If like many other people you are thinking of getting an allotment to grow your own vegetables, it appears you might be in for a long wait. According to this article in some areas the waiting lists for an allotment are so long that you might have to wait up to 40 years before you get one. In Camden for example there are 883 people waiting for an allotment and in Islington, Burnley, Fylde, Wirrel and Kingston upon Hull waiting list are all longer than 10 years. Although every council has to provide 20 allotments per every 1,000 residents it seems demand is simply to high. Whether its the effects of recession or simply a renewed interest is not clear but it appears growing your own is the thing to do.

Asda is selling a school uniform priced at just £4.75. The uniform includes a cotton polo shirt or easy iron shirt, a cotton sweatshirt and Teflon coated trousers. It is available for all ages from three up to sixteen. Asda have said that the same uniform would cost around £15.25 at Tesco and £21.50 and Marks and Spencer so it seems this is a really good deal.

Royal Mail has launched a tamper proof stamp which should stop people pealing off old stamps and reusing them. The problem whilst it might seem minor costs Royal Mail tens of thousands of pounds every year. Although stamps are franked when they go through the sorting office, the markings on them are not always noticeable and often stamps with little markings on them are peeled off and used again. The new stamps, however, should make it impossible to reuse them. They have two oblong strips on either side of the stamp so that when the stamp is peeled off the strips are left behind. This leaves a useless stamp with two holes in it which should now be unusable.

This article claims that some chocolate bars have shrunk whilst the prices remain the same. Apparently the size of Mars and Snickers bars have shrunk by more than 7 per cent as the company tries to reduce costs. The chocolate bars which previously weighed 62.5g now weigh just 58g. The change happened in the second half of last year and the smaller version are now on sale in the shops. The price of the smaller bar remains the same at 37p for a Mars bar and 41p for a Snickers, so it appears customers are getting a little less for their money. Mars at first claimed the move was to help tackle the nation’s obesity problem but later admitted that it was as a result of rising costs.

According to this article Sky has struck a deal with Microsoft that will see their content offered through the Xbox. Under the deal live football, TV and films will be available through the Xbox. It is likely to be available in the autumn although no details have been released on how much it will cost. There is likely to be some deals available for people who already subscribe to Sky offering them content at a reduced cost but once again no specifics have yet been released.

It looks as thought it might be all over for Setanta as an emergency meeting has taken place to try and secure a rescue package. The sports broadcaster could face going into administration within days unless backers provide more funds. The company owes the English Premier League a total of £30 million, money that it does not appear to have. It has also failed to pay the Scottish Premier League £3 million which it owes them in television rights money. It is estimated that Sentanta is currently losing up to £100 million a year. 

Personally I’m not quite sure why you would want to visit Starbucks but that’s my opinion. Some people obviously do like the brand but other people like this man might be bordering on the obsessive. He has made it his mission to visit every Starbucks around the world. He has managed an impressive 9,100 and is now in England to visit the 400 outlets over here. After the UK he will move onto a tour of Europe, visiting Spain, Portugal, Germany and Romania. At every outlet he orders a regular cup of coffee and takes a picture and puts it on his website. So far he has spent around $100,000 on his project over a course of 12 years. He estimates that he still has 3,000 outlets worldwide still to visit.

If you are a landlord and are currently struggling to manage your rental properties yourself then you might want to look into using a property management company like Real Property Management. They specialise in the management of single family homes, apartment buildings and homeowners associations. They offer services such as tenant placement, credit and criminal background screening, accounting, project management, collections, evictions and maintenance services so they can basically do all of the hard work for you. In addition all of their property maintenance is done by their own people so you don’t have to pay overinflated charges and they have a 24 hour emergency service which is available seven days a week. If you want to see how they help you, you can contact a representative through the website. 

A TV advert for Tetley tea has been banned after the advertising watchdog decided it could mislead viewers. The advert for green tea shows a woman who decides to drink a cup of green tea rather than go out jogging with the voiceover saying 'For an easy way to help look after yourself, pick up Tetley Green Tea. It's full of antioxidants.' The advertising watchdog has ruled that this claim is misleading as there are no proven health benefits to drinking green tea. Four viewers had complained that the adverts suggested drinking green tea would have the same benefits as exercising. The advert will not be broadcast again in its current form. Tetley have said that the tea was promoted as part of a healthy lifestyle.