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Villas in Spain – Don’t Judge a Book and All That
That’s right, villas in Spain – notice the plural? That’s what a new friend of mine has and all I can think is ‘why didn’t I make friends with this person sooner?’ I think that’s largely because I’m an awful person, but either way, having a friend who has multiple holiday properties can never really be considered a bad thing.
Ironically, we met in the biggest dive of a pub in my town (that’s saying something too), and have been becoming something resembling drinking buddies. The only thing that’s really changed in our friendship since it because apparent that they’re loaded (not that you’d know it to look at them) is that I have a habit of saying ‘your round’ more often rather than being over-generous the way I usually am.
I haven’t been out to any of their villas in Spain yet and all-told, I probably never will, unless I want to take a girlfriend out somewhere for a cheap holiday in a nice shiny villa. They say you learn something new every day and what I’ve learned today from this is truly not to judge a book by its cover or its company. Most of my friends – especially the ones I’ve met in that pub – tend to look like stereotypical metal fans, may not be the cleanest, drink like and have mouths like sewers and usually don’t have the greatest jobs in the world. This person fits the mould too, they just seem to have a good job (one that they won’t disclose) and own a lot of property.
Actually, thinking about it, they might be an undercover secret agent or something. I’m not sure whether that would be the coolest thing ever or a terrifying thought.
Do I Need a 3D TV With LED Screen?
I’m something of a gadget hound and I really love my toys, especially multimedia related ones. My room looks like the Curry’s backroom with all the gear in there, from the overpowered PC to the TV setup which is a 1080p plasma TV, Sky HD, blu ray player, Xbox 360 and 1080p media player which plays all the stuff from my external hard drive. It’s all HD and it’s all very shiny. Unfortunately for my bank account, however, there’s all this new LED screen technology which boasts brighter, sharper pictures, smaller footprint and 3D capability in some cases.
The gadget lust is strong with these things, but do I really need it? The LED screen will be nice – it’s always good to be able to see Kate Beckinsale in a sharper picture – but do I want the 3D? I think ‘want’ and ‘need’ are two different things in this case. You see, I’ve been to the cinema to see films in 3D a couple of times lately and haven’t been overly impressed with it. Avatar looked great in a couple of bits (shame about the film), but for the most part, the 3D seemed unnecessary – in fact, it just highlighted the flaws with the technology and do not get me started on Clash of the Titans ‘just throw it in after the film’s done’ approach.
I don’t doubt for a second that 3D TV is the future, but my feeling on it is that the future’s not quite here yet. I might well upgrade the plasma to an LED screen soon though. Those Samsung ones look a bit shiny.
All the time people keep inventing new tech, I will most likely never feel that my setup is complete. That’s probably a little sad.
Look the Part with Credit Card Design
I had a slightly disturbing revelation the other day as I caught my reflection in a shop window as I was walking along – I really do look like I work in the media. That’s not a bad thing necessarily – I am a media graduate, after all – but I felt that my look was almost stereotypically ‘media’ for some reason. There I am with my messy haircut, designer piercings, trendy goatee and obscure band t-shirt all offset with a D&G watch and suddenly it clicked that I really do look like one of those people you often see wandering around London and you can spot them a mile off. I had a fleeting thought of looking into some credit card design just to really get that ‘successful’ look.
It’s a little strange for me, since normally I look like I’m homeless or on the way to see a band in some dive or another, but I quite like the idea of not being poor and not looking like it every now and then, and a custom credit card would probably help me with that. I’m not talking something ostentatious and 80’s and certainly not something like a photo of my parents or something like that, just maybe something a little dark and abstract like one of my Photoshop pieces, I haven’t really decided. In fact, I haven’t really decided on whether or not I’m going to do it, but if I do, it’s going to be something understated but still posy enough to make the investment worthwhile.
All in all, credit card design wasn’t something I’d really considered before I caught that sight of myself in the window, but it’s certainly an interesting idea and I might do it. If nothing else, my wallet’s not looking very distinctive these days.
Temporary Car Insurance – A Cautionary Tale
Here’s a cautionary tale regarding temporary car insurance that all drivers should take into account.
A couple of weeks ago my brother, who has been out working in Canada for the past year, came back to visit. To keep him mobile I rustled up some temporary car insurance so he would be covered for the duration of his stay.
Being something of a frugal monkey I kept it to the basics and used only the minimum required by the law. Big mistake.
Sod’s law kicked seamless into effect. Sure enough the young lad had an accident. While stopped at a red light he was hit by an uninsured driver. He was fine, but the car was looking distinctly poorly.
Never mind, I thought, a bit of paper work and Bob would indeed be my uncle. How wrong can one man be? After months of delay they finally came back with this disappointing reply: because I kept costs to the minimum I was not covered in this particular instance.
I’m still fighting my corner, but a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach makes me think they’ve covered themselves somewhere down the line. It looks like I’m going to be in for a hefty repairs bill soon enough.
The moral of the story? Well, that’s obvious. Sometimes the cheapest temporary car insurance isn’t the best.
