Words About Things

I yearn to go back to a time before I knew this advert existed. Somebody, somewhere decided that it would be a good idea to get Andi Peters, Melinda Messenger, Goldie, Johnny Vaughan, Lisa Snowden and some guy from Hollyoaks to mime along to a rap song about Chicken Wraps for Nandos.

This is apparently an ‘internal’ video for staff so maybe these celebrities thought that we would never know how desperate they are for money and exposure. Now that the video has found it’s way onto the internet their lack of shame will be noted for eternity. Watch the video below but remember what has been seen cannot be unseen…

Hmm, this post has had 240+ hits today with no referrer or from email addresses, would someone satisfy my curiosity and leave me a comment to let me know what this is all about?

Asking around to see if anybody had anthing to add to my previous post 10 Recession Beating Holiday Tips one word kept coming up: staycation. Perhaps ‘word’ is a little strong, more like a collision of two words although I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up in the dictionary soon. A staycation for anyone who has yet to incounter the idea is a holiday where you stay at home or at least in your home country. The idea being that you save money and explore your local areas.

Apparently lots of people are considering a staycation this year. If we actually have a summer then travelling around England sounds like a good idea although you may regret it if it rains again. I live in the south-west and we tend to see a massive influx of northerners (anyone north of Bristol) in the summer, I don’t blame them because it’s grim up north.

Campervan sales are increasing and Volkswagen Vans have seen a 25% increase in inquiries about their vans. Sales, including those of used vans, have shot up in the last 6 months according to Jason Jones who owns Danbury Motorcaravans:

“People are looking to buy one vehicle that does it all rather than a car, a caravan and a people carrier separately.”

Research has found that one in five people are planning a driving holiday this year in the UK, lets hope they don’t all arrive down here at once.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of Broadband is the speed. Those of us who remember the bad old days of dial-up connections will know how frustrating it can be to wait for a page to load. Whilst Broadband is faster than dial-up it is a well know fact that advertised speeds are not likely to be reached by all users all the time. Speeds are normally listed as ‘up to XX Mbps’ and this has left some people feeling that they are not getting what they pay for.

Even the best mobile broadband connection is by it’s very definition normally not as fast as a fixed line. The benefits of Mobile Broadband include it’s portability and the fact that a landline is not needed. But as the market for Mobile Broadband increases the companies involved get more competitive. Claims about speeds are very closely watched and monitored.

Vodaphone currently advertises speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps but competitors claim that this is unrealistic for most users. They claim that Vodaphones does not provide 3G coverage for all of their users who can mostly expect speeds of around 1.8 Mbps. Vodaphone claims that higher speeds are available in London and at airports but that might be considered irrelevant by most of their users.

Pay as you go mobile broadband provider Three claim that their coverage is greater than that of Vodaphone. They have reported a complaint to the Advertising Standards Authority regarding Vodaphone’s speed claims.