Brushing aside the failure of our national football team against a stronger and more prepared German squad, returning to work yesterday was always going to be tough.

However, 2 days into the working week, and the air conditioning is still yet to be fixed and people are getting a bit sweaty and hot under the cover.  A bit like a portfolio of shares I follow on my iGoogle.

Below shows you what the share price was today, Tuesday 29 June 2010, amongst a set of leading digital brands and companies, agencies and consumer products.  There are some shocking drops from some of them, from the FTSE to the NASDAQ.

At the time of taking this screen grab, Amazon (AMZN) was down 7.94%, Apple (AAPL) down 4.45%, Blinkx (BLNX) down 8.23%, eBay (EBAY) down 4.83%, Google (GOOG) down 3.74%, InterActiveCorp (IACI) down 3.43%, Microsoft (MSFT) down 4.20%, Moneysupermarket.com (MONY) down 2.23%, ValueClick (VCLK) down 6.17% and Yahoo (YHOO) down 4.55%.

What a depressing day for people holding stock in these companies.  I do hope the money men find their confidence again, and we start to see the share prices jump back up.  This economic downturn is not good for anyone.

At least the 10 day weather forecast remains good, warm and sunny in London.

Thank goodness I have bought a portable air conditioner for home!

I jumped out of bed and it's bloody cold and grab the necessary props to pull this off.  I make my way to work preparing myself with the rough script inside my head and trying to work out exactly how and where to pull this one off.  I only have approximately 1 hour to execute this.

The April Fools' hoax: Announce that I'm going to set a new world record running the fastest London Marathon and flipping 15,000 beer mats.

Now it goes without saying that a lot of people know that I can flip a beer mat or two.  And a lot of people know that I'm going to be doing the Virgin Money London Marathon 2010 on the 25th April.  What better than to mash these up and convince people of the impossible, or downright craziness of a stunt.

Well the day is almost over and I can proudly announce it was a resounding success!  Work colleages were particularly the most gullible, and many good luck wishes were hailed at me as I walk through the office during the hours that followed having sent a company wide email.  The premisce was a request for sponsorship for the London Marathon, with a subtle final comment saying I was attempting a world record at the same time.

The email had a link to the www.beermatflipping.com website, click the link to read the post called London Marathon Beer Mat Flipping World Record Attempt.  There is an intro video, a brilliant photo of me in Richmond with the River Thames behind me, and a few quotes that add to the realism.  Check it out and leave me a comment.

One final note, I actually got my video onto Sky News.  Brilliant.  Click the image below to see for yourself.

Add to the promotion of this April Fools' Day hoax, and retweet or share the orginal post; London Marathon Beer Mat Flipping World Record Attempt.

Or if you want to sponsor me, please visit http://www.justgiving.com/jimhaysom (you can donate via PayPal too).

I once dumped a girl via text message, and I'm shamed to admit it, with just a full stop.  Yes, the content consisted of the text, "." and it was pretty much the point, "full stop", "no more", "end of", "over", "period".  This was 10 years ago, I was young and this was not a long term relationship, and I know of a friend who ended a female commitment in this fashion also.  It's quick and simple way of dumping someone, and does release that built up emotion and frustration.  It also requires a period of silence thereafter, as you'd expect responses of "er, what?", "did you mean to send me a full stop", etc.  They eventually get the point.

I can imagine the media have certainly fueled the fire in which Ashley's dirty washing has been exposed on a global scale.  Read today that the 5 women who've been outed as bed conquests of the Chelsea and England International player spanning a number of years, do feel some regret about coming clean.  More than can be said for those bed sheets then.

In 2002 I worked in a bar in Chiswick with a girl who'd slept with Kian Egan from Westlife and sold story to the newspapers.  It was something that she openly said she regretted in conversation with me, and for whatever level of peer stature this brought her, I'm sure she felt that the money received didn't outweigh the long term association she had with this kiss and tell story.  Anyway, back to a more attractive celebrity, Cheryl Cole or soon to be Cheryl Tweedy perhaps.  Ashley, WTF?  Friends of mine have said that out of 10, they'd give Cheryl 1.

Why would someone earning £120,000 a week, seem to have almost everything (a working week consisting of 5 half days during the week and a full day at the weekend, involves some travel that is paid for, a lovely house and a stunning wife), stray off with women on many occasions?  Maybe there are more high profile sportsmen than just Ashley, John Terry and Tiger Woods?  It would seem that only Avram is paying for it, yet the others are paying for it with their relationships and going to rehab.

I wonder if celebrities get a discount when attending rehabilitation clinics, e.g. a celebrity referal programme.  There must be a lot of money spent in rehab.  The Bettty Ford Center may have been the popular hang out for those caught up with a narcotics addiction in Beverly Hills, whilst the sex-addiction clinics such as the exclusive Montrose Place in South Africa must be loving it.

When the snow started to come down last Tuesday night in our area of West Sussex, I took a taxi back home and the driver and I had a bit of a chuckle thinking of what it would be like to be snowed in at Tesco’s.  The news had highlighted the 30 or so people that were snowed in at the pub in West Yorkshire for a couple of days at New Years, and mucked in with cutting vegetables aside from a few cheeky beers and a pub quiz.  Imagine if it was Tesco’s and you were having a lock in.

We pondered on just how much fun you could make it.  An endless choice of food and alcohol with no worries about running out of milk.  However, cooking recipes via the George Foreman grill or microwaves may limit the gourmet dinner that you'd dream of, unless a hot chicken tickles your fancy.  Go upstairs and you've an entertainment emporium with rows of high definition TV's, DVD's and Blu-Rays, music, laptops, etc, that would simply thaw out any boredom.

Unfortunately for me, I was snowed in.  Not at Tesco's, but at the bottom of a hill and no way out.  It was the same for another 9 houses on our road.  Apart from the family with a 4x4 (bastards, but very nice people), we were faced with about 6 inches of blanket snow across our gardens and on the roads.

On Wednesday and Thursday there was very little chance of doing anything apart from work from home, and go out for the occasional sleigh ride with my son in a home-made sleigh, the washing basket, a bin bag and a piece of string.  With the snow coming down thick and fast, any clearing of the snow was just pointless.  Come Friday, the snow on the roads had become so compacted due to the kids being off school and playing in the streets, that it had now become an ice-rink.  Great.  But a five mile round trip walking to the nearest Tesco was satisfying in a weird kind of way, as I came back with 12 pints of milk, rather aching arms and plenty of gratitude from the wife.

On Friday, enough was enough.  I had to get to work and escape this hell hole.  A 3 hour journey to London, cold wet feet, but a warm office and productivity was enough to put a smile back on my face.  Southern had said that there was no compensation or refunds for the snow delays, as there wasn't any cancellations - just a revised timetable.  Tough love then compared to snow that fell on 1st and 2nd of February 2009.

Walking to the train station I had passed no fewer that 30 cars that had been abandoned earlier in the week.  There were lining the streets around us where it's all very hilly.  It was like Gatwick, rack 'em and stack 'em, without the scale of Wednesdays cancellations of over 400 flights and 25,000 passengers stranded.

On Saturday there was some reprise.  I'd managed to clear the driveway of snow, but the thick ice beyond it defeated any great sense of achievement, as I still couldn't get out.  Some of the neighbours had cleared up their own driveways and some portions of the road, but it needed a real team effort if anyone of us was going to seek any normality beyond our close.

After waiting 20 minutes for a bus that never came, our family decided to trek through the snow, find a bus and venture into the town centre on Sunday.  Passing the local primary school and nursery, there was a bunch of parents and kids all clearing the playgrounds.  Bloody well done I say.  That's the type of think you want to see.  Shame that the roads to the school and around it remained iced up.  I'd read somewhere that the government had vowed to get all major roads clear and schools would reopen Monday 11th January.  Maybe this was a sign that parents also wanted this in order to avoid taking more days off, or bringing the kids to work, and students can return to do their exams.

On our return from town, it was the cheerful scene and being welcomed by the neighbours at the top of the hill, which showed some further evidence of community spirit.  Our next door neighbour told us that they got a SMS text about the school round the corner, but the priority was getting themselves out first.  There were about 15 people gathered at the top of the hill armed with spades, shovels, hoes and even a giant home-made wooden ice scraper.  With a box of beer on the side of the road and a few bottles of Smirnoff Ice (how ironic), they'd cleared two tracks to enable cars to move up and down the hill, not exactly like James May's world record attempt of the biggest Scalextric track, but similar.

With a smirk on my face and sleeping child in the buggy, I called out "I'll be back with a spade" after I've had a cuppa tea.  I bet they thought that this was a load of hot air, but true enough, I returned with my tools, a sleigh of beer and wine, and got stuck right in.  The group consisted of kids, parents, and even grandparents, all of whom seemed to have a role that just, well, worked.

There was those who shovelled the ice of the road, those that cleared it, and those that I think just watched and drank.  Nah, just kidding.  Everyone was pulling together in true community spirit with a common end goal of getting out of our road.  What will surprise people though, is that we started 3 roads away!  The team (which we had now become) resided on the bottom two roads but needed the top road cleared to reach a more slushed filled one near a main road.  You'd think those living at the top would have made some effort, but there were nowhere to be seen.

Click the thumbnails below to see the full images.  Try and spot the token snowman and the basket of beer!

Anyway, having cleared tonnes of snow onto the roadside and some of the pavement, we had completed around 200 yards of thick ice about 3 inches thick from the road and even laid sand out on the corners where it was a hazard if any ice formed overnight.  It did take 2-3 hours to do, but an incredibly satisfying afternoon.  Not only did people offer up some booze to warm the cockles, one neighbour even came out with a dozen or so cakes!  Not bad at all.

Below is a video of our efforts.  You'd agree it's pretty damn good.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=kMLQdf5sulI

So the community spirit definitely existed in our road, but elsewhere there is a pitiful example of sheer selfishness or plain laziness.  On the road with abandoned cars, a resident had left a note on all the windscreens with words to the effect, "would you please 'effing sort your shit out, clear your own driveways, park there, and let these roads go back to normal to allow refuse collections, buses and school buses through".  Thank you Hanne for writing that, as it seems to have made an impact.

Taking a taxi back home last night, we had this conversation that there is very little community spirit and getting together for the common good.  I'm sure he's seen plenty of side roads all chocking up with slush, snow and ice, but was suitably impressed when he came down the three roads we'd cleared to my house.  It was like biblical divided seas, but with ice on both sides and a clear path to the holy land.

The driver had said around 20 years ago after a lot of snow and ice, the councils and government were telling residents to stop clearing their roads.  I guess this was in fear of claims of accidents, but nevertheless, it was the right thing to do if the council were failing to grit these areas.  He went on to say how people are just holed up inside in the warm, complaining of the snow, yet to do absolutely jack about it.

I'm sure plenty of communities have rallied together and done their bit, especially up North and the Midlands where it's been particularly hard hit.  But even so, I walked the 30 minutes to my train station today, and saw not one side road that had been cleared.  I find this both amazing and disgusting.  Why on earth are people leaving the roads to remain a skidding hazard and prolong the agony for other residents.

There is a warm glow inside me knowing we did the right thing, and even better, it brought the neighbours closer together and now we look forward to the newly discussed street BBQ party in the summer.  Bring it on.  A gathering of barbies, burgers, music and a lot more beer!  We might need a longer road if we want to set a Guinness World Record for the longest barbecue though.

Rant  over.  Please rate out community spirit out of 10 with a comment below, so I can share with the neighbours.  Thanks.

What a year it's been.  2009 has certainly been eventful and next year is expected to be even more exciting.

As the fireworks begin to sound around me, champagne is popping and the celebrations and singing of Auld Lang Syne fill the streets, it will be hard to sleep tonight comprehending just how much has happened in the last 12 months.

I'll be writing a post over the next couple of days highlighting some of the interesting facts, figures, and stories from the last year.  Also, an update on how I got on with those New Year's Resolutions that were made in January.

A big thanks goes to the 5,557 unique visitors around the world, who have generated nearly 10,000 page views during 2009, making me absolutely no money, but much enjoyment all the same.

Have a year filled of fun, frolics and fortune!

All the best, Jim Haysom.

~ Do leave me a comment and let me know how your NYE was ~

Surprisingly though, the site gets between 10 and 20 visits a day, mostly via search engines, Twitter and Linkedin.com. I'll check tomorrow how many have visited on Christmas day, but I know it's at least one person because they posted a comment to my Michael Jackson blog post about the number 13. A comment from Bob!

So it's now a month into marathon training, apparently, and four months until the big one, the 2010 Virgin London Marathon. I've done practically no scheduled running, yet I've almost lost a stone in weight, about 12 pounds to be more precise, in a month.

What's been my secret weight loss programme before the new year's resolutions are made? Has it been the personal commitment of no chocolate and no alcohol I made on Twitter? Maybe, but I think it was overworking, a bit of Q4 stress and two weeks of illness!

I have been really unfortunate to have had three illnesses back to back pre-Christmas lasting two weeks. This is where I think the weight loss actually occurred. First it was an URTI, known as an Upper Respiratory Tract Infection, then Conjunctivitis, followed by a violent spate of Gasteroenteritis lasting a week. I'll spare you the details, but this was the worst I'd felt in 10 years when I suffered from salmonella poisoning.

Whether the amnesty of chocolate and booze has contibuted to shedding the pounds, it's certainly been noted by colleagues that I'm looking healthier. Not sure if that's a passing comment having not seen me for a week or so, but the jeans are definitely a lot baggier around the waist.

And Christmas day is most certainly the biggest test on whether you can abstain from the flowing alcohol and chocolates. I'd completed almost three Xmas parties with none of the liquor or delicious cocoa passing my lips.

I'd said almost because the 2nd was eBay's Xmas party at Hampton Court Palace and I was four days into the illness marathon. With almost no voice and a couple of days of conjunctivitis in one eye, I thought the 3rd party scheduled two day later was going to be no problems. But with the following two days suffering from conjunctivitis now in the other eye I had to make a judgement call; do I attend the next festive gathering which is already paid for with no refund?

The answer was yes, the eyes were better and the voice was beginning to come back, so what the heck, bring on the party hats and crackers! Anyway, long story short... I had to cut the meal short mid dessert and head home having decorated the car park.

Thankfully I've got my appetite back in time for Xmas dinner! Two hours slaving in the kitchen and being rewarded with a full plate of roasted vegetables, turkey, roasties, bacon, sausages, stuffing, Yorkshire pud and half a pint of gravy, has set me up for the day. With a top-up of carved ham, crusty baguette and English mustard, I'm crashed on the sofa pondering the following question;

How long can the two tubes of Cadbury's chocolate (presents) and Terry's chocolate orange last? Talk about torture. Christmas is not Christmas without a chocolate orange at the bottom of your stocking.

I'm quite content having done the December Xmas parties and not drank a drop of alcohol, as booze is normally an 'in the moment' thing. Either you accept or decline the offer at the time, and the night goes on regardless. But with the gifting of chocolate, it's another level all together. Alcohol might have gone by the morning, but the chocolate is going to be there to haunt you until it's either got the better of you or you've chucked it in the bin, or your wife has eaten it!

I might have to hide the chocolate I've got and enjoy them in the evening of the 26th April 2010 having completed my third marathon. But given that it's 4 months away, I think there's more chance that it will snow again, cripple the country and the chocolate rations will have to re-emerge as an alternative to the weekly shop at Tesco's.

Anyway, Merry Christmas everyone!

It's only about 8 hours away, and the FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa draw takes place to select the teams for the Group stages for next summer's football spectacular.  I can't wait.  Is this finally England's chance to avoid 'Group of Death' and get to the final and end the 44 years of waiting to win the FIFA World Cup again?

I'm not a massive betting man, but am surprised that pre-draw, England are in fact 3rd favourites to win it.  Christ, have we ever had it so good, or are people thinking the Golden Generation are going to finally bring home the treasures on what is likely to be their last attempt?  Albeit that Spain and Brazil stand in our way with equal betting odds, our route through the qualifiers was decent enough and Fabio Capello has instilled some increased confidence in the team.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and when Charlize Theron co-hosts the draw in front of millions, if not billions of people around the world, you are sure that the betting odds will change post-draw.  Depending on just how lucky each of the teams are to avoid the Ivory Coast, Portugal and France (the so-called European teams likely to upset those in Pot 1), we'll see some interesting odds being touted.

Below are the screen grabs taken at 8am today from OddsChecker.com.  Ignore the yellow lines, this was just from the Snagit scrolling down the screen.  Click on the thumnails to view a larger image.

FIFA World Cup 2010 Betting Odds for the Winner (Pre-Draw)

FIFA World Cup 2010 Betting Odds for the Finalists (Pre-Draw)

FIFA World Cup 2010 Betting Odds for Top Goalscorer

It's always the case that once a team wins, you are thinking afterwards, "JFC, I wish I put on a tenner on that team to reach the final, or win".  Take Greece in Euro 2004 , they went into the competiton with odds of 150-1.  This would have been a nice bunsen burner!

If the Ivory Coast go into a week group, who's to say that Didier Drogba doesn't bang in a couple of hat-tricks?  I'd be confident that the guys from the African Nations will certainly put a few away, credit to Chelsea FC nurturing these goal hungry players.  Given that last World Cup in Germany 2006, Miroslav Klose got the golden boot for 5 goals.  Come on, seriously, are you saying that was the worthy of such a title.  At least in 2002 Ronaldo got 8 goals, and Brazil went on to win it.  Get some interesting FIFA World Cup statistics here.

The newspapers have been speculating who would be England's best possible draw and worst draw, their Group of Death.  The Sun newspaper are saying;

England's worst possible draw: USA (B), Ivory Coast (C), France (D)

England's best possible draw: New Zealand (B), Algeria (C), Slovakia (D)

We'll have to see.  If we do draw France or even Portugal in the same group, it will be certainly an entertaining first week in June next year.  With England seeded for the tournament, we will avoid the likes of Brazil, Spain, Germany, Argentina, Italy and Holland, who pose the biggest threat, but France and Portugal cannot be reckoned with.  Who wants to play against 'Le Cheat' or 'The Winker'.

The pots for the World Cup 2010 draw are as follows;

Pot 1: South Africa, Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Italy, Holland, Spain

Pot 2: Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Honduras, Mexico, USA, New Zealand

Pot 3: Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay

Pot 4: Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland

The range of betting odds pre-draw is quite surprising.  You can almost bet on anything!  If you check OddsChecker.com and you'll see everything you'd expect from Winner, to Reach the Final and even England Player to be sent off.  Below I've pasted links to the main ones so you can have a flutter yourself...

To Win World Cup 2010
Top Goalscorer
To Reach Final
Continent of Winner
To Host 2018 World Cup

England Specials

England Top Goalscorer
Stage of Elimination
Pot 2 Oppenents
Pot 3 Oppenents
Pot 4 Opponents
Group Stage Oppenents
Next Players To Be Sent Off
England Fans Player of the Year
England to be Knocked Out Stage

And a classic, To Start Opening World Cup Match in Goal.  Only wish there was one for "Will Lampard and Gerrard combo in midfield be a success this year?"   But if we think it will, it might be worth a punt on the following;

To Progress Further Than Brazil
To Play Brazil In Final

Anyway, I'll write another blog post at the weekend, to compare the odds.  Then we can be as sick a parrot if New Zealand win it.

Good luck England!

So annoyed that my commute home is once again delayed, I just had to see what actually was the cause when I got home.  In fact, the answer was  a mobility scooter ended up under a train on a level crossing at Littlehaven, and you can watch a video of scenes from the station.  Apparently an air ambulance was flown there and even captured on camera by a local.

I can't believe that the trains at 7pm were still delayed, given that the incident was reported cleared at 2.29pm in the afternoon, according to National Rail.  Why does it take so long to get the trains back in order?  If you were on the many trains home tonight, why not leave a comment.

On a bit of investigation, I found a report by the Samaritans, ATOC (Association of Train Operating Companies) and the Rail Safety and Standards Board on Reducing suicides at railway stations.  They report that between the 1st and 20th March 2006, the average impact of a suicide was 77 trains resulting in 1,489 delay minutes.  Okay this report is 3 years old, but wouldn't be surprised if this number is about the same, if not more these days.  Dread to think just how many people are committing suicide on the tracks each month or year, but it feels like the line from London to Brighton / south coast it's nearly every week.

I'm not implying that this man at Littlehaven was an attempted suicide (and I hope he recovers well), but it goes to show, any type of incident disrupts the network, and adds to the misery that is commuting.  Apparantly 15 people have lost their lives on level crossings in Britain in 2008, with more than 3,400 incidents of misuse.  Blimey.  People are either stupid or too impatient, and I can see why the slogan says "Don't run the risk".

I wrote a post earlier this year on train suicides, fatalities, trespass, incidents and breakdowns, which resulted in hundreds of people coming to this website searching for the truth of their delay home.  Quite odd when you look at Google Analytics and people are coming to your site after searching for "balcombe train track jumper".

On that note, I never got to watch the Three and Out movie with Mackenzie Crook, which was a film about railway suicides.  The trailer is below.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=A5m_nL8jas4

After a very nice meal at Balans restaurant at the incredible Westfield London shopping centre, two colleagues from work and myself walked up Wood Lane to the BBC's studios.  On entering the grounds of the studios, the lights were circling the skies once and we walked past the Helios statue in the centre of the courtyard which used to be a fountain.  It now has this 3 metre high gilded bronze figure designed by TB Huxley-Jones, which symbolises the radiation of television light around the world and below it two reclining figures which represent sound and vision.

Once inside, the party was already in full flow.  We were in Studio 6, next to the studio where the filming was talking place, and featured a stage which the Nolan Sisters performed on later in the evening.  We mingled amongst the crowds of people from the third sector, partners of Children in Need, employees of the BBC and a whole host of celebrities and famous people.

Earlier in the day, I'd been challenged by a client via email with the following;

This is formal notification that should one, Jim Haysom, encounter a celebrity that has featured on either a) Hello! b) television and (but not limited too) a radio program, photographic evidence is required.  If this evidence is to be of substantial quality (i.e. no cardboard cut outs apply), Jim will be rewarded with several free beers (happy hour prices only apply) on Monday the 23^rd of November.

I couldn't resist that challenge, so below you will find my collection of celebrity photos.

Theo Paphitis - click for more info

Jim Haysom and Theo Paphitis at BBC Children in Need 2009

Deborah Meaden - click for more info

Jim Haysom and Deborah Meaden at BBC Children in Need 2009

Calum Best - click for more info

Jim Haysom and Calum Best at BBC Children in Need 2009

Justin Lee Collins - click for more info

Jim Haysom and Justin Lee Collins (JLC) at BBC Children in Need 2009

Ricky Whittle - click for more info

Jim Haysom and Ricky Whittle at BBC Children in Need 2009

Bill Turnbull - click for more info

Jim Haysom and Bill Turnbull at BBC Children in Need 2009

Pudsey Bear - it wouldn't be complete without this photo!

Jim Haysom and Pudsey Bear at BBC Children in Need 2009

There was a bunch of celebrities that I'd spoken to during the night but didn't get a picture of.  The most well known was Peter Jones, from Dragons' Den.  Jeez, he was so tall - 6 foot 7 inches in fact.

One of the famous people mentioned in conversation his website, and it made me think... How many of them actually have their own websites?  The links above, if you've not already clicked on them, take you to Wikipedia pages of them proving that they have some fan base at least or some interesting information about them.

But to have your own "official" website puts you in another league and up another character in the alphabet-list rankings;

Official Celebrity Websites

• Theo Paphitis: http://www.theopaphitis.com and on Twitter
• Peter Jones: http://www.peterjones.tv and on Twitter with very cool background
• Deborah Meaden: http://www.deborahmeaden.com
• Calum Best: http://www.calumbest.co.uk and on Twitter
• Justin Lee Collins: No website (that's really surprising, sort it out JLC) but on Twitter
• Ricky Whittle: http://www.rickywhittle.com and on Twitter
• Bill Turnbull: No website either but on Twitter
• Pudsey Bear: Doesn't seem to have his own dedicated site but is on Twitter.  You can also add Pudsey bear to your avatar on Twitter here, and show your support for Children in Need.  Pudsey bear will be in the corner of your profile photo.

The appeal had raised £20,309,747 at the end of the show, a ridiculous amount of money, but all for good causes.  If you missed the show, you can watch BBC Children in Need 2009 on the BBC iPlayer.  I will be taking some time next week to watch some of the highlights.

Finally, a thank you to both Nick's for the invite and the celebrities who were ever so kind to have their pictures taken and tell me what the last thing they bought on eBay was.  I will make sure that I cash in my free pints on Monday next week, but in the meantime I've also done my bit and donated via PayPal with a £15 donation.  With the average price of beer being £2.05, I've donated the equivalant to 7 pints - a pint for every photo above.

Or why not bid on a celebrity signed Pudsey Bear on eBay...

The items I endulged in was two bottles of champagne, a Dom Perignon 2000 Vintage 75cl and a Louis Roederer Cristal 2002 Vintage 75cl.  Quite a luxury purchase of champagne, I'm sure you'd agree.  You'd expect to save some money at the Duty Free shop wouldn't you.  As I passed through the Duty Free shop at Gatwick airport, yards from exiting the final doors, I took a quick glance to see what the Dom was priced at.  Horror, a quick mental calculation of Euros to British Pounds meant that I was likely to be ripped off.

My suspicion was correct.  Although the Dom was cheaper UK side, it was vastly cheaper than what I paid in Germany.  They didn't sell the Cristal champagne, so I had to check the web to get the truth, and it is apparent that buying champagne online can save you money.

So I paid €127 (about £114) for the Dom Perignon 2000 Vintage champagne in Berlin, and at Gatwick is was offer for £85.  But the cheapest I could find it on the web was around £90.  But thegift box for the Dom was pretty cool, and found an example of this here.  So I paid about 20% more for the luxury of sticking it in the overhead cabin the easyJet flight.

As for the Louis Roederer Cristal 2002 champage, I was actually pretty lucky with the price conversions.  I paid €169 (about £152) and as mentioned it wasn't in the Duty Free in the UK, so that made me happy.  The cheapest I could find online was £150 and up to £175 at Harrods!

The total spent was £266 but I could have paid as little as £240 online, so I overpaid around 10% in total.  I find that hard to swallow.  I just have to store these two bottles for a very special occasion now.  With the Cristal at £25 a glass, it's certainly not sparkling wine to enjoy over a Sunday roast. 

Next time, I think I might go prepared with the online prices before my next business trip abroad.