Posted in April 2007

In business

Source: Current Affairs Blog
Monday 23rd April 2007, 2:14pm

There's more support than you think..

During the weekend, whilst in the pub, we were discussing on how to put the world to rights, then slowly moved on to our fair nation and how the government was making life difficult for small businesses.

Some of the lads who were still managing to run a business of sorts spoke about the various problems that they came up against and the lack of support that they received (from local authorities). To which, one of the wise old heads asked if they had dealt with SWDRA, which prompted comments of "I'm not into these new religions" or, "which planet is that?" Ignoring the jibes, he went on to mention that it was a regional agency involved in the development of the regional economy and in particular business growth (I think he must be an undercover civil servant!).

So, as they say "have laptop, will travel" or something like that, I thought I would look them up. It seems that the South West Regional Development Agency (and that's the shortened version! (see the site)), covers business support, finance for business, skills and learning to name just a few schemes. Also, it deals with not just what most of us would consider as usual businesses, but also deals with engineering, food and drink, ict, leisure and tourism, marine, biotechnology, creative industries (?) and environmental technologies. So, if you are in or thinking of going into business it may well be worth a look to see if you gain any additional benefits or experience to help you.

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Eco in life

Source: Current Affairs Blog
Tuesday 17th April 2007, 3:38pm

Eco after life

I see the 'eco' thing has been covered elsewhere by fellow bloggers but I came across this site due to a small article on eco-friendly coffins!!!

The site is called www.nigelsecostore.com and is full of eco oddities, practical or otherwise. The coffin is called an Ecopod, made from 100% recycled paper and comes in four bright colours. There is even an Acorn urn for those who wish to go the whole hog and have money to burn!. The range isn't vast but is extremely varied to cater for most peoples tastes. The site even provides for us bloggers with mouse, keyboard and monitor casings made from bamboo.

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Goalllllllllllllllllll

Source: Current Affairs Blog
Wednesday 11th April 2007, 12:07pm

There is only one colour and it's BLUE

Well, it seems my self imposed exile during the football match is still paying off, as Chelsea won again last night against Valencia to keep the 'quadruple' alive.

Again, Jose showed his tactical skills by making the changes necessary and swinging the game back into Chelsea's favour. As for the players, it was a case of 'never say never' and it was great to see Jose' joy during the post match interviews.

Also, well done to the U-19s team who lost to a single goal five minutes from time against Sao Paulo U-19s in the Dallas Cup final in Texas. They beat Southampton, Arsenal USA, Guadalajara and Takigawa Daini on the way to the final.

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Going abroad

Source: Current Affairs Blog
Thursday 5th April 2007, 2:52pm

Have car will travel

Well it's the Easter break, so for those of you who are escaping the UK for Spain (or indeed elsewhere), here's some transport info for you.

Whichever Costa 'X' you are going to, try this Hertz site for Spanish car hire services. I say car hire, but they also do mobile phone hire too - handy if you don't want to change your own mobile phone services for a few days. Plus, you can also get Nectar points, for those of you who collect them (remember to go via the Nectar site).

For those of us left behind we can toy with the idea of using their 1 year-old car sales service, or if you are on the (home) move, they have teamed up with the Big Yellow self-storage company. Not bad for what initially appears to be a car rental website.

So, whatever you do have a glorious break.

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Let's hear it for...

Source: Current Affairs Blog
Monday 2nd April 2007, 12:04pm

... the mighty Quinn

I originally caught part of this story on Sunday, when a Sunderland fan who was involved in the incident, called into a football programme.

What happened was that Sunderland supporters had just got on the plane to get home following a victory at Cardiff, and then saw the Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn boarding and had an impromptu good humoured chant in his honour, for turning the clubs' fortunes around.

The airline crew thought they were drunk and the pilot ordered them to be removed, and despite pleas they were removed. As a result Niall Quinn took the supporters to the taxi rank and paid for them to be taken home, which cost around £8,000 for the 80 fans, and he waited there until all of them had left.

Given the current climate about 'greedy' clubs it's good to hear that there are still chairman who think about their fans.

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