms quickly followed by a spritzer. Real men's drinks. No, I won't be ordering them at my local. This was followed by a Sunday roast at Maria's. I redeemed myself here. Bottles of Stella in the garden. It's what English Summer Sundays are for.

However, a word of warning. Our summer, this glorious waether we've been enjoying for the last two weeks, is almost over. Three days left. That's not the official Met Office forecast, not that I have much faith in them any more. Two car boots I lost because they warned of rain. Did it rain? Not a piddle. Not even a puddle. I ought to sue for loss of earnings. No, this is my forecast. Uncle Rhubarb's prediction.

It's July in four days time. As I said, summer's nearly over.