My Two Pence

We aren’t referring to the popular meat based product in the title of this article. We are however referring to the countless pointless emails and phone calls we receive every day from people trying to either sell us something or trying to make our lives a misery.

Every day at 11:00am and 4:00pm for the last four days somebody has tried to call us on our mobile phone. We’re at work, we’re busy, we’re not allowed to answer, so we don’t answer. The caller display says ‘private nr’ so we don’t know who it is (another reason to not answer). The most annoying part? They don’t leave a message.

If they left a message we ‘might’ call them back, but since no message is left and since we haven’t the foggiest who it is we can do nothing. This has left us worried, could it by the doctor’s surgery saying they’ve found the results from the tests we had in 2010 and we only have a year left to live? Could it be the National Lottery saying we’ve not claimed our jackpot win? Could it be some goodfornothing trying to sell us a year’s subscription to Jesus Loves Cats - the popular weekly evangelical read? - We don’t know but there’s nothing we can do except wait for the phone to ring again so we can ignore it.

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Sometimes the world passes us by and we are left feeling cold without a hat or a coat to wear. We turned the TV on to watch Canal Walks with Juila Bradbury and found ourselves engrossed in what we thought was the latest Coronation Street episode, only to find out it was really happening. When are the Cadbury Twirl ads going to come on we thought to ourselves, what’s all this rioting about.

Thinking a little more about the riots, it seems that the whole world has finally gone mad. Mad ‘Max’ that is. Everyone will be wearing furs and fighting on souped up dune buggies before the New Year no doubt.

The question the TV station was asking was “What can be done to stop the rioting?”. Our answer…

Sort out the economy Mr Cameron, give people a chance of succeeding in life, stop taking things away from them and give them something to strive for.

You even said it yourself at a Local Enterprise Partnership meeting in March “nothing is possible without economic growth”.

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There’s an old saying that “If something’s worth doing, it’s worth doing right” and the same can be said about cooking and eating. If you are going to cook a meal “It’s worth doing right” and if your going to buy ingredients “It’s worth buying the best”.

I love cooking and eating food. But I only love cooking and eating good food. Some of the cheap stuff you get in the supermarket just doesn’t cut the mustard. One of the biggest problems I have is with supermarket meat. And especially the offers they sometimes have that say you can get three packs for £10 or four packs for £12.

The meat in these packs shouldn’t even be sold - just because of quality purposes alone, never mind the animal welfare.

If you go to your butcher, you will not only get better quality meat, you will be able to get an idea where the meat came from.

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We’ve all been there. After a hard day at work we are settling down in front of the television with a glass of wine when the doorbell rings. We answer it only to find a cold caller is trying to sell us religion or a similar worthless product. We then stand by the doorway while the person regails us their wares without stopping for air so we can’t get a word in edgeways to tell them to piss off. That was until we developed a cunning plan.

When you open the door to a cold caller you have to think fast. Speaking first is the key. Instead of the usual “hello”, start with the catchy - “Are you selling anything?” If the person answers “no”, you need to be ready with the next question - “Are you from a small religious group who is trying to recruit people who can’t think for themselves?” If the answer is “no” again, you have to respond quickly again. The next question to ask is - “Are you from a political party?”. If the answer is still “no”, the last question to ask is “Are you trying to get me to change my energy supplier?”. If the answer is still no you will have to resort to the same response as if the cold caller has answered “yes” to any of the above questions - “not today”, while shutting the door into the face of the loser on the doorstep. Don’t be tempted to say “I’m really busy now”, as the cold caller will say “I’ll call back later”.

Remember, how fast you react is important. Don’t give your cold caller the upper hand and definitely don’t let them start talking. If you do, you’ll have to wait the five minutes it’ll take before they come up for air to say “No thanks” while shutting the door in their face.

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Diva Bingo has re-jigged its existing loyalty scheme for long-time players and launched its new and improved version on the site.

The new scheme means that players can get much more for their money, and much more out of the site. It basically rewards players for depositing and playing more, as well as sticking with Diva Bingo and not going to its competitors.

So what’s new?

The following offers are part of the Diva Bingo Exclusive VIP Program:

• Free registration bonus of £5
• First deposit bonus of £250
• Free bingo
• Loyalty points scheme
• Birthday bonus of 100 per cent (up from the regular offer of 70 per cent)
• Re-deposit bonus of 60 per cent (up from 50 per cent)
• Invite a friend for a £15 bonus (up from £10)
• 5 per cent cash back every month
• Special gifts

A lot of these features, such as cash back and special gifts, are new to the VIP Program, whilst others are simply improved upon. This reward scheme and all the other offers and promotions at Diva Bingo ensure that players can get the most out of their online gaming experience.

To find out what reward schemes are offered at other bingo sites, head to ohmybingo.com now for all the details.

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In the current economic climate, more and more people are taking part in the UK National Lottery and giving themselves a glimmer of hope that they can enjoy a wealthier lifestyle. As National Lottery tickets are so affordable to buy, they’re well worth the purchase- after all, you could spend just a pound and win an absolute fortune.

When the National Lottery first made an appearance, the public could enjoy one draw per week. As the lottery became more and more of a success though, the number of draws and options increased, and nowadays there is plenty of choice. This means that you don’t just have to restrict yourself to playing just once a week.

One thing which lots of UK National Lottery players aren’t aware of though is that their lottery options aren’t restricted to this country. National Lotteries are popular all over the globe, and what’s more, even when you’re based in the UK, there’s nothing stopping you from taking part in lotteries elsewhere.

Canada, Brazil and America all have some great lotteries which are well worth playing, and one plus-point with the American lotteries is that they’re held by state- which means even more choice and even more chance to get your hands on a few (or maybe even a lot of) extra pennies.

Are you wondering how you can take part in lottery draws overseas without getting on a plane and flying over there? If so, wonder know more, as you can purchase your ticket and then check your lottery results via the internet. It couldn’t be any more straightforward or less time consuming.

Now that you can see that the UK National Lottery isn’t the only option you’ve got, there’s no time like the present to switch on your computer, log online and start playing the games which so many other countries have to offer. You really do never know when or where your luck might be in.

Looking for information, tips, advice or just to see if you have won the Florida Lottery visit the www.alottery.com web site.

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Weather is the most talked about British pastime. With most people commenting that it’s either too hot, too cold, too rainy or too windy. There never seems to be a happy medium.

It’s April and it’s hot, darn hot, the hottest month on record, so is everyone walking around with a smile on their face enjoying the warm weather – NO. Comments I’ve heard up to now include:

• “I’ll be glad when it rains”
• “All this hot weather is not good for my garden”
• “I’m too hot, I hope May’s not as hot as April”
• “I like hot weather but not this hot”
• “I’m fed up applying sun cream”
• “The weather is too hot for my dog”
• “I like sunny days but not when I’m at work”

Ok, the last comment we can all relate to. But why all the moaning when the weather is nice for a change. In August everyone will be saying “We’ve not had a summer this year” and “I wish it was nice like it was in April” etc.

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We all love a good wedding, so it came as no surprise that most of the UK basked in Wills and Kate’s special day last week. We’re not royalists so we didn’t pay it much attention - that is until we had a look at some of the ridiculous attire that the royals were wearing on the day.

Kate looking stunning in her hand embroidered dress, but what creature had attached itself to Princess Bea’s head? And Tara Palmer Tomkinson’s whole outfit didn’t fare much better.

Internet jokers have already likened Bea’s headwear to a toilet seat; with others commenting that it looked like an octopus or a pair of antlers. There’s even a Facebook page dedicated to the hat, check it out, it’s worth a look.

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Perhaps even worse than sharing food is the experience of queueing for shared food. This activity strips the dignity of everyone involved and does a disservice to the notion that we are somehow ‘a civilisation’.

Queuing for food is like being a vulture circling a carcass, waiting for the hyenas to have their fill. You’re in a pecking order and you don’t know what scraps will remain when you get to the front of that queue. It encourages base animal behaviour and reduces us to the level of beasts.

It should also be noted that queueing for food often precedes selecting from too varied a spread, which is another hatred. A buffet is fine right up until the point where it becomes effectively impossible to have one of everything because there are too many things on offer. You are not gaining 20 foodstuffs here; you are missing out on four.

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Maybe it’s because I’m an only child, but I don’t like sharing food. In fact, I will not share.

Sharing food affects the whole experience. It alters your priorities and changes what should be an enjoyable experience into an every-man-for-himself free-for-all. I want to know what my food is and I want to eat it how I please. I don’t want to feel like if I risk eating some salad early on, I’ll not get any chicken kebab.

If food is to be shared, it should be equally divided and plated so that everyone knows where they are. If there is any dissatisfaction, people can trade items, but these deals are negotiated and therefore ought to be mutually satisfactory.

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