Made with the help of CGI, this advert had my FULL attention when I first saw it a few weeks back.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/OuZEGK3k-J0]
My Favourite TV Advert Of The Moment.
This tickles my funny bone.
[youtube=http://youtu.be/wP0mXUCqOCc]
Leighton Buzzard by Bus.
We decided to go to Leighton Buzzard by bus yesterday. I love my Morrisons supermarkets and so really, despite there being slightly closer locals for Morrisons SM’s, going to Leighton Buzzard was the most direct route via public transport. We can get the bus from just down the road and it takes us almost directly to the supermarket.
Em was umm-ing and ahh-ing about whether we should go. We tried to check what the fare would be, but the bus company’s web site is SO vague. Em was worried it was going to cost us £7.00 return, each! But I was hoping that the bus company was not going to be quite THAT money-grabbing. I tried to ring them, got the old “Press 1 for this, and 2 for that” business. There was a section for fares, but of course, that option rang once then had a message that said “Unfortunately all our operators (right, one person manning the phone – if there were any AT ALL manning this part of the line) are currently taking calls, please call back later, or check the web site.” Erm, that’s why I was RINGING ‘cos the information I wanted wasn’t on your crappy web site!! Geez!!!
Anyway, we decided to take the bull by the horns and just go down to the stop and see how much it would be. When the bus arrived I fell over the step (good start!). After my adept recovery (not adept enough to give the driver a wry smile!) I asked the driver how much a return ticket to Leighton Buzzard would be. He said “£4.50”, well although it was still fairly expensive, it wasn’t £7 a piece, so we got on. It’s probably a competitively priced fare considering LB is about 15 miles away, and our nearest market town Hitchin is only about 6-7 and it costs £3.15 return to get there!
It’s a fairly long journey. The trip takes about an hour, but it’s a pleasant enough trip and it does go through the countryside – which is nice, especially in the type of weather we had yesterday (IE: lovely and sunny). The rape seed fields are at their most colourful at the moment (I wish it was called canola, like it is in Oz, it just doesn’t sound right enjoying looking at “fields of rape”).
By chance, it was market day at LB. We got a little bargain there. One kilogram of nyger seed for £1.60. The goldfinch food is well stocked. And there was a shop there selling “larger” ladies clothes. I got myself a nice top for £9.00! We went on to Morrisons, had a bite to eat in the cafe` and then went around the aisles getting bits and bobs.
I took a little video on my mobile on the bus back, trying to capture the countryside, but it was a bit lame. I’ll add it to the post anyway. Mind the sound.
My neck and shoulders got sunburnt (we had a while to wait for the return bus and I got burnt waiting) and they’ve been itchy since then, and a bit tender, ouch.
How Did They Get Away With It??
I’ve been sitting on this picture for a few weeks, wanting to post it, but things have conspired against me lately. So here it is.
This advert was in our local paper a few weeks ago. Is it just me (and Em), or is this just a LITTLE suggestive??
We bought a new 4 slice toaster earlier today.
We haven’t had a toaster in about 2 or 3 years. Anyway, we tested it tonight and the damn thing doesn’t work properly! It has 2 independent controls so it can do 2 slices without heating all 4 elements. One side works, the other side pops the bread back up after 5 seconds. . .every time, all the time! Damn modern appliances!!
The New Love Of My Life – The Nokia 6300!
“Am I in love? aaaaahhhhhh I must be in love!”
It might still be the honeymoon period at this stage (as I’ve only had my phone just over 48 hours), but I *LOVE* this phone. I was hesitant because of reviews I’d seen. People seem to either love it or hate it.
It’s WAY more advanced than my old Siemens SF65 (which always has a starring role each week in The Bill) which makes me feel like I’ve joined the 21st century.
The phone is just PACKED with features:
- 2 mega pixel camera
- video record and play
- bluetooth
- music player
- radio
- mp3 ringtones
- organiser
- fully integrated SMS, MMS, MMS+, video messaging, flash messaging – even Push To Talk
- themes
- wallpapers
Just everything I wanted to upgrade for. My Siemens had a camera, but it was only an SVGA quality, 1.3 mega pixel camera. Photos looked crap from my phone. I had no PC linking capabilities with my phone because I use a Mac. No probs now with my new phone as it has the LOVELY Bluetooth!
A lot of reviews say “2 mega pixel camera, not good enough”, but I am very happy with the photo quality. The highest resolution of this camera is 1600 x 1200 and it takes some great photos. It doesn’t have a flash, which makes it struggle in low light levels (not great for the UK market, really), but in day conditions, it’s fine. The digital zoom does start to make a meal of the image when you use it – you really don’t want to have to zoom in too much – but that’s the bane of digital zoom. At full resolution in good light conditions, the photos are good.
Video is great albeit small at 178×144 not the 320×240 as seemed to be promised in spec. Being my first video phone, I am happy with the quality, it makes a somewhat “blocky” but very watchable video clip. I’ve even finally opened a YouTube account and added videos from my phone to the account already. Bluetooth just makes everything SO easy!
I find the ease of use with bluetooth for file transfer really good and fast. Mp3’s, video clips and photos all transfer in seconds. I LOVE being able to finally make up my own mp3 ringtones and load them on the phone. The joys of being a Mac owner. No DRM to mess about with, bluetooth already in the Mac’s system – not having to use any PC suite (bblllleeeerrrrrkkkk WindoZe) – EASY!
I saw one person in a review complain that the phone only had one alarm!!! ONE ALARM?! HOW MANY DO YOU WANT? At first I was thinking there might have been a back-handed valid point to this seeing as my Siemens had 3 alarms. But upon quick reflection I could see that you could have limitless alarms with the Nokia because of the organiser. Either the person making that comment had no brain or…well, they just had no brain obviously!
The only downside I have seen with my phone so far is the common complaint – battery life – but as I’ve been playing with the phone quite a bit to familiarise myself with it – I doubt this will be a real problem for me in the near future. I’ll see how it goes.
The only other slight down point is the highly probable ease at which this phone would become disfigured. I have invested in a crystal hard case which goes around the phone but still allows all it’s functions to be available, so keypad is accessible at all times, as well as the input and output points (charger input, USB cable input, etc). The most important things are protected…screen, corners, back. Other cases I looked at either would make the phone look ugly or would be impractical as you would be having to take the phone in and out of the case all the time to access all the phones functions. The crystal cases are cheap as well, so once they start to get too marked and scuffed, you can just buy another.
I really, really love this phone! Rated out of 10, I would give it (minus points for fragility and battery life):
9/10
If it looks too good to be true…
Well, I got my D520 phone, but alas the thing were dog-done no good. The eBay seller said “100% working order”…erm, WRONG! The camera packed up after I took one picture, I couldn’t get into the music player, and the mp3’s that were on it were corrupted. Beside that, I expected it to be in used condition, but it looked like it had seen a few pavements in its life.
The seller said they were unaware of those faults as they had not used the features on the phone. It had been their sons phone and he had not mentioned that they didn’t work. I sent it back and they gave me a refund, so that was all and good. But then I was left without a phone, as I had sold my own phone to help fund the “upgrade”.
So my search continued. Initially I wanted to get a Nokia 5200 but was disappointed with the camera spec. Then I started to look around for a Nokia 5300 instead. I could get one on eBay at a reasonable price, but I was very “once bitten, twice shy” because of what happened. I looked into getting one new through a dealer, but they are sold out all over the place. Whilst looking for a Nokia 5300, I was also looking at another Nokia model – the 6111. Down sides to that was fixed memory of only 23mb, but it was a decent spec. Then I saw ratings people were giving this phone. Loads of people saying it was shit – a common fault being that it turns itself off and on all the time. Not good.
I relly wanted to go back to having a Nokia phone. I like the way the work. My old 3310 was such a good phone, and although equally my Siemens had been great, I didn’t think to look at their modern phones (of which there wouldn’t be many). So, after more an more searching I have decided to go for a Nokia 6300. It has all the stuff I want, 2 megapixel camera, video recording, play, streaming, mp3 player and ringtones, FM radio, MMS…and even pluses I might be able to use later down the line like Push To Talk. I can see there are down sides to the phone already. People say it doesn’t have adequate internal memory, which does sound low at only 7MB, but it can take a 2GB micro SD card, so it shouldn’t be a prob. The biggest thing people complain about is battery life. At best most people say a 3 day charge. I am use to several days with my Siemens, so I might get a little frustrated if the battery life is really piss poor, but others say battery life is no prob.
I’ll soon see. It arrives tomorrow and I’m reserved, but excited. I REALLY hope this phone will be *it* and I won’t have to worry about upgrades for a good 3-4 years now. Fingers firmly crossed.
Things coming up (or that have been) that are exciting me.
After you see the list, you’ll see I’m VERY easy to please 🙂
Firstly, I purchased myself a “new” used mobile phone on eBay. When I was in Oz, my niece had a Samsung D520, I thought it was a nice looking phone and had the things I wanted to upgrade my phone for – mp3 playing and ringtones, video play and record and Bluetooth. I knew it was a Samsung, but had to check with her what model it was. After getting her reply, I looked on eBay (before that I’d be chasing a Nokia 5200 but wasn’t having much luck getting one for the £40 mark) and someone was selling a used D520 for £30. I thought great price for a well specified phone, so jumped at it. Now I am EAGERLY awaiting its arrival in the post.
The other thing that is exciting me is the sight of two baby goldfinches in the garden. They arrived yesterday with the regular pair, who I can only assume are mum and dad of these babies.
Last but not least, the prospect of being able to get out and about next week as we might be hiring a car for several days so Em can help out a mate of hers with his computer stuff. Somehow getting around the UK on public transport is just not very appealing. I’ll give you an example why.
We live around 35 miles (around 56 kms) from Cambridge. When we had a car, we might visit Cambridge 2-3 times a year. Needless to say we’ve not been there since being without a car. That journey to Cambridge by car would take around 45 minutes. That same journey via public transport would take at least an extra hour and cost £40 (around $95 Australian) for two people!! We could hire a car for the day and be able to buy the fuel to get us to and from Cambridge for the same amount of money! It’s obscene! That’s why we “don’t do” public transport in Britain. Not because we don’t want to, but because it’s a total waste of time and money.
Oh dear, it’s a deer!!
We (Em & I) went on an adventure yesterday. Since around October/November last year we’ve been without a car. Our car died and it’s gonna take a lot of money thrown at it to repair it. We just don’t have that sort of money, so when he have needed a car for a day, we’ve hired one. More often its shanks’ pony or taking a bus. We haven’t done any travel like that together this year until yesterday. We went to Hitchin for the day. The bus goes around all the back villages of Hertfordshire. It’s only a short walk to the bus stop from where we are. Anyway, because the route the bus goes around the Hertfordshire countryside, yesterday we got to see a deer leaping across the road as we hurtled towards it! It was a young fawn, still very Bambi-like, but it had some speed. There were about 8-10 of us on the bus and there were gasps and cries of “It’s a deer!”. Fleeting as it was, it was really lovely to see. Bus trips around village backwaters DO have their advantages!
A Beautiful Red Deer fawn.
‘Tis The Season…
To be sad maybe? Sad as in “I have no life!”
I really do look forward to this time of year, although heaven knows why! I live thousands of miles away from my immediate family. My partner is not exactly in what you would describe as a “close-knit” family. We have LESS than no money (we exist primarily on credit cards). I could go on, but I’ll only depress myself. Does the Christmas period account for more suicides than any other time of the year? If it does, I can well understand why. Despite all that…I’m STILL looking forward to it!! I’m a freak, I know!
OK, here is why: The Pros…
Lovely food! I like to spoil me and Em at this time of year. Usually that would mean some M&S food as well, but probably not this time. What it will mean is roast dinners, chestnuts (the best nuts on the planet), deserts, alcohol and lots of warmth.
Presents…when you can afford them. We don’t really do gifts for each other much these days, but rather splash out on a big joint gift. Last year it was a Freeview box with recordable hard drive of 40gb. This year it has been jumping up to a 26″ LCD TV. But I still love getting little personal gifts.
Christmas TV. A chance to see all your favourite old movies and lots of Xmas specials. It’s a dead time for Australian TV, but absolutely prime in the UK. I suppose it’s the weather that makes it that way.
The chance of snow at Xmas!
New Year…an excuse to p!ss up! And have lots of prayers that the New Year will be a better one for all.
The Embassy World Darts in the New Year!!! I LOVE IT! It’s like WWF, but darts! I love the “walk-on’s”, they are brilliant! My two favourites are Ted Hankey, who dresses up as Dracula (he has a darts nickname – The Count), cape and all, with spooky music and sounds playing (he even has the receding hairline – but not a widow’s peak, it’s too far gone) and he picks out plastic bats from under his cape and throws them into the crowd – it’s pure pantomime!!! My other fave is Martin “Wolfie” Adams. He comes out to Duran Duran’s Hungry Like The Wolf and howls and the crowd howls back!! I assume he’s called Wolfie ‘cos he has a lot of facial hair?!
The cons…
We feel compelled to buy presents.
We have to worry about decorations. Normally I’m the first to put them up, but I haven’t got a tree up yet. I’d love a fibre optic tree, but money dictates.
You can’t really be with the ones you love…or you are forced to spend time with family…depending on which side you look at it. I haven’t had a Christmas with my family for 8 years now.
There’s probably actually TOO much to watch on TV.
No snow and just horrible, cold, wet weather.
Running out of some kind of foodstuff and having to go to the supermarket on Xmas eve! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaggggggggggghhhhhhhhhh
Sending cards by snail mail.
For those of you getting into the spirit, here are my two fave Christmas songs….
[youtube=http://youtu.be/P8Ozdqzjigg]
[youtube=http://youtu.be/DiXjbI3kRus]