Odd Thoughts and Other Matters

SCOTLAND, DEVOLUTION AND WHO'S GOING TO PAY?

2012-01-27T12:20:00.000Z

I understand very little about Scotland's desire to be independent from the UK- better get that said straight away so no-one thinks I'm an expert or anything!

I do know that I've seen some Scots people express doubts about Scotland's ability to support itself economically and also some people who, when interviewed, thought independence for Scotland was a good idea - interestingly, they did not expand on why they thought this.

I also remember seeing a very elderly economist being interviewed on TV some years after devolution began for Scotland; he expressed amazement that England was still supporting Scotland economically. He was the economist who had worked out how this support was to take place at the time - and even he did not envisage it lasting for so long!

I also know that Scotland has free Higher Education and England doesn't. Who is paying for this? Scotland has free care for the elderly (which incidentally it is just starting to rethink) and England doesn't. Scotland has free prescriptions - in England patients pay £7.20 per item. Scotland has free eye tests and England doesn't.

Alex Salmond has dragged the issue of North Sea Oil into his argument - if somewhat obliquely, by referring to it in a statement about English people's perception of who pays for what in Scotland.

Now his wording of the question with which to poll Scottish people is,"Do you agree that Scotland should be an independent country?"

Several polls have seen this as a loaded question which is more likely to result in a vote in favour of Scottish independence.

Perhaps a second question should be on the polling slip:

"Are you willing to pay for Higher Education, care for the elderly, prescriptions and eye tests if Scotland gains independence?"

TONY BLAIR'S TAX BILL

2012-01-24T15:27:00.003Z

For all of us earning peanuts and still paying the tax-man a hefty 20% or more, the news that Tony Blair has managed to earn £12 million and only pay tax on £1million of it comes as a bit of a choker! How did he do it? We'd all like to know his secret. Well, amazingly, £11 million of his income was written off as "administrative expenses" - gosh that's some hefty secretarial bill!

I wonder how much his accountant charges?

Nah! It's no good - I know I can't afford it!

HIGHSTREET SPENDING, OUR MONEY AND SHOPPING HABITS

2012-01-18T13:58:00.001Z

I'm amazed to see that Mary Portas has been criticised for daring to say that out of town shopping centres are damaging our highstreets - of course they are! We all knew that and, as it's common sense, I do hope no government department was dishing out our money to Ms Portas for that pearl of wisdom!

In fact, what is perhaps more accurate, is that we, the consumers, are damaging our highstreets by choosing to shop out of town or on-line.

Consumerism has long been seen as a past-time, a kind of a hobby or a family day out, and the smaller range of shops, high parking charges, lack of toilets and suitable restaurants on our high streets probably all contribute to our choices of where to shop.

However, I'm not sure I am a consumer at all any more. Of course I buy things; groceries, petrol, the odd gift, shoes if I really need them, clothes if I absolutely have to, but I'm not buying for amusement. I have no pension, very few hours work per week and know I need to save rather than spend- even though the banks won't pay me a fair rate of interest on my meagre savings.

I'm trying to save against harder times which may be coming my way and I imagine, with the growing unemployment numbers, I'm not the only one. We are all also being hit with rising food, fuel and energy prices - those things we have to buy.

If I do have to buy something, I research it until I'm fairly sure I've found the cheapest price and that can only be done quickly on a computer. I then use cashback websites and any discount or free delivery codes I can find to further reduce my spend - again, this can only be done on-line.

So, we can't blame the out of town shopping centres or people buying on-line, for the downturn in highstreet business. Highstreets are just the first casualties and I'm willing to predict that some businesses in the out of town shopping centres will be the next and even on-line spending will probably eventually slow.

We are all starting to reduce our debts, reduce our spending and worry about our futures - how will business counter that?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2012-01-04T13:29:00.002Z

For all those of you who feel (like me) that it's the new year and you should sort out your clutter, move to a new house, overhaul your finances, get a new better job, relationship or whatever, I've just seen this on someone's tweet:

"Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there."

-and that neatly sums up what I feel I'm doing at the moment. I've got work (well, a bit- not enough), I've got a nice (too small) house and a nice (too small) garden, a goodish (old) car, some savings (earning almost nothing in the bank), I can have holidays (not often foreign ones, tho') but I haven't had a rise for 2 years and my other half hasn't had one for much longer - bills are getting more expensive (so in real terms, our income is shrinking) and to cap it all we are staring down the road at the prospect of a not too distant retirement, with just about no pension! And I want to retire at 60-ish not 70 plus! I want some life before I get too old to enjoy it!

So! I'd better get off my bum and out of this rut - like it says - you gotta keep moving!

MARGARET THATCHER'S HALF A MILLION EXPENSES BILL!

2011-10-28T10:36:00.003+01:00

For those of you who thought Magaret Thatcher was frail and retired from politics, it may come as a shock to find out that she has claimed over half a million pounds - £535,000 to be exact, in 5 years of carrying out public engagements. As she is no longer an elected member of the government, I fail to see why she is still claiming these expenses.
Other "retirees" are also claiming - Tony Blair (almost £273,000 since 2007) and John Major (who invented the fund in 1991 when he was in power) has claimed £490,000 - nice work John!
The expenses of other government departments have also been published and make gruelling reading in the light of the failing economy, government cuts and rising unemployment - listed are expenditure for vets, kennels, Krispy Creme doughnuts, Avon cosmetics, Debenhams, cakes, pizzas and taxis. Further details are given of the (still) rising amounts paid to government departments in bonuses. The country cannot afford this. People are losing their jobs, services and benefits, whilst over £85 million has been paid in bonuses to the MOD and DWP.
I don't know about you, but nobody pays me a bonus for doing my job - my colleagues and I count ourselves fortunate to receive a nice box of chocolate biscuits for the office at Christmas!
Someone really needs to clean this mess up.

TESCO AND ITS PRICE DROP - HOW LONG WILL IT LAST?

2011-09-27T14:41:00.002+01:00

Well, I suppose you'd have to have been hiding under a rock on another planet if you haven't heard that Tesco reduced 3000 of its grocery lines from yesterday!
I've checked out their site and had a look for myself to see if the items I buy are reduced and it's true some are, although I'm a little disappointed to see that the Tesco Colour laundry tablets that I use have not been reduced, but hey, I shouldn't complain I suppose - they've reduced their toothpaste by 5p a tube!
But there's a little something that Tesco has not been advertising so well - they are soon to stop their double points system in favour of giving us just 1 point per pound spent. The financial pundits reckon this will save Tesco in excess of £300 million - so they're not giving us much and, in true Tesco fashion they are giving with one hand whilst taking with the other. As a spokesman for Sainsbury commented, they are all "smoke and mirrors" and I can't agree more. I believe no-one manipulates the shopper any better than Tesco. We know they're in it to make money - but they've actually made a career specialism out of price changes, packet size reductions, complicated offers on small sizes that are more expensive than the big size, big sizes more expensive than buying 2 smaller ones - you name it, they can do it REALLY well.
Anyway back to the "Price Drop" - I notice that quite a few of the Tesco fresh fruit and veg reductions are only for a month (understandable as they are more seasonal than other goods) so keep looking and don't buy when they put prices back up as they may well do - we don't know how long this price drop will last or how many products they will keep at a reduced price. They have probably been planning this campaign for months - so some of their prices may have been artificially "hiked" in order to be lowered in the price drop, we just don't know - supermarket competition is a dirty business!
Remember too, that other supermarkets take their prices from Tesco's lead - which in itself is a hint that their prices are not as low as they could be - so perhaps many of these "reductions" may only bring Tesco prices into line with the competition.
Finding cheap prices for your groceries has not got any easier - but there is always help from mysupermarket .co.uk which will tell you where to buy your week's shopping at the lowest price.

SWINE FLU PANDEMIC OVER

2011-08-19T11:50:00.002+01:00

Yes, it may have escaped our notice, buried as it was amongst news of city riots and the collapse of our financial markets, but, according to the World Health Organisation, the Swine Flu pandemic "has largely run its course". Oh good. So The Roche group, owners of the Tamiflu brand, who tripled their sales figures in 2009 and 2010, (and have not been doing too shabbily since) will now have to wait for the next big virus panic to be blown across our newspapers.
But we do have to ask - what is the use by date on all those huge stocks of Tamiflu vaccine the NHS has stored away? A good week to bury bad news.

MUFFIN THE MULE KNITTING PATTERN SELLS FOR £56 ON EBAY!

2011-08-03T21:44:00.006+01:00

I just had to share this with you all - last Sunday night this Muffin the Mule knitting pattern by Alan Dart (a few pages removed from a magazine) sold on Ebay for £56! I don't know quite why this retro tv character has suddenly become so popular - there were quite a few people bidding on it and someone really got carried away - I wonder if they'll pay up?

Anyway if any of you have a hankering to knit a Muffin the Mule toy then there's another one of these patterns on Ebay at the moment HERE and it's a lot cheaper than £56!

HELEN SKELTON TIGHTROPE WALK FOR COMIC RELIEF

2011-03-01T11:50:00.002Z

I have great admiration for Blue Peter presenter Helen Skelton who walked a tightrope between Battersea Power Station's chimneys yesterday in aid of Comic Relief. As well as raising funds, it has earned her a new record for the highest woman on a wire walk in Britain.
Just watching her made me feel a little queasy!

JUST ANOTHER ODD THOUGHT

2011-03-01T11:46:00.002Z

"It is dangerous to be right in matters where established men are wrong."
(Voltaire, 1694-1778).

Quite apt perhaps, today.

52 BOOKS TO READ THIS YEAR!

2011-01-14T13:01:00.004Z

I don't know what it is - but I love the idea of Penguin setting up a list of 52 books for us all to read this year. It has a kind of school style discipline which I feel I need, after my many trips wandering around bookshops with book tokens in hand (and how many of us must have those waiting to be spent at this time of the year?) not really knowing what to choose and then walking out with nothing. They serve up at least 4 book ideas every month and you can even get a widget to stick on your website or blog to remind you to go back for more (except the code doesn't work see right) - ingenious! You can also get a printable list of the 52 books to carry with you on those bookshop trips - just hope Penguin doesn't want us to write our book reviews every month!

THE PRIME MINISTERIAL DEBATE - WHY FUND DEVOLUTION?

2010-04-17T23:27:00.002+01:00

I missed a trick the other night - I should have been on that Prime Ministerial debate - I've been wanting to know for years - why is England funding devolution for Scotland etc? No-one asked.

My point is
- Scotland has no university tutorial fees - England does.
- Scotland's prescription charges are now £3 - and will be free from April 2011.
- Wales has had free prescriptions since April 2007.
- Northern Ireland has free precriptions from April 2010.
- English people pay £7.20 and there are no plans for that to change (well, it will obviously carry on going up).

Some months ago I remember seeing an elderly economist being interviewed on the TV - he was responsible for planning the economic support of the devolved regions when devolution began - but he was puzzled as to why this financial support was still being given. As the originator of this particular economic strategy he freely admitted that he never envisaged it being a permanent arrangement!

I don't remember this man's name and would like to research his work further, so if anyone knows I'd appreciate a comment!

SOME WISE WORDS ON MARRIAGE?

2010-04-13T16:48:00.003+01:00

As Tess Stimpson said (S Magazine 28th March 20110),

"When a man tells you he doesn't want to get married, what he really means is that he doesn't want to get married to you".

She was making this observation in an article about Simon Cowell's complete about face when he, just a year after he refused to commit to Terri Seymour, became engaged to Mezhgan Hussainy.

So what do we think? Does that piece of paper matter that much? Or is it that the refusal to commit to marriage says so much more about the relationship than anything else possibly could?

FREE EASTER KNITTING PATTERNS!

2010-03-12T11:23:00.003Z

For those of you looking for inspiration at Easter for a gift that isn't all box and no chocolate - this may be just what you need. I've pulled together 12 Easter knitting patterns from across the web and I'm adding to them all the time. We have here all things Easter;
a Hot Cross Bun, a small basket, an Easter Chick Creme Egg cosy, a babies' Easter Bunny beanie, a calorie-free knitted egg, a felted Easter Egg basket, Jean Greenhowe novelty little people small Easter egg covers, Easter Bunny egg cosies, a larger Easter egg basket, Easter chicks, an Easter Bunny with pouch for small eggs and an Alan Dart Easter chick and egg.

Happy Easter knitting!

RAISE MONEY FOR GREAT ORMOND STREET CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

2010-03-11T23:21:00.003Z

My son and his girlfriend are walking the South Downs Way (from Winchester to Eastbourne) at Easter. They will begin on Easter Saturday, 3rd April and walk the 100miles throughout the following week.
Their goal is to raise £500 for a respiration monitor to track a child's breathing.
If you can support them it is easy to donate via their dedicated page on the charity donation site JustGiving.com
Whatever you can afford to give will be very much appreciated.
You can also follow their progress on Twitter!

MADE SOMETHING CRAFTY AT LAST!

2010-03-06T17:22:00.007Z

Well, here's my first 2 attempts at making a corsage! The cream one I'm more pleased with - and that was the very first attempt.
My dear husband put me off the pink one because he said it looked like one of the rosettes that winners get at horse shows!
Anyway - I'm just debating whether to put them on Folksy - not that I actually have a Folksy shop yet! But I want to get one.
The cream corsage is made from upcycled ribbons, old lace and some pearls rescued from a broken
necklace.
The pink one is pink silky fabric (from the charity shop!) with a vintage button centre and ribbon tails.

RED WINE AND CHOCOLATE POTENT CANCER KILLERS

2010-02-12T18:01:00.003Z

Well, just what I wanted to know - red wine and chocolate are good for me - that's just as well, because they are two of my favourite things! They even go together very well of an evening!
But to return to my title in all seriousness, these two things have anti-angiogenesis properties which means that, according to American research, they deprive tumours of blood supply - effectively "starving" them to death.
Other foods listed with similar cancer fighting properties are red grapes, blueberries, garlic, soy, various teas, cooked tomatoes and baked rhubarb.
It makes us all think again about the "old-fashioned" idea of "you are what you eat" and "your body is a temple" etc.
Anyway - it's Friday night - I'm going away to feast on my dark chocolate and red wine!

A CHANCE TO EARN MORE THAN THE PRIME MINISTER!

2010-02-02T11:01:00.003Z

Yes, if you want to earn more than the Prime Minister, get a job as Chief Executive of your local county council!
The Prime Minister earns (depending on your source of information) £187,000, whereas in the financial year 2007/8 Peter Gilroy earned £255,00 as CE of Kent County Council, Derek Myers CE of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea earned £218,870 as did Derrick Anderson CE of the London Borough of Lambeth- although to be "fair", his pay included £23,421 of expenses and bonuses!
Well, I know in reality, it's probably quite impossible for any of us to attain these jobs, but perhaps Gordon Brown could do worse than start applying for vacancies now?
I could point him in the direction of a nice little earner for East Sussex County Council right now, although sadly, it could mean a salary drop of around £6000 - still, better than unemployment or hawking your memoirs around the lecture circuit!
Get polishing that CV Gordon!

MOBILE PHONE CURE FOR ALZHEIMER'S?

2010-01-07T11:45:00.003Z

Despite years of health scares linked to possible problems with radiation from mobile phones, a new study on mice with Alzheimer's seems to say that use of a mobile may actually prevent or even cure the disease.

Scientists have found that the 96 mice (which were genetically engineered to develop Alzheimer's) were cured after being exposed to the same kind of electromagnetic waves that are produced by mobiles. Certain protein deposits present in cases of Alzheimer's, were removed from the mice's brains, returning their memory and cognitive ability to normal.

Unfortunately the study suggests that it would take the constant use of a mobile many years to have any effect on humans - pity! We were all beginning to like the idea that we could justify keeping our handsets glued to the sides of our heads all day!

SNOW AND WORK AND SNOW AND TRAVEL!

2010-01-06T11:20:00.003Z

Well, for those of you who didn't set out for work today (like me) then lucky you! Several people I know checked into their workplace website and - guess what? It 's all systems go - get out here, drive 20 miles into work - and then at 10 am we'll send you all home and shut the place down! Then you can all drive home in yet more hazzardous conditions!

I was lucky and someone at my office answered the phone at about the time I should have been setting off and told me not to come in - I wonder how many accidents could have been avoided if firms had been sensible and made a decision not to open BEFORE their employees had to set out?

We had the severe weather warnings, we had the traffic updates, we knew the snow was coming last night and we woke up to a white world this morning - I think that's enough information to make a decision.

CAN PEANUT BUTTER REALLY HALVE YOUR RISK OF A HEART ATTACK?

2009-10-14T12:11:00.004+01:00

I've just been reading yet another health article in a magazine that says that US researchers have discovered that eating peanut butter 5 times a week could halve your risk of a heart attack. As much as I like peanut butter I feel that articles like this mislead everyone into thinking they can snack on peanut butter all day and still be "healthy" (whatever that is).
My point is that there is peanut butter and peanut butter. I, for example, buy a (rather expensive) natural peanut butter that contains only - yes, guess what? Peanuts! However, a quick look at the labels on peanut butter on the shelves of your local supermarket will soon show you that pure peanut butter is a rarity. Many have added sugar and salt (probably not good for your blood pressure) and some have salt, sugar and palm oil (I'm sure I've read somewhere that this is one of the worst oils to eat if you are concerned about coronary health!).
So I suppose we have to use our common sense - as my grandparents used to say - "everything in moderation" - of course scientists can't measure that...

CREATIVE WRITING QUOTE FOR THE WEEK

2007-06-12T16:06:00.001+01:00

"I write for the same reason I breathe - because if I didn't, I would die."
Isaac Asimov*

Isaac Asimov was an American Jew, born in Russia but brought up in new York. He was a professor of biochemistry and a prolific author of short stories, more than 500 books (science and science fiction) and over 90000 letters.

More about Isaac Asimov

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CREATIVE WRITING QUOTE FOR THE WEEK

2007-05-10T17:56:00.002+01:00

"Writing comes more easily if you have something to say."

Sholem Asch*

Sounds like common sense to me. Nothing to say is either a bad case of writers’ block or a good case for going out and experiencing something to write about.

*The novelist and playwright Sholem Asch, was born to a poor family, one of ten surviving children, in Kutno, Poland in 1880 and died in London in 1957. He finally went to live in Israel in 1956. He was one of the most controversial, prolific and widely-known writers in Yiddish literature. Some of his most controversial writing explores the common heritage of Christianity and Judaism. He immigrated to the U.S. in 1909, becoming an American citizen in 1920 and much of his writing deals with this and the wider experiences of Jews in eastern Europe.

By Sholem Asch

The Mother, Three Cities (1933), Salvation (1934), The War Goes On (1936), and Three Novels (1938), The War Goes On, The Nazarene, The Apostle (1943), Mary (1949), and The Prophet (1953).

more about Sholem Asch

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A ROUNDABOUT WAY TO GET TO WORK…

2007-02-15T17:26:00.000Z

I am a roundabout traveller. I travel round in circles – or semi circles – or quarter circles, to get to work. There are 8 roundabouts on my 15 minute journey! The first circle on my route is at the top of my road. This roundabout takes the very dodgy form of a small, slightly raised, white painted circle in the middle of a junction (which used to be called a crossroad) which is edged by grey oblong paviours. The layout of the junction is such that buses cannot travel correctly around it - they have to go the wrong side of it if they need to turn into one of the exits – very neat! Many drivers in smaller vehicles are too lazy to go all the way round this 6 foot diameter roundabout and go across it or, as the buses do, round the wrong side of it. This often causes accidents – well, that’s a no-brainer! Small heaps of broken headlight and stop light glass are often testament to this. But actually when I arrive (last) at this roundabout often all 3 of the other exits have a frozen rabbit motorist sitting in them – not knowing when, if or how to go! I get bored, I’m usually late for work and so I make an executive decision and go – then so do they!

Next up is a rather larger roundabout in the middle of a dual carriageway –this just means that people waiting to leave their exits think they have more time to drive out in front of me without me actually hitting them. As many of these vehicles are huge lorries, their gamble pays off – I’ve made it a rule to never drive at anything bigger then my car!

Within several hundred yards is the third roundabout on my route – ditto the previous one – although, as it’s slightly smaller, the speeds of the roundabout louts are slower.

The next roundabout is huge! It has seven exits and the roundabout itself could usefully accommodate a small housing development – especially as Mr Prescott has ambitious plans to cram a few thousand more houses into the area – I’m surprised he hasn’t thought of it yet! Some time ago the people who decide these things decided we needed traffic lights on this roundabout – they were duly installed – erm… I thought roundabouts were a clever, modern way of doing away with the tailbacks that traffic lights caused? Anyway, after just a few weeks they were not working – a malfunctioning chip! Many people had complained about tailbacks – (I travel at peak times and never saw any) and the local MP voiced his dissatisfaction. Apparently, after the new chip was installed it was decided not to switch the lights back on and that was months ago – well, they only cost £600,000 of taxpayers' money - who cares? No-one has missed the lights and there haven’t been any traffic jams – the lights are still in position – but not switched on - I wonder just how much of our money all that has cost to date? We'll probably find out quite soon when we get our new Council Tax bills.

So, back to my journey – my fifth roundabout is average-sized – but obviously takes some people by surprise (well, it is in the middle of a dual carriageway) as there is evidence that they have crashed straight into it. The black and white chevron barrier on it has been flattened for months now – no-one seems in a hurry to replace it - no money probably - they spent it all on useless traffic lights. Within a couple of hundred yards is another roundabout – same size, same problems and the roundabout louts always want to pull out from my left, they never want to wait until I’ve passed them – they’re always pulling out and driving across my back bumper – assuming – stupidly - that I won’t need to brake for any reason as I drive on!

The sixth roundabout has flowerbeds and the name of a local church emblazoned across it – very strange indeed! This one is usually fairly calm – not much traffic from my right and usually no-one trying to pull out in front of me. Next and seventh one then, only a couple of hundred yards on – no problems except that the prevailing traffic cannot usually leave the roundabout due to jams on one of the exit roads. Almost at work - only another 2 roundabouts to go! Next one is quieter – only one exit off to get to the local supermarket and then I’m into work - one more small roundabout with high curbs, signs and barriers on it – you wouldn’t want to drive over that one – but a lot of people still think it’s just so much quicker to go round the wrong side!

Well that’s it - my circuitous 9 mile journey to work!

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On Being “Nice”

2006-09-15T17:43:00.000+01:00

The word “nice” is, as my old English teacher would have said, an over-used and useless adjective. In fact he was so obsessed by a loathing of the word that we were forbidden to use it in any written work. The trouble is that now, some thirty-five years later, we seem to have grown reliant on that small four-letter word for our every utterance. So over-used is it, that it has no “clout” to speak of in the world of description. So weak has it become that its use as a compliment could even be seen as damning with faint praise.

Try having a “nice-free” day and you’ll soon be left struggling for the right word to use in its place and that can be very awkward. Can you imagine meeting your friend for a coffee and saying something like “Hi! That’s a really attractive shirt you’re wearing” or “The food is excellent here”, or, even odder, “You look beautiful”. She would probably think you were behaving very strangely, as we have come to expect that everyone will use “nice” to describe everything. Any variance may be perceived as being loaded with some “other” meaning such as sarcasm, spite or irony. However, my “nice” replacements are perfectly correct and they describe the noun beautifully – or should that be nicely? Just joking!

I suppose laziness is to blame. We have found a “nice” word that covers all the ranges of descriptions that we may need. We use “nice” instead of having to think of (and choose between) excellent, good, beautiful, attractive, tasty, enjoyable, pretty, kind, polite, friendly, pleasant, clean… and so on and on and on. Just look it up in your Roget’s Thesaurus! But if “nice” means all these things and more, then isn’t it actually meaning-less? The joy of the English language is that it is blessed with a huge range of words meaning almost (but never quite) the same thing and this allows us to be (with some effort) blindingly accurate in our description of anything.

But “nice” can also be given all kinds of meanings that don’t relate simply to description. For example, I once knew an elderly lady who used to describe any young women of her acquaintance, as “nice” girls or “not nice” and she was not describing their appearance or their personality – this was a direct assessment of their sexual morals. This use of “nice” could actually be seen as more accurate than all our own lazy “generalisms”, as the dictionary also defines “nice” as meaning “fastidious” and “refined”. Conversely, children who are said to “come from a nice family” are probably less accurately perceived as having good manners, middle-class values, education, breeding (whatever that means!), money, good taste or strong morals.

“Nice” has become the conversational staple of the hairdresser and the checkout cashier. When I’m asked, “Going anywhere nice tonight?”, I always feel that to answer “No, just staying at home.”, seems to say something negative about my living conditions. Even worse, the hackneyed, transatlantic “Have a nice day!” always makes me cringe, so often has it been ridiculed in sit-coms. As I reply, “And you!”, I pity the shop assistant and the manager that insists that she repeats it to every single customer. I loathe the commercial system that thinks we are stupid enough to believe it to be sincere. Not nice!

So that’s it – nice is so weak it’s virtually useless – it even needs “add-ons” to make it remotely emphatic, for example, “Nice one!”, meaning “Well done! It’s great”, or, sarcastically, the complete opposite (see what I mean?). Then there is “Very nice” – with the stress on “very” which also means either actually very good or the complete opposite.

That’s it I’m finished – call the “Nice” police – it’s an emergency.

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Tesco to roll out new, larger shopping trolley!

2006-08-10T21:55:00.000+01:00

I hear that Vauxhall has offered Tesco a special deal to replace its stock of shopping trolleys with a slightly larger, new style trolley. This special deal is due to a naturally occurring surplus that they can now, no longer accommodate.

It is believed that the bigger wheel on each corner will provide stability, easier handling and more reliable steering - they guarantee that the awful stomach-muscle pulling effort of dragging the old style trolleys back to your vehicle will be a thing of the past. The new trolley will roll with ease once the easy-to-use, centrally placed handbrake leaver is released.

The problem of customers removing the trolleys from store sites will be successfully eradicated as the new trolleys will not be able to be taken on any long journeys due to a built-in "short journey only" factor, cleverly integrated into the core design.

Night-time shopping has been made easier by the provision of sportily raked headlight-style lamps on the front of the trolley and small red reflectors on the rear. There are other larger red lights on the back of the trolley – but at the present time, it is unclear if they will, in fact protect the customer from rear end shunts or trolley rage.

There will be more seats in the new trolley (with appropriate seat belt provision) to comfortably accommodate up to 5 children (this reflects today's growing trend for bigger families) or 4 smaller children and a granny. At the rear of the trolley is an extremely large receptacle for rubbish, which only needs emptying once or twice a year (or in emergences when the customer may wish to accommodate more shopping).

This new style trolley was recently trialled at a Tesco store, raising immediate concerns that more trolley shelters will need to be built to house them (see above).

Customer feedback is eagerly awaited.

Did you chuck out your chintz?

2006-08-07T11:36:00.000+01:00

If you are, like most of us over ten, old enough to remember Ikea’s 1993 ad campaign telling us “Chuck out your chintz”, then you might be shuddering at the terrible inevitability of recurring fashion trends. There is, if you’ve opened a Sunday supplement or actually any magazine this year, a terrible, creeping invasion of rose sprigged anything and everything. So if, when you went in for those white walls, purple carpets, red settees and barcode art, you threw all your chintz in the loft instead of the skip, you’re laughing – just dig it all out again and give that persistent fashion merry-go-round of rampant commercialism a poke in the eye for once!

Interestingly, if you Google Ikea’s famous phrase, you will see it has been generally adopted to describe the throwing out of anything useless. “Useless” of course is a very subjective word – if its rose-printed exterior offends our eye, does that make the item no longer fit for purpose? No. If past generations had chucked out everything on a commercial whim we would not have any antiques at all, let alone all those Victorian chintz patterns that are now used by designers as inspiration for their “new” ideas!

It all began quietly last summer when a high street camping supplier offered us a rose bespattered tent to take our annual summer holiday in. As a camper myself, I have to say that I have never, ever seen anyone on any campsite, pitch this pretty canvas chocolate box. Perhaps they were too shy to leave their back gardens.

Of course there’s an upside to all this – you know camping must be really cool when designers take an interest in it! And now there’s a choice of – no not just one rose bespattered tent but several ditsy daisy designs to camp in. Or should that be camp it up in? And it doesn’t end there – you can buy just about anything rose printed or flower bedecked - anything you like from a doormat to a kitchen chair, a radio to a shopping bag, plates, crockery, cutlery, a car – let alone the “chintziest” choice of armchairs, curtains, blinds and carpets. If you really did chuck out all your chintzy stuff back in 1993, you may be sorry. Sorry that is, that you’re a bit of a fashion victim.

They say never go back. That means the mini, batwing tops, ra-ra skirts, wedge heels – no wait - I’ve just bought some of them - and flares, well - may be some things are worth revisiting…

Appuldurcombe Gardens Holiday Park, Isle of Wight

2006-07-10T15:17:00.000+01:00

Just got back from 5 days in the Isle of Wight - one of my favourite UK holiday destinations. We camped in Appuldurcombe Gardens Holiday Park - very pretty, neat short grass, lovely flower beds, clean showers and toilets, great swimming pool - not at all crowded due to the fact that the schools haven't broken up yet. We were unable to formally book in on arrival due to being asked not to arrive before 1pm - guess what? The reception was only open in the morning to 1pm!Trouble is, the managers seemed to have the opinion that, although it was the first week in July, the season hadn't really started, so it was unnecessary to rush to serve anyone that did appear in the almost empty bar. Although the shop was open it was poorly stocked with very little bread and when I wanted some, early one morning, when I would have assumed they would have had deliveries, they only had the 2 loaves I'd seen there on the previous day!The shop did have lots of cheap kiddy toys though - I suppose they don't go out of date.

It is a shame about this campsite, we won't be going back - it was not exactly cheap at £5.20 per adult per night plus £2.50 per night for electrical hook-up - which for us meant £23.30 per night. I may be expecting too much, but I think that is expensive, especially when we were made to feel that we weren't worth bothering with as it wasn't "high season". A warmer welcome would have ensured that we would have used the site again - despite the price.

However I do love the island and the weather was fairly okay. We had a great time at The Brading Experience (welcoming and pleasant staff) and a great coffee and cake (very reasonably priced and tasty) in their café. The lovely plates of salads, baguettes, filled jacket potatoes etc. wafting past our table made us sorry we didn't have time for lunch! A down side of the experience was our visit to the "designer outlet" at Brading - miserable sales assistant and expensive clothes - some of which were from George at Asda and others were just not "designer" at all . I have to add here that my husband pointed out that every garment is designed by someone - yes, but we don't want to pay through the nose for those that are a lot less "designed" than they could be!

One highlight of our holiday was eating fish and chips on a late sunny afternoon at West Cowes on the seafront, as the ferries whizzed in and out and another was a coffee break (yes, with cake again and yes, very reasonably priced) at Newport in the Quay Arts Centre. There are always plenty of arty crafty things to see and usually an exhibition of paintings as well - all free to go into. The Model Village at Godshill deserves a big round of applause for giving us a family ticket (just for our cheek!) when our two youngsters, at 17 and 18 years, did not really qualify as "children" - and doing it with a smile and a joke! We love the model and its beautiful trees (our third visit) it is well-kept, clean and all newly painted for the season - just great!

Another memorable experience was revisiting the Old Battery at the Needles in the wind, rain and fog! It certainly recreated the unhappy conditions generations of soldiers must have had to endure (and this was July). We caught the bus up to it - £8 for the four of us ( can't be more than a mile) and walked back - by which time the weather was brighter!

So, we are already listing all the visits we didn't have time to make this holiday - Isle of Wight Steam Railway, Ventnor Botanical Gardens, Bembridge Windmill etc. for our next visit, oh, and we'll be searching for another campsite!

VW Expo

2006-06-27T17:59:00.000+01:00

We spent a great day last Sunday at the Kent Hop Farm browsing amongst some of the coolest VW cars and campers I've seen! We've not long acquired a VW Transporter Autosleeper (high-top) Type 25 - not quite so cool as a "Splitty" - see the photo above, if you've got £27000 to spare, or, in grey next to it, a "Bay" (the surfer dude type camper with the cute curved winscreen), these are also now getting very expensive.

We also drooled over a vaste range of beetles - both "original" and "custom"- which brought back memories of my beloved Bright Blue Beetle - the first and only car ( so far) I've ever paid for with a loan! I loved its comfort, its luxurious thick white seats and its super efficient heater that melted a tape deck and a vinyl LP I left in the rear footwell - aaaah! Those were the days!

We chose comfort and practicality over "cool" in the form of our "wedgie" - the third generation of campers with the flat screeen - we wanted to use our van to holiday with - not just cruise about in- must be an age thing! But we have joined the Sussex VW Owners Club and my husband has taken part in a cruise with our wedgie! Pity I was out with some girfriends that evening!

More Strawberries

2006-06-22T20:21:00.000+01:00

I’ve eaten strawberries again today as part of my 6 meal a day diet – about 100grams of strawberries topped with 100gms of fat free fromage frais and a teaspoon of runny honey is only about 94 calories!

My Diet Tip of Today is - keep eating. I don’t go more than 2 ½ hours without eating. If you starve yourself until you can hear your stomach growling – two things will happen: your metabolism will slow up in a reaction to what seems like a famine situation and/or you will probably overeat at (or before) the next meal. Of course if you eat often on your diet everything you eat has to be very low in calories. This happily sorts out the healthy eating part of my diet – there probably can’t be any very low calorie foods that are considered unhealthy – can there? Someone will probably prove me wrong there – but it could be interesting!

Summer Dieting

2006-06-21T16:34:00.000+01:00

I'm on that diet again. The one where I hope to fit in to those clothes in time for my holiday! NO CHANCE! It's easier now that I've finished work for the summer - and there's strawberries to eat. Yes! I'm just about to eat a big bowl full, topped with a huge blob of fromage frais (fat free of course) and dripped with honey. I'll let you know the calories when I've worked it out! This is my 4th meal of the day on my self-imposed 6 meal-a-day-diet. Breakfast was only an apple, a fat-free yoghourt and a cup of tea - but that's just me being lazy - I can think of other options - just as long as each meal is under 200 calories. Boring? Well, sometimes - but not when the weight comes off - 1lb last week - but I did go out for a couple of meals and - ooops! - one of my late evening meals was a chocolate biscuit and a glass of red wine! More willpower needed here!

Willpower is also needed to get going on the exercise - 10,000 steps a day is, I read somewhere, supposed to be the answer to all our diet and health problems - well, I try, often. My pedometer keeps falling off - I nearly lost it down the toilet once - but I've got a system - I walk as much as possible all day - then in the evening- if it doesn't show at least 4 miles - I then go out for a long walk. It worked last year and I lost just under a stone - well, 12lbs actually - and managed to keep most of it off all winter. So, if I do the same every year, I may be at my target weight of somewhere under 10 stone in about 3 years - that's too long to wait for my BMI to get down under 25.

Now I'm going to get stuck in to those strawberries...