It's Just A Blog! (richarduttley.co.uk)

Virgin Poker

2011-09-29T14:35:00.003+01:00

Out of all the many poker websites I've ever played on, I believe Virgin Poker is the best, most honest, and gives you the best offers, deals, and tournaments. See you at the tables!

Chat with me!

2011-09-29T14:32:00.001+01:00

Subscribe to my blog :)

2011-09-29T14:31:00.003+01:00

Just click on the thingy-doodle below...

Don't forget me, add me!

2011-09-29T14:28:00.002+01:00

Just click on the tiny bookmark type link belowwww ...

This is Deena (with Miggs) - show her some love!

2011-09-28T22:28:00.001+01:00

The girl's name is Deena and she doesn't think she's good enough to make a go of it in the music industry. Show her some love because I think the more people that tell her she is good enough, the more confidence will come and she may one day (and hopefully soon) believe in herself. She actually had a cold on this track (not that it makes a difference to her very cool, very unique voice) but you'll find her on Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, and YouTube (I'll leave you to search for her yourself (it will help the ranking of her profiles). The guitarist is Miggs, he lives in Sydney, Australia, and he's pretty good himself so drop by and say hello to him too if you find him whilst searching for the future star that is Deena. Enjoy!

What is a Bridging Loan?

2011-09-28T22:26:00.000+01:00

A bridging loan is interim financing for an individual or business until permanent or the next stage of financing can be obtained. Money from the new financing is generally used to "take out" (i.e. to pay back) the bridging loan, as well as other needs.

Bridging loans are typically more expensive than conventional financing to compensate for the additional risk of the loan, but asking the correct broker is potentially the best avenue to obtain the best deal. Bridging loans typically have a higher interest rate but are typically arranged more quickly with relatively little documentation.

A prime example of when you might need a bridging loan would be if you are poised to buy a new home but are let down on the sale of your existing one. To secure your new home, before it goes to the competition, you could use a bridging loan. Basically, this is like a very short term mortgage and like a mortgage it would usually be "secured" against property.

Bridging loans can also be used for reasons other than buying and selling property. Think holidays, weddings, cashflow (when you need some cash urgently), Inland Revenue (for those unexpected payments), land purchase (the topic of our next post – watch this space!), and loan security.

Blogger's Awards

2011-08-31T21:10:00.000+01:00

Blogger's Awards: 5 Reasons Why YOU Should Apply

There are actually numerous great bloggers and publishers doing very good work, and those who stand out deserve to have their hard work recognized, connect with each other, and see their readerships grow. That’s why the World Media Awards exist- to recognize and reward great contributions to media from bloggers and publishers.

In my own career, I’ve learned and benefited so much from others that I wanted to help establish some way to give back to an industry I love show appreciation to the up-and-coming leaders. The World Media Awards will culminate in a 1 day event in San Francisco that will celebrate the best in blogging, forums, publishing and media from around the world.

So if you are a superb blogger, why should you enter?

1. Get Recognized- You Deserve It :)

You put a lot of work into making your blog amazing. You know it and your readers know it. The World Media Awards is a way for you to get authoritative recognition from other bloggers and industry experts. That recognition will help you build your readership, make fresh collaborative connections, and hopefully have great moments that make all the late nights even more rewarding.

2. Meet Other Bloggers Who Care

Blogging, forums and most other online media is about conversation and interaction, but sometimes it’s easy to end up pecking away behind a monitor in your office or home all alone. Meeting other bloggers and publishers keeps the fire lit and the conversation going. When you enter the World Media Awards, you’ll be listed alongside other bloggers and publishers who put the same level of pride, attention and effort into making their blog world class.

3. Expose Yourself to New Partners

If your blog or forum is part of your business, being part of the World Media Awards will increase your exposure by putting your name in front of the thousands of visitors to our site and the award ceremony. That means you can find out who else is doing great work, strut your own stuff, and expand your network of contacts and collaborators.

4. Make Yourself Irresistible to Clients

What helps your chances at winning that next pitch more than growing your network? Telling that network that you are the winner of a World Media Award. Winning an award shines a light on your accomplishments, and it serves as an example of the commitment, engagement and exacting standards you apply to your work.

5. Be Part of the Beginning of Something Big

Because 2012 is the first year for these awards, you have the one-time opportunity to be the inaugural winner and set the standard for the World Media Awards in your category. Getting in on the ground floor of these awards will open opportunities for you as a blogger and a publisher.

The bottom line is, the World Media Awards will shine a spotlight on the year’s most prosperous bloggers and publishers, and on the organizations that serve and interact with them.

Now is your chance to be one of them.

The sponsors include Growmap, Pace Lattin, VigLink and Trancos.
World Media Award judges include Steve Hall, Sarah Austin, Chang Kim, Julie Wohlberg, Pierre Zarokian, Ivka Adam, Cheryl Contee, Krystyl Baldwin, Adrian Harris, Jeremy Wright, Rob Bloggeries, Dave Duarte, Tanya Alvarez, Dana Oshiro, Tom Foremski, and Judith Lewis. hashtag #wmads on Twitter.
Media partners include Adrants, Bloggeries, MediaVision, The Affiliate Marketing Awards, Read Write Web, My Blog Guest, Web Traffic Control and FeedBlitz.
Murray Newlands is author of How to Make a Blog Book and Online Marketing; a User Guide. He is also founder of the Affiliate Marketing Awards. Born in the UK, he now spends his time in San Francisco and New York. Murray works for Audience Mindshare and consults for Trancos Ins as well as being an advisor for VigLink. Actually he is working on his new book: The Email Marketing Book.

Free Fatboy Slim Download and Gig Dates

2011-08-16T12:03:00.000+01:00

If you're in Ibiza over the next couple of weeks, Fatboy Slim be playing at the Carl Cox 24/7 night at Space! (tonight) and All Gone Pete Tong on 26th. To get you warmed up (if you're in Ibiza or not!) here's his latest free mix download, recorded at Space, back in 2006, enjoy!

Mobile Disco and Karaoke Rocks Cheshire and the West Midlands.

2011-07-05T17:15:00.003+01:00

Elite Entertainments (aka Ian Hammond, aka Elite Disco) provide quality entertainment throughout Staffordshire, Cheshire and the West Midlands. Whether you are looking for a disco and/or karaoke for either a small private party or a large corporate event, the service can be tailored to your individual needs. Elite Entertainments have many years experience of providing an entertaining, reliable and friendly services for any occasion, and let me tell you, they are one impressive outfit!... and so I thought I'd give them a plug, so if you're looking for a DJ, if you're looking for Karaoke, or if you're looking for quality entertainment then why not visit their website, www.elitedisco.co.uk and play it safe. As a full member of the National Association of DJ's, professionalism and adherence to industry standards are guaranteed.

The Elite Entertainments show has recently been updated to include equipment of the highest quality from well respected brands such as Bose, Apple, Pioneer and Shure. A vast, genuine and up-to-date karaoke track selection, amplified through a discreet sound system of amazing clarity ensures that your function will be a memorable occasion.

As well as a fantastic nights entertainment, Elite Entertainments offer peace of mind to all their clients, as all bookings are subject to a booking agreement which means that you will not be let down!

So there we have it! Bet you didn't think I'd be plugging a DJ / Karaoke / Mobile and Wedding Disco outfit on It's Just A Blog!?! Well I have... and they deserve it. 10/10

Britains Got Talent The Final

2011-06-15T14:35:00.001+01:00

So I blogged all week about Britains Got Talent and got bored by the time the final was on so instead of me babbling on about who should have won and what I thought of all the acts here's a video link to my favourite act in the final, win or lose (he didn't win - that gives you a clue). For a bit of fun see if you can guess who it is before you click through...

http://youtu.be/RuwEZu7Ew8c

Enjoy!

Britains Got Talent Part 5 #fb

2011-06-03T22:30:00.000+01:00

Tonight's show was a good one. Hula hooping led to crazy Irish dancing led to squealing dog (more later) led to liked rapping kids led to good dancer led to great singer led to great dancer led to Simon standing and clapping a sqealing dog act and trying his best to get the squealing dog to the final. Sort it out Simon, WTF do you think you were playing at. Thank God justice prevailed and the correct act got through to the final on the judges vote.

Razzie won straight through and "phew" for that otherwise the squealing dog may have made it to the final. Raz man deserved it. One of the best singing voices I've ever heard will also be in the final (sorry, forgetting names again), and I hope he has a chance of winning.

Amanda hit the nail on the head and confirmed what I've been saying all along, although she wasn't aware she'd done it. She said (to the squealing dog act) "I love you so much... you are so cute" (or something similar to that). Exactly! You are so cute... the single, one word that never got used but should have was "talent". You are so cute (not talented)! Don't put people or animals through because they are cute or they have a "nice" story - put them through because they are talented. The show is called Britains Got Talent after all!!!

On another note, and you may have heard in the news that Ronan (the 12 year old with lots of talent) was managed and moulded by Simon Cowell for the last 2 years. Both Simon and Ronan said it was ridiculous, and for once I believe Mr Cowell. Good luck to Ronan in tomorrows final.

Britains Got Talent Part 4 - The Results

2011-06-02T22:07:00.000+01:00

The guy with the huge voice won. I can't remember his name (I'm not very good with names am I?), but he was a crowd favourite, and he was really good. He may even have a chance in the final.

I wish Blogger wasn't set to pick up spelling mistakes when I spell something correctly in English, and it picks it up and underlines it in red because it's spelt wrong in America. Come on Blogger, the language is English after all.

Back to the results show (part 4). Shock. Steven the (comedy) Dancer got the judges vote over the guy who sings the kids songs. I personally don't understand that - he seems to be a nice bloke, but this is about talent right? ...or have I just been confused all week?

Britains Got Talent Part 4 - Simons Announcement #fb

2011-06-02T21:59:00.000+01:00

Simon said there were 2 brilliant dancers and questioned "why did only one get through to the final"? and so he invited Michael to tomorrows (Fridays) semi-final for a dance off with Razzi. Personally I think Simon favours Michael, but we'll see what the public think tomorrow.

On the same note, Amanda said she had so many people twittering her saying we had 2 brilliant singing acts and 2 brilliant dog acts, why couldn't we have 2 brilliant dance acts too. Wait a minute, did Amanda just say "2 brilliant dog acts"? What the fuck was she thinking. So far the dog acts we've had have been so so sooooooooooo bad, why couldn't they just put Michael through instead of this crap in the first place?!? Dog acts ARE NOT GOOD.

I said all along why did they put the dogs through when so many good acts never made it, and I was thinking about Michael all along. I may even have mentioned him in an earlier post, although I wouldn't have mentioned his name, I would have said something like "crazy body dancer" or something like that. I hope Michael is his name - you know who I mean anyway.

Can I also just mention that to phone costs up to 51p per call and ONLY 15p from each call goes to the Royal Variety Charity. That means that Mr Cowel gets 36p from each phone call to share out however he sees fit! With the millions of phone calls they get each night that's millions of pounds going in their pockets. Let's hope next year they give a little more to charity. It wouldn't have hurt to give an extra 5p from each call to something like Cancer Research would it?

Britains Got Talent Part 4 #fb

2011-06-02T21:05:00.000+01:00

Quick one today but I'll blog again after the results are in...

Any one of 3 acts can win tonight - Edward Reed with his grand voice and kids songs, the guy with the huge voice that did the Evanescence cover, and the chaps from Oxford Uni who did the "Jump" cover, although I think they may get knocked out in the judges decision.

Crazy night tonight. Feel sorry for the girl from Killamarsh (Sheffield), she can play piano, she looks good, and she has a nice voice, but I think the nerves got hold and like Simon said the song choice was wrong, but I was rooting for her with being a local girl. Shame, but I hope she has a good future in music.

The dogs...

Thank God that one of the judges had the nerve to buzz for the dogs. It's about time the judges got embarassed about putting such crap through when there were so many good acts that never made it. I hope they have finally learned their lesson. Remember to tag your tweets #notothedogvote when tweeting about Britains Got Talent.

Simon still hasn't dropped his bombshell yet. Has he?

Britains Got Talent Part 3 #fb

2011-06-01T22:21:00.000+01:00

Ok, so my fingers ached after yesterdays post so tonights will be a (much) shorter roundup on tonights performance (and results) show.

I'm not surprised that Les Gibson (the impersonator) made it straight through to the final although I think if the ballet dancer (sorry, I forgot most of the acts names tonight) had not been completely covered in dry ice (smoke) for pretty much half of his performance and the viewers could have seen more of what he was doing I think the vote may have been a little closer if not swayed his way.

The show started with the Circus of Horrors and I really like them - I think there's lots going on and they are real entertainment. Would the Queen like to see them? Maybe not. Then there was the singer, the walker, the dog (let's just say no more about the dog). The dog! What were the judges playing at putting the dog through? OMG!?! How shit is that? Sorry, no more about the dog (tag your tweets #notothedogvote). Then came other acts (can't remember who or what. Les Gibson was brilliant like he was in his audition, and the bell ringers finished off with an pretty good performance, reflected in the public vote when in the results show they came third - even though my theory of the best act playing last has been shot to bits this year I think the fact that the bell ringers being in the last 3 goes some way to confirming my thoughts that the act to play last has some advantage with the public vote - something to do with the sub-conscious I think. Would the bell ringers have made the last 3 if they had performed earlier in the evening? Maybe not.

Congratulations to Les Gibson (you've got to love the Ant and Dec impersonations), and to the ballet dancer, and good luck in the final.

Britains Got Talent Part 2 - The Results

2011-05-31T22:25:00.000+01:00

New Bounce, or what ever they're called (I forget already, oops) won, as I predicted. The runners up were the 2 acts that I said I would like to see win through to the final. When Jean Martyn and the magicians came in front of the judges it was obvious they would vote Jean through but well done for the magicians (I keep calling them the magicians because I can't remember their names right now) putting magic where it belongs and giving Mr Cowel something to think about. Anyway, that's it for tonight.

Until tomorrow.

Britains Got Talent Part 2 #fb

2011-05-31T21:13:00.000+01:00

I'm going to try and write as I watch this evening. The second act, Enchanted has just finished so here goes...

2 and a Half Men
They were ok, lots of energy, no buzzes, and they mixed the old with the new. A few flips, a bit more dancing, and a bit of slap-stick comedy thrown in. Amanda said they had a chance. I thought they were ok. Only ok. A little boring if anything.

Enchanted
They had a singer that looked like Julian Clarey. They wore Lion King type outfits, swung from the ceiling, bounced and flipped a little, but they had about 20 people doing what about 3 people could have done better. I can see why they call themselves Enchanted, but for me, they didn't enchant - I'm not a fan of the theater and this was a low-rate wanna-be theater performance. Pretty boring and 2 buzzes to boot. Simon Cowel got it right when he said he didn't get it. I didn't get it.

True to form I think the better of the acts will play later on and the best act, and the act Mr Cowel wants in the final will play last. Herbie Armstrong is just about to play. I like him, he reminds me of a solo singer/guitarist from the 60's or 70's. Let's see if I'm right...

Herbie Armstrong
He's doing a cover of Mandy in his own style but I think he's a bit off key. Let's see what the judges have to say. No buzzes. The crowd liked it. Comedian made a joke. Amanda kind of liked his version of it. Simon said he had a nice tone to his voice but said it was the wrong song choice (and mentioned his age, 60, but said he was a cool guy). The Knight Rider said he loved every minute of it - bless him. I like him and I would love to go and have a whiskey with him and talk stories of old gigs and nights out, but I think he was a little off tonight as a performer. Still, at the age of 60 he's doing pretty well.

Act 4 - Lorna Bliss (Brittany tribute act)
She got 3 no's in the auditions yet she's in the semi-finals. Got to be the body! Came out with a snake and lots of skin showing. Good start. She has got a look of Ms Spears about her. Simon and Michael have just buzzed - she's obviously not showing enough skin. Simon just buzzed. The Hoff said it was a step backwards and she didn't shock enough. Michael made a joke. Amanda said it was better than her audition - she obviously had more clothes on. Simon said the performance was as limp as her python. Lorna said she was disappointed at her performance and she held back too much. I agree, I thought she was a pretty good impersonator but I agree with the male judges, I think she should have gone more racy, more daring, and shocked. Shame. At least I don't have to visit the bathroom!

Next up - New Bounce (the Jackson Four)
I'm quite shocked, I really didn't want to like them, and even though they did sing a cover they impressed, loads. I think they sang their hearts out and looked the part too. Simon just agreed with me - I should be a judge! He said they were the first act he'd seen in 2 days that are going to be successful in their own right, and I agree. Miles better than their audition. They may even win straight through to the final tonight which will mess up Simons plans to play the best act last, but I would bet money that the act that performs last now wins through in second place! New Bounce, a name to look out for.

Jean Martyn
59 year old boogie woogie queen Jean really knows how to play piano. Very Jerry Lee Lewis without the vocals and on-fire piano. Very working mans club but very entertaining. Nice act. No buzzes. Let's see what the judges have to say... David loves her. Michael loves her. Like Victoria Wood on acid said Amanda. Simon said he shouldn't like it but he does like it.

Time for a break.

Next up a magic act. David and Karen. I love magic. Ask my friends.
It's an escape act. It wasn't bad. It was a quick swap act where the magician ended up in the locked water tank etc etc... I've seen it all before but it was well done. Simon said he liked it, and he hates magic! He said he wasn't mental about it but it worked. I did really like it and because I do like my magic so much and watch a lot of it, I guess that's why I say I've seen it all before, but to a lot of people I bet this was a really good illusion.

Another break...
I really wanted to mention about the shit adverts that may have been on in the break (think Halifax, Go Compare, Confused.com), but there weren't any!

Up and Over It. I'm looking forward to this one.
Simon buzzed, he didn't like it. This had the added element of tap. Very original act and I kind of liked it, but I didn't like it as much as I thought I would. Shame.

That's it, and I think tonight, or this year at least I am wrong about the order of acts. Maybe we should wait and see if my theory comes back in to its own tomorrow night, but tonight I don't think the last act, Up and Over It will be making the final. Earlier I said I would bet money that the last act to perform will come second next to New Bounce. I would like to withdraw that comment. Oops.

I think the winners tonight will be the Jackson Four. Sorry, New Bounce. Very impressive. No dog acts tonight. Phew! I'd like to see Jean Martyn or the magicians go through as well.

Thank God the Dog Didn't Win Through ... #fb

2011-05-30T22:13:00.000+01:00

I'll be quick because Hawaii Five-0 just started and I haven't seen it this week yet ...

A few years ago I blogged about Britains Got Talent and thought I'd give it another crack this time around.

I missed the actual semi-final (the first this week) but I got to see the results show and it was no surprise that Ronan Park won straight through to the final as he is widely tipped to win the whole competition. I don't know where he performed tonight (what order he sang), but I'd bet good money on him being the last act to perform because that's how Simon Cowell does things - the act he thinks will get more viewers and the act he wants to win through to the final performs last, because that gives them the advantage with the public vote. If you don't believe me, watch the show this week - the act that wins will most probably play last. Every night!

2nd and 3rd places, the pianist and the bmx dude split the judges vote, and even though they were both good at what they did, neither of them were the best at what they do. I've seen many great pianists better than the guy that eventually won 2nd place on the public vote, and I've seen many great bmx freestylers (is that what you call them?)... ok, I've seen many great bmx dudes. At least they took part and between them they stopped the dog getting through though. Thank God.

Man Utd Win Premiership by Cheating (as usual...) #fb

2011-05-14T14:59:00.000+01:00

Man Utd have just ran on to the pitch to celebrate their Premiership winning season, and to be fair they have been the strongest team, even though they are no where near the quality of previous Man Utd teams.

...but how did they win it?

They needed a point. Hernandez (or chicka-fuckin-rito) aka the Little Pea (WTF!?!) DIVED!!! Ok, so he did get caught by the goalkeeper, but he had lost the ball, he was nowhere near the goal, and I don't care how many Man Utd fans say "but it was a penalty", the little twat was on his way down BEFORE he was touched by the goalkeeper, aka A DIVE!

They then followed the goal up with THE most boring 10 minutes of football I have ever seen in my life. If I was a Man Utd fan I would have wanted to win the title in style, but at this moment in time I would just be embarrassed as to how the title was won and the performance of the players before the title was won.

Here's to anyone but Man Utd winning the Premiership next season, and without the likes of work-out-video Giggs, leg-breaker Scholes, and Van de S*** I'm pretty sure the title will go to the likes of Chelsea (please) or Liverpool - I don't think Arsenal are good enough, and I don't think Man City are managed well enough.

That's it!

Rant over...

Google Image Search

2011-05-11T14:08:00.000+01:00

Today I did a Google image search for "Richard Uttley". Here is the resulting screen grab ...

...I do appear now and again. I think there must be a famous pianist called Richard Uttley because most of the top 3 lines of images appear to be of a famous pianist called Richard Uttley (top name dude). I do appear on the top line once though - that's me with a friends fig roll in my mouth right after I robbed it from her and another friend got a photo as proof that it wasn't her. I appear several times near the bottom of the first page of images, but I also see pictures of pretty girls with nipples showing. I seem to remember blogging once about pretty girls with nipples showing :)

...I also see images/logos for my web design business 50 Quid Website, and also an image/logo for 50 Quid IT, my new Budget IT Services business and website, which is pretty cool because I only launched it a week ago.

Anyway, that's my image search. Now you've read this I'm pretty sure you're going straight to the Google home page to do an image search for yourself :)

...forgot to mention, one of the tiny images on the bottom row is of an old friend of mine. We're friends on Facebook, but I have no idea why her image has appeared when I search for Richard Uttley. Is this fate? I wish...

FIFA as Corrupt as British Government! #fb

2011-05-10T18:36:00.000+01:00

So it appears FIFA are as corrupt as the British Government. They're always on the take. We're always on the take. No wonder we didn't get the World Cup!

FIFA do need to realise where the real home of football is though - IT'S IN ENGLAND YOU FREAKS! ...

They even gave the World Cup to America a few years back (well, 1994) and they don't even call it football. They call it soccer ... WTF!?! I'm surprised FIFA didn't change their name to FISA so as to get a few more freebies back then, (Federation of International Soccer Association). They could probably get a few rowing freebies then too - FISA (International Federation of Rowing Associations) ... I know, that would be the IFRA, but it's foreign, but then a statute in the United States might also have something to say about a name change (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), and I know FIFA are foreign, but they're not intelligent - not if they think they're going to get away with the latest bout of corruption. Apparantly, one official from the FIFA family even asked for a Knighthood in order for England to get his vote. Nutter!

Top CashBack / No.1 Cashback Site

2011-04-28T00:45:00.001+01:00

If you're looking for the best cashback site then it has to be Top Cashback. I've never failed to get cashback on my purchases and it's tracked every time, unlike when I used to use Greasy Palm - what a waste of time that was ... and yes, I do get a fiver when you join through my referral link below :)

Top CashBack

So today I start to design the 50 Quid IT website ... #fb

2011-04-15T12:37:00.000+01:00

So, since my ex-friends outburst I've had more time on my hands to do the things that I deserve in life, and concentrate on the things that will earn me lots of money so I can travel to China and the Philipines, even though I'm major scared of flying (but I think I'm gonna try some hypnosis before I fly!) ...

So here it is ...

The world lacks a budget IT provider, and so alongside my 50 Quid Website and 50 Quid SEO projects I am setting up 50 Quid IT, a budget IT provider service with local IT experts offering a great, professional service at a great price, and I already have people on board from Bridlington, interested parties in Sheffield, I myself will look after Chesterfield, and I even have someone that may be interested in investing with a view to making some money. Eventually, I expect the whole thing to be franchised, and marketed so if you put the words "budget IT provider" in a Google search then you'll find 50 Quid IT top of the list!

People that get on board from the beginning get a share in the business (but you must be quick as I'm hoping it will be launched sometime this weekend). I am looking for people with some knowledge of IT living in areas that I haven't before mentioned. This would suit IT based college students, people wanting a second income or wanting to try their hand at being self-employed and are fed up with taking shit from their employer all the time, or people that may be unemployed etc etc ...

If anyone's interested and they want in or want a chat about it all then give me a ring, Richard, 01246 629160 asap (no sales calls please), and we'll see where it takes us.

Anyway, I'm just about to start designing the website, so watch this space :)

A Hazey Shade of Spectrum #fb

2011-04-14T09:34:00.000+01:00

So a few days ago I had a fall-out with an old friend, which was a shame really as I just said a few home truths and she got all big and mighty and as her head nearly exploded with the rush of blood said some really nasty things to me and let a lot of people with learning disabilities down - the thing is, I used to do a little work for her too, which included teaching music to a lovely class of young adults with which I clicked and got the best out of.

Such a shame they'll never find a music teacher as close or as commited as I was.

What's more is, I used to work for her for next to nothing, and I had even worked the last weekend and Friday morning for her in my own time - something which I eventually ended up saying I never got a thanks for. Then she really lost it (and I don't know why wanting a little acknowledgement for my work was such a big deal), but she started to shake (crazy!). I thought she was going to hit me.

So I got out of there, took my things with me, and said goodbye to some good friends.

I guess we're not friends any more but I really do hope that she finds peace with herself - I was really worried about her reaction to the situation.

My friends at the Musik Skool, you will surely be missed :(

Onwards and upwards :)

Play have some amazing deals today for April Fools...

2011-04-01T08:42:00.000+01:00

Just click the banner and it will take you to the deals they have today only like Skull Candy headphones for £12.99 or a Big Trak for just £15.99 (which is pretty good because my mum payed £40 for mine for Christmas)...

Mike Relm - Everytime - My Favourite Video EVER on YouTube!

2011-03-23T10:43:00.001Z

(Watch to the end) Enjoy!...

You can check out my other favourite videos here.

Fantasy F1 - Deadline Extended - Get Your Teams In NOW! #fb

2011-03-22T11:13:00.001Z

League BOB's Fantasy Formula 1 2011

Enter your teams now!

It's that time of year again... get your thinking caps on and select your team for the 2011 Fantasy Formula 1 competition.

The deadline for entries into the Fantasy F1 2011 Championship is Friday 25th March 23:59 GMT.

If you are new to this Fantasy Formula 1 game, first you will need to create a user account. It's quick and simple and just requires you to enter a user name and a valid email address. Once registered, you can begin creating your team completely free of charge.

Be careful! Changes have been made to the pricing structure this season to avoid engines being so crucial.

So further instruction of how to get going can be found on the site (this year we will be using Fantasy Formula 1), then when you have your team, find the list of leagues and scroll down until you find League BOB F1 2011 and then enter the following password to join this years private Fantasy F1 League.

Password: blogbobf1

All the best.

Cool free online game reminds me of Micro Machines!

2011-03-16T13:28:00.000Z

Death Drift

Enjoy!

Calling all YouTube users... Watch this short video!

2010-12-06T19:39:00.002Z

Watch this short video and then click the Tube Toolbox banner to download your free software and experience the full professional version for a short while, or click here to visit the Tube Toolbox website for more information.

Countdown

2010-11-23T22:13:00.000Z

Ok, so it's not been quite the same since Richard left us (RIP), and Carol left us, but for the first time in many years I happened to switch on the tv as Countdown was on and I didn't change the channel!

Why?

Look for yourself...

Her name is Rachel Riley and she's my new favourite girl on television (and she has the finest backside I've seen for a while too), so I thought you may enjoy a few pictures. The next two made me laugh (people are obviously having the same thoughts as I am)...

...and here's a sensible one of her...

Search her on Google images - there's plenty more!

Some people really have no life and have to hide behind their "Anonymous" mask...

2010-10-22T11:56:00.000+01:00

I follow a really good blog from a friend of mine, The Deena Colada Recipe and on occasion leave her a friendly comment to let her know her blog is being both read and enjoyed. Anyway, the girl posted a really funky photo of herself and knowing just how good she is musically, and thinking it was about time a demo was recorded, I left my usual comment saying I thought she should use the photo as a demo cover or something. This was my reply...

You see that? Anonymous said "why do you think people care richard?" - I had to laugh, I mean this person is obviously very lonely, very sad, totally jealous (possibly in love with Deena, afterall, she is a pretty girl), or a combination of all three. What a freak hiding behind his (or her) "Anonymous" mask. Show yourself if you have any balls... sorry, forgot, you don't! I got another message a few days later, but that only backs up how lifeless this person is and I really can't be bothered with it any more, but who ever you may be, keep it coming, you're a free laugh, and that's a rare commodity these days.

Meringue Opinion - Everything But Gone

2010-10-18T13:13:00.001+01:00

Greetings once again from Meringue Opinion, gone but not forgotten. This little number if ever there was going to be an official single was going to be it, unfortunately, like so many of the latest songs (even though this in now over 10 years old!), the band split before it was finished and along with help from Paul at Foundry Studios, Chesterfield, we salvaged what we could and mocked up this little beauty. Enjoy, Everything But Gone!..

Meringue Opinion - Fat Lady Sings (& drummer wanted for new cover band project)...

2010-10-18T11:29:00.000+01:00

Enjoy the vid - it's a general mash up of photos from my old band Meringue Opinion. Rob (guitarist) and myself have been talking and are interested in getting a cover band together to gig around and maybe do a few working mans clubs etc. We neeeeeed a drummer!!! Can you help?

50 Quid Website Promo

2010-10-16T14:54:00.001+01:00

Don't Call Me A Pervert!

2010-10-13T16:21:00.000+01:00

You may have noticed I've been adding some pictures of scantily dressed women to my blog recently?

Yes?

I knew you had, but don't call me a pervert! It's only natural that a single 36 year old man would find Rachel Bilson in beachwear a sight for sore eyes, which man wouldn't? Shut it Winder! (only joking).

Then there's the series of photos I've been running of girls with nipples showing. Let me explain. I subscribe to the online magazine Monkey Mag, which appears in my inbox every Wednesday and is full of funny videos, game and music reviews, gadgets, cars, and you guessed it, pictures of pretty girls. They had the Beyonce picture with the heading, "Beyonce - Do my nipples look visible in this? Yes indeedy" and I just found it funny and thought I'd run my own little series of photos of pretty women with nipples showing in order to make you laugh.

So there we have it. I'm not a pervert - I just love women and comedy...

Some of you don't feel fulfilled do you? I know, you want one more photo of a scantily dressed women to leave you on a high for the rest of the day? How about two?

Here we go...

The two most gorgeous women in the entire existence of the Universe. Enjoy Kate Beckinsale and Jessica Alba...

Rachel Bilson Nailing Beachwear Part 4

2010-10-13T16:04:00.000+01:00

Rachel Bilson Nailing Beachwear Part 3

2010-10-13T16:02:00.000+01:00

Rachel Bilson Nailing Beachwear Part 2

2010-10-13T16:00:00.000+01:00

Rachel Bilson Nailing Beachwear Part 1

2010-10-13T10:53:00.000+01:00

Just because...

She be fine!

Kate Beckinsale - Do my nipples look visible in this? ...Yes indeedy!

2010-10-09T09:37:00.000+01:00

Jessica Alba - Do my nipples look visible in this? ...Yes indeedy!

2010-10-08T09:59:00.002+01:00

Cameron Diaz - Do my nipples look visible in this? ...Yes indeedy!

2010-10-07T01:12:00.000+01:00

Beyonce - Do my nipples look visible in this? ...Yes indeedy!

2010-09-08T13:04:00.000+01:00

Radio 1 Sucks Eggs!

2010-09-06T15:22:00.000+01:00

I was driving back up the M1 last night from a lovely weekend with friends and thought the time may pass quicker if I listened to the radio instead of the Dub FX cd I had in my player having listened to it already hundreds of times. Big mistake!

Radio 1 sucks eggs / Radio 1 is poor / Radio 1 is shite... Why?

Ok, so there are other radio stations I could have listened to but I hadn't used the radio on my player before so finding how to switch from cd to radio was hard enough when I was tired, driving in the dark, and on the motorway, so I managed to turn the radio on and it was already tuned in to Radio 1 which I thought couldn't be bad, but it was bad, very bad...

Don't know which show it was I was listening to, and don't think I ever want to know to be honest but first off the DJ said he had a "wicked" phone in vote where we could vote for the song we wanted to hear later on in his show. Then he gave the choice of either the young gayboy (no offence - gay rights rule etc etc) from the Disney Channel (I think! This is probably the only tv station that would have him anyway) Justin Bieber (had to Google that for the spelling), and N-Dubz... WTF!?! Where was the choice for "None of the above, thank you very much"?

Then I heard a shitty cover of Tik Tok that sounded like a lame attempt to sound like the Beastie boys of old, and failing miserably, but they bigged it up like "this is right good, and they're on the show tonight and in the studio for an interview" etc etc (another WTF!?!) this was so bad, I could have done better on my recorder at infant school trying out for the Christmas play and only getting the part of a tree :( ...can't even remember the name of the band it was so bad.

Then (yes there's more!) someone was on and was being interviewed about their latest song or something and they referred to the So Solid Crew as being a band that only "older" listeners would be familier with, trying to make them out to be some classic old-skool band like Run DMC or something. Older than what? Toddlers?

All-in-all a bad selection of songs with non-witty jokes and poor guest list with DJ's that may as well of being Play School presenters or something. I certainly won't be listening to Radio 1 again, unless of course I find the Fountain of Youth and become 10 again!

Gregory and the Hawk

2010-08-23T15:51:00.000+01:00

Meredith Godreau is an American singer-songwriter performing under the pseudonym Gregory and the Hawk. Active since 2003, Godreau initially enjoyed independent success with 2 EPs and a full length album selling a total of 15,000 copies.

Originally from Medfield, Massachusetts, Godreau moved to upstate New York when she was twelve. This was where she learned a number of instruments, including piano, clarinet, oboe, violin and viola before settling on her '$70 Christmas gift': the guitar.

Godreau then took on the pseudonym Gregory and the Hawk to avoid being pigeonholed as a singer-songwriter, despite citing her influences as Nick Drake, Liz Phair and PJ Harvey. The name was derived from her brother, Gregory, and his imaginary childhood hawk. This was when she released her demo EP, including early versions of the popular "Boats and Birds" and "Isabelle".

Ok, so I can't take credit for this little Biography as I kind of copied it from Wikipedia but I don't think I'll get in trouble for it now I've given them a cool link back! ...but I was kindly introduced to Gregory and the Hawk when I saw a talented girl (Deena - see earlier posts) covering Boats and Birds on YouTube (view here), and I immediately fell in love with the music, and so here's a few samples for you. Hope you like them?

New Guitar and the Talent of Deena

2010-08-15T17:52:00.000+01:00

I've recently started teaching music several days a week on top of working my web design business (50 Quid Website), and writing my own music with and for some very talented people. New tunes and projects are on their way! You can find videos (or at least songs companied by slide shows of old photos) of my old band (that split up over 10 years ago!) Meringue Opinion on my YouTube Channel where I'll also be showcasing the new projects.

Anyway,

I bought a new guitar...


Sexy!

and a Boss RC-50 Loop Station (these are the most wicked of musical kit) because I thought (and I know it will) be great for teaching, but mainly because I've started to listen a lot to Dub FX. I can't beat box yet, but I'm working on it :)

the most wicked of musical kit

Now I have to let you know about the most gorgeous, talented, and natural person I've met online recently. This guitar/ukalele singer/songwriter doesn't realise just how good she really is, but she really is talented, has the most amazing voice and personality, and lives by the name of Deena. This girl needs to know how talented she is so show her some love by visiting her YouTube Channel and leaving her some nice comments when you like her as much as I do. You can also follow Deena on Twitter by clicking here.

By the way, you can also follow me on Twitter by clicking here too!

Chilli Plant R.I.P.

2010-08-15T17:22:00.000+01:00

I've been growing a chilli plant in the window of my living room but as the nights get shorter and the weather slightly colder, my plant looked like it was about to pass away :( so I did the honourable thing and put a knife to it, and it thanked me by leaving me (in it's last will and testament) a bunch of gorgeous looking green chilli's. I think I'll put them in a chilli sometime soon, or at least some of them. Yummy!

My inheritance!

This is my biggest Fantasy Football league yet!

2010-08-04T17:03:00.000+01:00

This year in connection with my gaming blog, BOB, The Best of Betting and Metro Fantasy Football I'm offering up the biggest Fantasy Football league I've ever managed, and this year the winner of our very own league wins cash too! Why? Because this year is "pay-to-play" and costs £2.00 per team entered, and the total prize fund is then automatically paid, by Metro, to the winner (and runners up, depending on how many teams enter) of our very own, League BOB! It's really easy to enter (information follows), and should be a good laugh with lots of banter too...

Players we really need to see in the league (and anyone else who thinks they're up for the challenge, and think they can beat the regulars) are Stuart Winder (don't be tight lad, it's only 2 quid, and it's safe to use your debit card online!), Tony Wood (a regular in League BOB), Bob Browes (no relation to Blog Bob), Laura Richardson (so unlucky in the World Cup sweep), Stewart Gordon (where have you been lad?), Tracey Redinator Nichol (Spurs should do quite well this year), Dave Uttley (if you can go and watch horse racing you can manage a fantasy football team), Dave Yates (regular participator), Iain Ford (king of poker, but how good at football management?), James Neighbour (congratulations on new born, now you need some fantasy football to get away from it all), Steve Ward (get yer money out lad), and Tim Smithies (he's magic)...

How do I play?

Once you've signed up, just use the League Name and PIN below to join in.

Mini League Name:

League BOB

Mini League PIN:

8004065

Scoring starts at noon on Saturday, August 14, 2010 so make sure you pick your own team before then.

The game is bigger and better than ever before, offering you more fantasy footy action and best of all it's still completely FREE (free to enter a team in the main league, £2.00 to enter our mini-league)...

Metro Fantasy Football 2010/11 offers:

Prize fund of £30,000 to be won
£15,000 cash prize for the overall winner
Scores updated daily
More chances to win prizes than ever before

If you think you can win our league and walk away with our cash SIGN UP HERE.

Because I normally win (lol), here's my starting team to help you out a little...

Technorati Blog Claim

2010-08-02T12:44:00.000+01:00

82PJBNYH7BXM

More About Me. Interested?

2010-07-25T21:01:00.000+01:00

These are my test results based on a series of questions I filled in on a free online dating site (plentyoffish.com). The answers are pretty general and not everything will apply to me, but the results are quite interesting so I thought I would share them with you...

Chemistry Test Results

Self-Confidence

As someone with high self-confidence, you feel quite comfortable interacting with other people. Indeed, you find the company of others very stimulating and enjoy meeting new people. Your relaxed demeanor in groups makes people around you comfortable too. Perhaps because you feel comfortable talking about yourself, others tend to enjoy being around you and perceive you as socially competent.

The confidence that helps you feel comfortable talking to people also spills into your own personal beliefs about yourself. Although you have several strengths, it’s likely that you also acknowledge and accept your weaknesses. But unlike some people, you take full responsibility for your actions—you rarely regret things you’ve done in the past and are not embarrassed easily.

Perhaps the defining feature that sets you apart from most people is the exceptionally high standards that you set for yourself. Your competence in social gatherings as well as at work should provide ample evidence for this. With these characteristics, it’s very likely that people come to you for advice and generally think of you as someone with leader-like qualities.

Family Orientation

As someone who is oriented to familial matters, you value the company of family-members and domestic life. If you have children already, you enjoy spending time with them very much and work hard to be a good parent. If you don’t have children, you very much desire having children in the future. And your preference for cooking and entertaining guests at home will likely ease the transition into parenthood.

You take pride in maintaining and cultivating a healthy family and work hard to achieve this. This natural tendency is easily illustrated by your preference for doing things around the house as opposed to going out to clubs and restaurants.

What really sets you apart from people that are low in family orientation is that you know how to manage your frustrations and work well on your own. This means that you are well-equipped to manage a family without letting all the work that is involved wear you down. However, as someone with strong family values, all the work that is involved in maintaining a tidy home and well-stocked kitchen might occasionally make it difficult for you to finish everything that you need to do.

Self-Control

The self-control personality dimension captures the way in which a person regulates and directs him or herself. Being low in self-control can be both good and bad. Occasionally people may be compelled to follow their intuitions and give in to their temptations, and your degree of self-control makes this likely to happen more often than not. This can be good in circumstances where being relaxed and open are important. However, in situations where it is necessary to be focused and careful, you might find that you do or say things that may be inappropriate.

As someone who exerts little control over your actions, you may find that you commit social blunders that might offend other people and get yourself in trouble. For example, if you’re given responsibility to work on a project that requires close attention to detail, you may be likely to overlook important details because you have difficulty staying focused. Consequently, you might feel more comfortable delegating such tasks to other people who are more detail oriented. Being able to recognize such characteristics in yourself and having more detail-oriented people do such tasks could be an effective way to manage your own stress level.

Low self-control may diminish your effectiveness at work. Acting too relaxed can make it difficult for you to focus on projects that require organized sequences of steps or stages. Thus, your ability to accomplish may be inconsistent. Indeed, it’s possible that you might be criticized periodically for being unreliable or unable to “stay within the lines.” Nonetheless, you may still experience many short-lived pleasures and never be thought of as boring.

Openness

As someone high in openness, you have a strong appreciation for beauty, both in art and nature. Indeed, it’s likely that you are easily absorbed in music and art, as well as natural phenomena. Another aspect of your openness is your emotional insight; that is, you probably have good access to and awareness of your own emotions.

Another aspect of the openness dimension is the tendency to think about abstract concepts and ideas. This thinking style may take the form of artistic and metaphorical use of language, and/or music composition or performance. Thus, it is likely that, either in your work or spare time, you enjoy activities that get your “creative juices” flowing.

Your tendency to be open-minded can have advantages and disadvantages. For instance, when there are no clear rules about how to approach a particular problem, your openness makes it easier for you to identify new ways to solve problems that might not be very obvious to people that are not as open as you are. In contrast, you may be bored easily in situations that lack high amounts of intellectual stimulation. In such cases, you might have difficulty excelling on projects that do not provide much stimulation or require much creative thinking.

Easygoingness

Easygoingness refers to one's ability to relax. Based on your score, you appear to “take things as they come” and enjoy having a good time. However, being high in easygoingness also has the potential to produce stress in a number of ways. For example, you may find it difficult to complete tasks thoroughly and efficiently. In this way, being high in easygoingness cannot only make your life difficult, but also the lives of the people around you. Another potential problem with being too high in easygoingness is that it can provide you with gratification in the short-term, but in the long-term provide undesirable consequences.

High easygoingness, even when not seriously destructive, may also diminish your effectiveness at work, for example. You may find it aversive and difficult to put in all the effort that may sometimes be needed to effectively accomplish certain tasks. For this reason, your colleagues might view you as forgetful and unfocused.

Meringue Opinion - Lung

2010-07-23T22:37:00.000+01:00

...another little rant...

2010-07-23T17:12:00.000+01:00

Ok, so I had a rant about some crappy television adverts and the state of some of Britains drivers yesterday and thought I'd follow it up with other stuff that's been going through my head since I hit the post now button.

The Natwest advert came on television again. What bullshit! You go to a bank to either put money in, or ask for money out in some form, be it a loan, a mortgage, or cash from your account (which you might use a machine for anyway) NOT talk about your baby, or if you should choose between a holiday or a car, or talk about getting engaged or married. We're more than just a bank, we're nosey bastards too! I once asked for a business account with Natwest, and it wasn't until I went to the branch to pay some cash in that they told me they had declined my application for an account. No letter. No phonecall. Nothing. My advise, stay well clear.

Gok Wan(ker) - what a nob head!

My phone just rang, and it was one of those automated sales calls. What a joke. If I'm going to speak to them (and I probably won't anyway) I'd like them to take the time to dial my number, and be the first to say hello. Why the (swear word) would they think I'm going to sign up to some service or buy some product when they can't even be bothered to put someone human on the phone instead of some computer?

I keep getting letters addressed to a girl called Mrs Angela Adams at my address, and because the letters are addressed to this person I am, apparently, not meant to open them, but I'm fed up of returning them not at this address, return to sender, so I've started to open them, and it's a good job I did. They are all from debt collection agents etc, who (apparently) have the right to come to my house when I'm not in and take goods to the value of the many thousands this girl owes, if there is no response to these letters. Answer me this. If I'm not allowed to open these letters legally, and they are legally allowed to come and remove goods from my house, what am I, by law, meant to do about it? WTF!!! I have since spoken to some of these debt collection agents who say they have been told by Equifax that my address is a possible place of contact for Mrs Angela Adams, even though I'm the only person living at this address, and I'm the only person who has lived at this address for the last five years!!! Guess what Equifax said? They won't remove her name from my address unless she asks them to do so! What a joke. She owes thousands of pounds. Do you really think she's going to phone Equifax and say she doesn't live at my address and give them her new address? Simple answer! NO!!!! ...and to make matters worse, Equifax have said they are allowed to give collection agents my address as a contact for her, and will continue to do so. Why? This is all very confusing, and very wrong. If anyone knows Mrs Angela Adams (formally of Brimington, Chesterfield, UK), can you please either post her current location, or inform Equifax of said location, or ask for her to get in touch with me. Thanks in advance.

Arrrrrrrgggghhhhhhhh.....

...a little rant...

2010-07-22T23:07:00.000+01:00

So it's been a while since I've actually written a "real" post for my blog so I thought I'd have a little rant about things that have been getting on my nerves recently.

Lets start with a subject I've written about before. Crap adverts! There are so many around at the moment and they just appear to be getting worse. McDonalds have tried to be clever and go all Byron on us with cringe poetry, whilst Confused.com are still making the worse adverts my television has ever had the displeasure to host. There always used to be one or two adverts that you didn't mind watching because they might be cool, reference the old Guiness adverts, or funny, reference the original Meerkat advert, but even Orlov has started to get a little boring. Sort it out, you are only damaging your sales. It's not the state of the economy, it's your crap adverts!

Slow and ignorant drivers come next. First off, the dick heads that don't indicate off roundabouts do my head right in. I can be waiting what seems like ages to pull out on to a roundabout and if they had only indicated I would have had time to pull out, but nooooo, they only care about their own destination. May you all get lots of parking tickets rain down on your cars and unwanted flat tires at times that I'm on the road. Slow drivers come next (they actually come last because they're so funking slow). Why drive 30 in a 40 zone when there's nothing on the road in front of you? What really does my head in is the car that flies out of a junction to get out in front of you and then insists on driving like a learner with a lead weight up their arse. Please.

That's it for now, it was only meant to be a little rant, and even I've done my head in now. Laters.

Meringue Opinion - Fat Lady Sings - The Video, lol :)

2010-07-21T22:31:00.000+01:00

State of Grace by Meringue Opinion

2010-07-17T18:20:00.001+01:00

State of Grace by kidsonic

Lung by Meringue Opinion

2010-07-06T11:51:00.002+01:00

Lung by kidsonic

Top CashBack

2010-07-02T10:59:00.000+01:00

Come join me a Top Cashback (you know how cashback sites work I'm sure), but I could do with the referrals, and the site does have benefits. At least take a look. Thanks in advance.

Top CashBack

Shakira, England, and James Corden...

2010-06-21T22:21:00.000+01:00

On Wednesday (23rd June, 3pm) England play Slovenia in a must win game after which Shakira appears on James Corden's World Cup Live. If England win we're in for a real good night!

Choose a team and get a free bet for every goal that team scores!

2010-06-08T00:30:00.000+01:00

At Centrebet in the run up to the World Cup you'll find what I think to be the best promotion around. Not only do you get a free match on your first deposit, but choose a team for the World Cup (I chose England), then make a small bet of just £12 or more on any event, and for every goal your team scores you'll get a free bet! You really can't say fairer than that...

Get your World Cup socks at the Sock Shop!

2010-06-01T22:49:00.002+01:00

Put your feet up to watch the game and support your team (England!!!!) and let everyone else see your support with World Cup socks from the Sock Shop...

Bob's Fantasy World Cup 2010 - Enter Now!

2010-05-29T22:20:00.000+01:00

Bob's got a private mini-league going on for the coming World Cup. It's totally free to enter and prizes may be available...

Once again Bob has chosen the ever popular FS Sports platform to run the league on so if you already have a team then you're halfway to joining the fun already! If you need to create a team it takes about 2 minutes and can be done here.

Once you have a team then you just need to find League BOB (league 90093) and click join. Simples.

Best of luck and the league leaders will feature on BOB, the Best of Betting - enjoy!

League BOB Fantasy F1 Heats Up...

2010-05-10T13:54:00.000+01:00

Today I blow my own trumpet because not only do I lead League BOB (our private mini-league for the current Formula 1 season) but I am currently joint 9th in the major league out of over 13,000 entries. Not bad huh?

League BOB currently looks like this...

1st Uttley Allstars Richard Uttley 3323
2nd Robbo's Raiders Dave Robson 2938
3rd Pitstop Posse Blade Boy 2922
4th Bent Spanners Nigel Elliott 2699
5th Apollo68 David Skinner 2287
6th LCM Caro Christine S...... 2059
7th Team Bob Need 4 Speed... Rob Browes 1414

You can visit BOB's Blog here. Enjoy!

Congratulations me!

A hung parliament is a reforming parliament and you can make it happen...

2010-04-24T12:40:00.000+01:00

In this election reformers are forced to vote with their heads, and not their hearts. But this could be the last time we have to vote tactically. A hung parliament is a reforming parliament, and you can make it happen...

Blade Boy's Pitstop Posse in to Top Spot of League BOB!

2010-03-28T11:45:00.000+01:00

Who would have thought it. Jenson Button wins the Australian Grand Prix.

League BOB looks like this...

1st Pitstop Posse Blade Boy 1313
2nd Robbo's Raiders Dave Robson 1256
3rd Uttley Allstars Richard Uttley 1209
4th Bent Spanners Nigel Elliott 1154
5th Apollo68 David Skinner 1026
6th LCM Caro Christine S...... 1004
7th Team Bob Need 4 Speed... Rob Browes 632

Congratulations to Blade Boy, but can he keep it up (honk). We wait and see...

FREE Download EVERY Month at MERINGUE OPINION Website. Enjoy!

2010-03-15T12:20:00.000Z

That's right!

Remember Meringue Opinion?

YESSSSSSSS?

Then why not visit our website for a full discography of downloadable tracks, and nice fat photo gallery. Do you recognise yourself in any of the lovely photos? Let us know, and we'll tag you in them!

What about the freebie richard?

I thought you was going to ask that. Never fear. Just click here to visit our Discography page, and in the bottom right hand corner you'll find a FREE download of one of the Meringue Opinion back-catalogue, and what's more this will change around the 1st day of each month. Nice.

Enjoy!

League BOB - Fantasy F1 is Go Go Go! First look at table this way...

2010-03-14T18:47:00.000Z

I would like to take you to BOB for a first look at League BOB, Fantasy Racers (mini) F1 League - after week 1 of the new Formula 1 racing season.

Formula 1 Season Starts This Weekend. Get your fantasy team in now!

2010-03-08T20:34:00.000Z

TOTALLY FREE TO JOIN!

As many of you are aware, the new Formula 1 season gets going in little under a weeks time, and just to make it a little more fun I've decided to run a mini-league from within the already-fun-and-free-to-join Fantasy Racers 2010 game. You really need to get your team in now...

It's really easy to play, adds fun to the already fun Formula 1 season, and you can win prizes too!

If you've not already joined you can do so here.

...when you're team is entered you'll want to join my mini-league too so we can all have a little banter during the coming season. It's a league I've called League BOB, named after my gaming blog BOB, The Best of Betting.

Once logged in, from the first drop down menu, find the heading Join Personal League and it gives you the option to enter a league number. The number you need to enter for League BOB is 40060. Alternatively, from the same page it gives you the option to view a list of leagues you can join. Click that option and scroll through until you find League BOB (the list is in alphabetical order).

I hope you can join me.

The very best of luck.

Poker Freeroll This Way...

2010-02-27T15:33:00.000Z

It's finally here, the first of many freerolls exclusively for followers of my gaming blog, Bob, The Best of Betting, and the kind folks at Everest Poker have set this up with a $50 prize pot - not huge, but completely FREE and open to existing players of Everest Poker, and any new or future players of Everest Poker (just click the banner below to join, and don't worry, you don't need to deposit anything)...

This will take place on Friday 5th March, 2010 at 20:00 GMT.

All any of you need is this password...

bdg521

You'll find the tournament (called BestofBettingFreeroll) under the private tournaments tab.

Just to confirm, that's Everest Poker, Friday 5th March 2010, 20:00 GMT for the BestofBettingFreeroll tournament, found under the private tournaments tab, and the password is bdg521.

Best of luck, and here's the Everest banner (new players just click)...

Tony Wood and his Inter Stella FC Lead Fantasy Footballs' Spectrum A League

2010-02-09T14:42:00.000Z

That's right all you fantasy football heads, Tony Wood and his Inter Stella FC do lead the race to the title of Spectrum A League's Top Dog, woof woof...

He currently sits top of the pile on 852 points whilst some way back in second place sits little old me on 749 with Laura Richardson just one point behind on 748.

With around 13 weeks still to go there's still everything to play for and the crown hasn't been won yet!

In around 5 weeks we see the start of the new Formula 1 season. Can Jenson Button lift the championship yet again? Why not take part in our (not so) private fantasy Formula 1 league, League BOB. More details here.

Chelsea 2 Arsenal 0 - Captain Terry Solid As Ever...

2010-02-07T18:13:00.000Z

7th Feb 2010 - Chelsea 2 Arsenal 0

Don't get me wrong, Arsenal made a game of it, passing well, creating several chances, and having the most part of the possession, but early on Chelsea gave Arsenal a lesson in finishing with two goals from the on-fire Drogba, the first being set up by a header from John Terry, who after the two first half goals stood strong and lead from the front as he and Chelsea's back line gave Arsenal a lesson in defending. Late on Drogba nearly got his hatrick as a free kick rattled off the bar. Drogba did however make it twelve in twelve against Arsenal and leave them nine points off the pace. Are Arsenal out of the running? Should Terry still be England captain? I think there are many questions still to be answered, but Chelsea and captain John Terry have just gone some way to answering them. What do you think?

Can a sausage roll get more Facebook fans than Cheryl Cole?

2010-02-05T16:49:00.002Z

Even Paddy Power himself is loving this Facebook group and has opened betting on it. So can the sausage roll get more fans than Cheryl Cole? Current odds stand at 1/4 YES and 5/2 NO which looks pretty good odds to me because although we all know the power of the Facebook group after the success of Rage Against the Machine at Christmas, the sausage roll currently has 587,394 fans which is some way behind Cheryl Cole who currently has 1,502,294 fans, and the sausage roll only has until 8pm on Sunday 28th February to catch up.

So at odds of 1/4 are you going to bet on the sausage roll?

...or at odds of 5/2 are you going to bet on Cheryl Cole?

Checkout the Facebook group "Can this sausage roll get more fans than Cheryl Cole?", think about the odds, and place your bet at Paddy Power by clicking the banner below. If you're new to Paddy Power you'll get a free £10 bet when you place your first bet of £10... You'll find this bet under Novelty Bets. All aboard the sausage roll!

Magician Dynamo Episode on The Gadget Show 1st March

2010-02-04T13:34:00.000Z

I thought you might want to know when Dynamo is on The Gadget Show. The date I believe will be 1st March...

Apparantly, Dynamo was mentoring Jason Bradbury for The Gadget Show magic challenge against Suzi Perry.

Should be a good one!

Magician Dynamo to Appear on The Gadget Show

2010-02-02T15:52:00.000Z

I can't say when this is going to be broadcast but sometime soon the talented street magician from Bradford will be appearing on the Gadget Show. I can't say exactly how the whole "street magic" ties in with The Gadget Show, but I can tell you that earlier today Dynamo and The Gadget Show presenters Jason Bradbury and Suzi Perry were filming some crazy street magic in Covent Garden, London. Here's a photograph taken earlier in the day...

Join My Formula 1 Mini-League at Fantasy Racers 2010

2010-01-28T10:27:00.000Z

As many of you are aware, in around 6 weeks time the new Formula 1 season gets going and just to make it a little more fun I've decided to run a mini-league from within the already-fun-and-free-to-join Fantasy Racers 2010 game.

It's really easy to play, adds fun to the already fun Formula 1 season, and you can win prizes too!

If you've not already joined (following my last post) you can do so here.

...when you're team is entered you'll want to join my mini-league too so we can all have a little banter during the coming season. It's a league I've called League BOB, named after my gaming blog BOB, The Best of Betting.

Once logged in, from the first drop down menu, find the heading Join Personal League and it gives you the option to enter a league number. The number you need to enter for League BOB is 40060. Alternatively, from the same page it gives you the option to view a list of leagues you can join. Click that option and scroll through until you find League BOB (the list is in alphabetical order).

I hope you can join me.

The very best of luck.

New Formula 1 Season, New (Free-To-Enter) Fantasy Racers Game

2010-01-26T23:54:00.000Z

There have been some fairly significant changes for F1 in 2010 so here is a quick synopsys for those that haven't been following the off track schenanigans during the close season.

Overall Changes
There will be no re-fuelling during the race. Whilst KERS will still be permitted, all teams have agreed not to use it in 2010. Revised Championship points system. Probably. 26 car grid, allowing 13 teams to compete.

Team Changes
4 new teams. US F1, Campos Meta, Virgin Racing and Lotus F1. BMW have sold their team to Peter Sauber but will continue to race as "BMW Sauber F1" in the short term. Toyota have withdrawn completely from F1. Brawn GP is now known as Mercedes Grand Prix having sold a controlling stake in the company to the German car manufacturers. Their involvement with McLaren will be reduced significantly this year.

Driver Changes
Felipe Massa reclaims his Ferrari seat having fully recovered from the head injury sustained last year. He has a new team mate in Fernando Alonso. Kimi Raikkonen takes a sabbatical from F1 and turns his attention to Rallying for 2010. A familiar name returns to F1 following a 3 year absence. Michael Shumacher has come out of retirement and joins Ross Brawn at Mercedes GP. Nico Rosberg completes the all German line-up. Jenson Button leaves Brawn GP and joins fellow brit Lewis Hamilton at McLaren.
Robert Kubica leaves BMW Sauber and joins Renault. His team mate for 2010 has yet to be confirmed, but is rumoured to be Vitaly Petrov. Rubens Barrichello will be the experienced driver of Williams, partnered by the 22 year old Nico Hulkenburg. Sauber take a similar stance with mixing experience with young talent by pairing Pedro de la Rosa with 23 year old Kamui Kobayashi. Scuderia Toro Rosso confirm Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari. Red Bull stick with Mark Webber and Sebastien Vettel. Force India keep Vitantio Liuzzi and Adrian Sutil. Lotus F1 have gone with Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen to head their maiden campaign. Campos Meta have named Bruno Senna but are still to confirm who will partner him. Virgin Racing have gone with Timo Glock and Lucas di Grassi. US F1 Team recently confirmed Jose Maria Lopez - no news on the second driver as yet.

That just about sums it up. With racing just over 6 weeks away be sure to get your Fantasy Racers team in promptly. You can change things about as much as you like right up until the start of the first official qualifying session for Bahrain on Saturday 13th March.

Don't worry, it's totally free to enter.

Submit your team here

Good luck!

South Africa World Cup "Safe" Debate

2010-01-26T16:34:00.000Z

The horrifying attack on Togo's football team in Angola has sparked a flurry of alarmist stories in newspapers around the world questioning South Africa's ability to stage the World Cup.

Officials organising the South Africa tournament have moved quickly to dismiss those claims...

...of course they're going to dismiss the claims! How much money do you think they have already spent preparing for the World Cup? Answer: Lots! Now personally I don't think it is going to be safe. Not for everyone anyway, and the England fans? Aren't they the first to get blamed for anything that goes wrong surrounding football games? I know if there had been a European version of the African Cup of Nations, on English soil, in preparation for the World Cup to be played in England, and there had been an attack even half as bad as that on Togo, the World Cup would be moved to another country. Do I need to say any more? Me thinks not!

Let's hope it is going to be safe in South Africa this summer, and let's hope the officials are going to be more clued up than they are at the African Cup of Nations too... I've never seen a tournament with more incorrect decisions EVER! Lots of "!" aren't there? Needs to be.....!!! Only yesterday during the Egypt versus Cameroon match the officials gave Egypt a goal and the ball didn't even cross the line!!!!!!! .....and the amount of incorrect off-side decisions that have been made when a player has been 5 yards on side is beyond belief. I hope NONE of the officials at this cup will be in charge at the World Cup.

My tips...

Nigeria for the African Cup of Nations.
Spain for the World Cup.
Chelsea for the Premiership.
Nottingham Forest for the Championship.
Chelsea for the FA Cup.
Chelsea for the Champions League.

Yes - a Chelsea treble!

...and one more tip...

Liverpool NOT to finish in the top 4!

The best place for a few bets is Paddy Power...

50p donation to the Haiti Earthquake Appeal for each new member that joins Top Cashback for free...

2010-01-22T15:25:00.000Z

On Tuesday January 12th the already poverty-stricken country of Haiti experienced a devastating earthquake measuring 7.0 on the Richter scale. The death toll is colossal with over 100,000 already dead and fears emerging this figure may reach 200,000. Those who have survived are in desperate need of clean water, shelter and medical help.

It's times like these that really make us all stop and think what can we do to help. Top Cashback have therefore decided to donate 50p to the Disaster Emergency Commission for each new member that joins (for free) before Friday 29th January. This will take about 2 minutes of your time, won't cost you a penny, and you can if you wish earn cashback on many of your online purchases.

Simply click the banner to help make a difference...

Make more money from Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, your blog, or website. Easy!

2010-01-21T15:51:00.000Z

Several days ago I introduced Affiliate Networks to those of you that didn't know what they were and how they could help you make some money from Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, your blog, or website.

I introduced you to Affiliate Future, in my opinion one of the best networks available to work with, totally free to join, and quite simply your first doorway to generating some good money from posting banners or links where ever you think they might get clicked.

I thought I would take this opportunity to introduce you to the other "great" affiliate network, Affiliate Window. Working pretty much the same way as Affiliate Future, but with a lot of merchants unique to itself, Affiliate Window should be a top choice for webmasters and bloggers alike.

Affiliate Window does charge you the small sum of £5 for joining which you will get back with your first commission payment.

Here's a link to Affiliate Window, and just to show you how easy the whole thing is, if you click this link and sign up to the network, I get £2 payed in to my account! The link (in the form of a banner)...

Make a promise they can drink safe water?

2010-01-18T21:03:00.000Z

UNICEF is the leading children’s organisation, reaching children in more than 150 less-developed countries around the world. They work with local communities, organisations and governments to make a lasting difference to children’s lives. Their global reach allows them to share knowledge across borders while their local presence (almost 85 per cent of UNICEF staff work in developing countries) means they can deliver assistance where it is needed the most. With their worldwide presence, UNICEF is ready to respond rapidly wherever disaster strikes, delivering life-saving help for children. Visit the UNICEF website and help make a difference today...

Make some extra money from Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, your blog, or website. Easy!

2010-01-14T23:56:00.002Z

If you're a light user or a marketing guru it's never been easier to make a little extra cash from sticking a banner or affiliate link on your profile, blog, or website, and it's really easy to do!

Doing this is different for each application you use, but for example, if you know how to post a link or a YouTube video on Facebook, then you know how to post an affiliate link too, because it's done the same way. On Blogger you just add a HTML/Javascript widget and copy and paste the banner code in to the box and click save - done.

The best place to find appropriate links that will earn you more money and be of more interest to your friends, blog or website followers would be an affiliate network, like Affiliate Future for instance. For your information I will now post a banner for Affiliate Future - just click the banner and the rest is self explanatory. You could be earning some extra money in less than 5 minutes time, it really is that easy.

HaPpY mOnEy MaKiNg!

Lost? Leave me a comment and I'll answer any questions you may have.

MPs Have Let Us Down. We Need To Vote For Change NOW!!!

2009-12-16T17:15:00.003Z

I'm posting this again because the campaign ends on Friday 18th December and so you really need to vote now if you think it's time for change. You only need to give your postcode and email address which won't be used for marketing, and it will take you less than a minute. Every vote counts.

We've all heard about the Ration Books and Duck Islands. The only way we're going to make politicans understand their responsibilities to the people they represent is to make them more accountable at elections. It's time to kick out the antiquated First-Past-the-Post voting system that has allowed them to get away with so much and bring in a new style of elections where every single vote counts.

The way we vote has set the rules for politics. It's left our MPs free to enjoy jobs for life in safe seats. It's handed our governments massive majorities without any real mandate. And it's left us, the voters, weak.

We've all seen what happens when you leave politicians to their own devices (false expense claims - ring any bells?). Real change is needed, but just like the bankers, we can't expect MPs to deliver when the old rules suit them so well.

At the next election we need the chance to cast our vote not just for a new parliament, but for a new kind of politics. We should demand a referendum on a new voting system that really put voters back in the driving seat.

Politics is too important to be left to the politicians.

Support a referendum - sign the petition now. Click to sign (don't worry, you only need to give your email address and postcode).

Politicians have let us down. It's time for a change.

2009-12-02T12:16:00.003Z

We've all heard about the Ration Books and Duck Islands. The only way we're going to make politicans understand their responsibilities to the people they represent is to make them more accountable at elections. It's time to kick out the antiquated First-Past-the-Post voting system that has allowed them to get away with so much and bring in a new style of elections where every single vote counts.

The way we vote has set the rules for politics. It's left our MPs free to enjoy jobs for life in safe seats. It's handed our governments massive majorities without any real mandate. And it's left us, the voters, weak.

We've all seen what happens when you leave politicians to their own devices (false expense claims - ring any bells?). Real change is needed, but just like the bankers, we can't expect MPs to deliver when the old rules suit them so well.

At the next election we need the chance to cast our vote not just for a new parliament, but for a new kind of politics. We should demand a referendum on a new voting system that really put voters back in the driving seat.

Politics is too important to be left to the politicians.

Support a referendum - sign the petition now. Click to sign (don't worry, you only need to give your email address and postcode).

Come Play Against Me At Paddy Power Poker - I Challenge You!

2009-12-01T11:02:00.004Z

Following the launch of the new Paddy Power Poker VIP program which allows you to cash in your points for a bonus any time you like, and as many times as you like, I have started playing poker more at Paddy Power than Virgin (where I still play, but now not as much), I would like to challenge the brave to come and play against me either in a single table Sit and Go or in a game or two of Heads Up. This challenge is laid down for you at Paddy Power Poker where I play under the user name ric161220. Either search for me on the site or get in touch and we'll arrange a time of mutual interest. This is a challenge set out for the brave only and all those worried about losing should probably stay away. The challenge is on. I dare you!

For those who don't already have a Paddy Power account there's also a 150% welcome bonus on offer so here's a link to the site, and I hope to see you there...

Join my new website design group at Yahoo Groups...

2009-11-29T21:22:00.005Z

Website Design and the Small Business is a networking group for all website designers offering fair and complete websites for the "smaller" business to promote their design work, and for small businesses to showcase their websites and ask designers for advise and quotations relating to their web presence. I set this up today (29 November 2009) over at Yahoo Groups and believe this could be a valuable resource to both website designers and small business owners. I hope to see you there...

Website Design for the Small Business

Supreme Court Ruling On Bank Overdraught Charges Is Complete Bollocks!

2009-11-25T11:27:00.005Z

"High Street banks have won their appeal over unauthorised overdraft charges.

The Supreme Court ruled in favour of the seven major banks and a building society, which had challenged High Court and Court of Appeal decisions that the charges come under "unfair contract" rules and are therefore subject to regulation by the Office of Fair Trading.

The result was awaited by tens of thousands of customers whose refund claims have been frozen while the test case went through the courts.

Handing down the unanimous ruling Lord Phillips, president of the Supreme Court, said: "It may be open to the Office of Fair Trading to assess the charge under other criteria."

Customers who go into unauthorised overdraft or breach their agreed limit can be charged as much as £35 or more for a single bounced payment. Campaigners claim the actual cost to the banks could be as little as £2.50.

If the banks had lost the test case, it could have cost them £2.6 billion a year in lost revenue and led to their having to make refunds of up to £1 billion.

Before refund claims were frozen, banks had already paid out more than £559 million to customers who complained about "rip-off" overdraft charges.

But many of the high street banks have already changed the structure of the fees they charge people who go into the red, with or without permission.

Lord Walker, one of the five Justices of the Supreme Court who heard the case, pointed out that the outcome of the appeal "may cause disappointment and indeed dismay to a very large number of bank customers who feel that they have been subjected to unfairly high charges in respect of unauthorised overdrafts". But he said that as Lord Phillips had explained it was not the end of the matter and Parliament "may wish to consider the matter further".

The test case to decide the legal issues thrown up by the dispute was brought jointly by the OFT and Abbey, Barclays, Clydesdale, Halifax Bank of Scotland and Lloyds TSB - which are now part of the same group - HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland Group and Nationwide Building Society."

Sourced from Virgin Media

Everyone knows that if the government hadn't bailed the banks out and now owned them, and if the MP's hadn't robbed us with false expenses claims, and if the country hadn't been in a progressive slump financially then the Supreme Court would have ruled AGAINST the banks and thousands of customers unfairly charged around £35 a time for going over their overdraughts when it would actually only cost the banks £2.50 a time would now be getting these unfair charges paid back and the country would be in a much better place.

This is most definately not over yet. Watch this space.

The Man On The Line Gets No Better!

2009-11-18T22:58:00.002Z

I've just finished watching France -v- Ireland in the World Cup Qualifying Playoff and before I moan about bad officials again I would just like to say well done to the Irish for a great game, and I would have much rather seen you in the World Cup than France. You outclassed the French for the most part of the game, and deserved your place so much more than the French.

Here we go...

Thierry Henry is a CHEAT! A deliberate hand ball knocks Ireland out of the World Cup - BUT (and even though the ref couldn't see) the man on the line had a clear view of the incident. FIRST he missed two French players in off-side positions when the free kick was taken, and SECOND he had clear site of Henry handball it not once, BUT TWICE!!!!

The man on the line should be suspended.

The man on the line gets it wrong all too often.

The man on the line GETS NO BETTER!

A good arguement for video goal line technology?

Much respect to the Irish.

Richard's Wonder Emporium. Curious?

2009-11-17T22:44:00.002Z

I just wanted to introduce everyone to my Wonder Emporium - basically an online shop that exactly mirrors my auctions/sales on Ebay, but with everything in one place. At the moment I have loads of dvd's for sale - all at really good prices and with free postage.

Come take a look... Richard's Wonder Emporium

Jimmy White - I'm A Celebrity...

2009-11-16T22:21:00.003Z

I've just been channel hopping (as you do) and happened to come across the new series of I'm A Celebrity - Get Me Out Of Here! (not that I even knew a new series was on in the first place, or that I would have been bothered about it) and stopped in my tracks when I saw none other than Jimmy "The Whirlwind" White, the snooker legend past and crowd favourite present and thought maybe I'll watch for a bit, but he wasn't on much so I soon switched over, but then I remembered a clip of Jimmy against Kirk Stevens (some time ago), found it on You Tube, and thought I just had to share it with followers of my blog. So here it is. Enjoy!...

50 Quid Website

2009-11-14T15:55:00.003Z

For all those following It's Just A Blog! why not check out what I've been up to over at 50 Quid Website with a new look site, information on SEO (search engine optimization), and new Graphic Design, and On-Site IT pages... see you there?

Kate Beckinsale

2009-11-13T10:30:00.015Z

Here's some photo's for you just to back up the claim that Kate Beckinsale really is the sexiest woman alive!

Follow me on Twitter...

2009-11-09T18:55:00.002Z

Follow me on Twitter...

I go by the name "sonicnation" (an old band name)...

Follow me

See you there!

Free Horse Racing Tips

2009-11-03T14:07:00.002Z

There's a great website that offers some of the best free horse racing tips. Instead of me trying to explain how they do it just click the banner and all will be revealed...

Terminator 2 - Rap!!!

2009-10-30T22:02:00.001Z

The full film in a single rap - nicely worked!

Amazing Terminator 2 Rap

See more like this on kontraband.com

New Sky Sports Premiership Widget...

2009-10-26T20:56:00.002Z

I've added a new widget to the blog. Scroll down the left side and you'll find a new widget keeping you up to date with Premiership Football's latest news straight from Sky Sports.

New Look Website

2009-10-26T16:16:00.001Z

I have redesigned www.50quidwebsite.co.uk to be more "user friendly" with simple, easy to follow instructions as to how it all works, and how you can get your website designed, hosted, maintained, and promoted for just "50 quid". I work in the UK only but some of what I offer may be valid to a wider market. I am always open comments and suggestions about my site and services so feel free to take a look and pass on any feedback. Thanks in advance.

in reference to: 50 Quid Website (view on Google Sidewiki)

Fantasy Football Update

2009-10-09T10:10:00.003+01:00

Here's the updated table. I won't say too much about it because I've dropped right down...

1 Tony Wood Inter Stella F C 271
2 Laura Richardson Laura's Lads 259
3 David Yates Yates's "kick ass" United 232
4 paul cunningham RachaelFC 211
5 Richard Uttley Uttley Allstars 180
6 wayne shortland Traveling Blade 166
7 Rob Browes Bob's All Stars 140

Time for a few transfers I think!

Cheap Domain Names...

2009-10-07T23:08:00.004+01:00

As some of you may know I design websites, and websites obviously need a domain name, so I thought I'd pass on my knowledge of by far the UK's best domain name provider (and very possibly the cheapest!) just in case you need it...

I use Namesco all the time and recommend that all my clients use them too, but don't just take my word for it, see for yourself...

Fantasy Football (Spectrum A League) ...

2009-09-02T16:00:00.003+01:00

Here are the current standings...

1 Laura Richardson - Laura's Lads 155
2 David Yates - Yates's "kick ass" United 116
3 Richard Uttley - Uttley Allstars 110
4 Tony Wood - Inter Stella F C 104
5 wayne shortland - Traveling Blade 80
6 paul cunningham - RachaelFC 80
7 Rob Browes - Bob's All Stars 70

Not quite the start I was hoping for but third isn't that bad and there's a long way to go. The league's PIN is 15148 if you would like to join with your existing Sky Sports fantasy football team.

Beach Art!

2009-09-02T15:51:00.012+01:00

I just wanted to share these photographs of Earthscape Art (beach art) by artist Andres Amador. Look out for other artwork by Andres Amador including his crazy light art.

Discount Football Tickets

2009-08-25T20:08:00.001+01:00

Finding Discount Football Tickets

Introduction

The recession has affected football clubs and football fans alike, with clubs juggling their finances to stay afloat and freezing or reducing ticket prices to keep up attendances and fans facing increased prices for travel and other match day expenses in already adverse economic circumstances. Many football fans are, however, more than willing to find the cash needed to follow their favourite clubs, despite the need to tighten their belts elsewhere.

Discount Football Tickets

It is a sad fact that discount football tickets are rarely available from online ticket brokers, or from ticket touts that you may meet, in person, outside a football ground on the day of a match. Neither brokers nor touts receive any special treatment, or markdown, from principal ticket sellers and must therefore work hard to obtain tickets for the best seats. The end result is that the tickets they offer are priced significantly above their face value. Furthermore, buying football tickets from any unauthorised agent can be a risky business with counterfeit tickets or, in the worst case, no tickets at all a real possibility. Indeed, over 100 websites illegally selling tickets to Premier League football matches were recently shut down following a police operation. You may be able to find discount vouchers on the Internet, from time to time, for money off tickets offered by ticket brokers, but the discount is likely to be less than the markup on the tickets in the first place.

If you want an idea of what is and what isn`t, a good deal on football match tickets, look at the website of the football club in question. This will list the face value of match tickets and authorised agents from which they can be bought, legitimately, if necessary. One place where it may be possible to find legitimately discounted football tickets is on the online auction site, eBay, which has a large section devoted to second hand tickets, including football match tickets. If you can find the tickets you want in this way, you can also check the feedback left by other buyers to determine the integrity of the seller. Another possibility is a specialist online marketplace, where football fans can buy, sell or exchange match tickets.

Aside from saving money on the cost of match tickets, themselves, there is any number of websites that allow you to receive cashback on other costs, such as car hire, rail, air, or ferry, tickets and accommodation, that you incur as a result of travelling to and from, football matches. Individual savings may seem small, but these soon mount up over the course of a season and could make the difference between you being at that vital away game, or even at Wembley, at the end of the season, or not.