Car Hire Bargains

If you're looking for a car hire bargain in the next couple of days, there are some deals out there from EasyCar. In order to be eligible, you need to sign up for the newsletter and act fast because the deals expire at midnight on 29th June.

More ideas for car hire holidays are available on the EasyCar blog, the newsletter has some great deals for 7 day car hire in places such as Malta, London, Cyprus, Mexico and Florida. These aren't the only deals however, keep an eye out for special deals in Las Vegas and other popular holiday destinations as well.

Usually, the advice for car hire bookings is to book as early as possible to avoid disappointment, but sometimes it is possible to find good late deals too.

Budget Day

This budget, arguably the most important for a generation is being presented today. The Chancellor is promising that it will not hit the poor disproportionally, yet they have to make in roads into the £155bn deficit.

The main highlights are that personal tax allowance will be raised the £7,475, meaning 880,000 people will no longer pay income tax and Basic rate payers will be around £200 a year better off. Higher rate payers will be hit by a rise in NI contributions.

The change in NI will also mean that employers will not have to make contributions for about 650,000 employees. This could help them plan their treasury management systems as there is increasing demand for corporations to use internal cash and minimise external needs.

Child tax credits will cease for those 2 million earning >£30k and VAT is expected to ride to 20%. Other cost cutting measures include cutting the welfare budget and the reversal of Labour's plans to changed the way 'furnished holiday homes' are taxed.

Traditional Lingerie Demand Increase

High street retailers are seeing an increase in demand for traditional lingerie, such as stockings and suspenders for the first time in 50 years.

Tights, and more recently, hold-ups became far more popular, partly because of the sometimes difficult task of doing them up, and also because of the visibility of the clips underneath tight fitting clothes. With the fashion moving towards ladies' lingerie becoming the new outerwear with the help of celebs such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna and Katy Perry, sexy sussies are back.

Unsurprisingly, black is the most popular colour, followed by hot pink, with traditional white/ivory remaining strong and the brides' colour of choice.

Flower Arranging Toddler

This is sooo sweet! This little girl is having a great time redoing the flower arrangements her daddy bought her for Valentines day. Looks like we have a budding florist on our hands.

Chez Delphine Puycelsi - Watch The Extras!

We are safely back from our French holiday, and it was fantastic! We did around 1800 miles and the bike didn't miss a beat. We went from St Malo to near Chinon, then over the mountains (there was snow and everything lol) to the Central Massif, then to the Gorge du Tarn near Albi, then to the medieval village of Puycelsi, across to Tulle, finally to Tourlaville and caught the ferry from Cherbourg. Thankfully our motorcycle clothing was ok, we hadn't packed waterproofs as we don't own any, but it was sunshine all the way until a small shower or 2 on the penultimate day.

Most of the B&Bs we stayed in were excellent, but it is Chez Delpine in Puycelsi which I wanted to talk about. It is lovely from the outside and even has a pool in the garden, but some things in the rooms leave a bit to be desired. She only had the two most expensive rooms available as it was a bank holiday weekend and she said breakfast was 8 Euros PER PERSON per day extra, an extra 64 euros for the 4 of us for 2 days, so we declined. We had the Colombage room which featured an open fire and a kitchen, and our friends had the Pool room. Our friends were told that if they switched on the heater, not to move it as the wiring was rather old. The equipment in our kitchen was like something out of the 70's (and this wiring looked old too), the kettle boiled when it felt like it and preferred to not actually reach boiling point if it could avoid it... but the other equipment was functional. We were also told that it was ok to make a fire if we wanted as the vent was always open, but to keep it towards the back of the grate to avoid a smoky room. The first evening we decided to try the fire. Although we were careful to keep it at the back of the grate, the vent did not work as well as we might have hoped, with the transition between twigs and adding a single log over the top causing a grey haze to form in the room. Putting the fire out and opening the windows did eventually get rid of it. Maybe the chimney needs sweeping?

The real surprise, however came when we were handed the bill. She charged 20 Euros for cleaning the kitchen which was not mentioned when we rang or arrived, only on the bill.

I know H&S probably isn't as severe in France as it is over here, but surely modern wiring would be desirable? Also, charging extra for breakfast is outside Chambre d'Hotes rules, and is one of the reasons Chez Delphine in Puycelsi was not accepted into Gites de France, according to the email we recieved from them. We are still waiting for a reply from the Sawday Guide, as Chez Delphine is in there.

If it wasn't for the fact she was the only place we tried that had 2 rooms available, then we wouldn't have gone because of the extra breakfast charge - including breakfast would have made our rooms 91 and 81 euros per night, a bit above our budget. As it was, it was stretching it, especially with the surprise 20 euro cleaning charge.

Tip for the future, check bank holiday dates before travelling! I definitely recommend the Sawday Guide book too, we found some lovely places through it.

Mumbai India Holiday Weather

Image via Wikipedia

If you're flying out to Mumbai, be advised that Monsoon season is imminent. This means high humidity and downpouring of rain. Here's what asiarooms.com has to say about Mumbai.

General weather of Mumbai:

The Mumbai Weather can be perfectly described as Maritime sea weather. The weather of Mumbai is greatly influenced by its proximity to the Arabian Sea. This accounts for the little seasonal fluctuation of the temperature of Mumbai due to the moderating effect of the Arabian Sea. In general the month of May is the warmest month of the year when the mean average temperature of the city remains 32 degree Celsius, even though the temperature experiences a sudden rise to 40 degrees occasionally. The coldest month in Mumba is January and the mean average temperature of the month is recorded as 24 degree Celsius. The minimum Recorded in Mumbai so far is 18 degrees. Generally the presence of humidity is very high in the summer months when the temperature is at its peak.

The Seasons of Mumbai:

Mumbai weather experiences very little seasonal variety due to the moderating effect of the Arabian Sea. There are three main seasons that prevails in the Mumbai weather . These are the monsoon, summer and the winter. The monsoon season usually occurs in between the months of June and September. The monsoon season is responsible for the deposition of more than Mumbai's total annual rainfall that is around 1800mm. It is both interesting and mysterious to note that the first shower of rain in Mumbai occurs from the 7 th of June. However of late wide levels of fluctuations are noticed about the onset of the monsoons. The temperature during those times remains calm around 20 degrees and the weather remains highly humid. The presence of moisture in the air is also noticeable during the monsoons in Mumbai since it remains at its maximum. Heavy westerly winds are the unique traits in the monsoons in Mumbai. The Arabian Sea becomes rough and turbulent with high rising waves and the harbor becomes too choppy for the sailing boats. The summers in Mumbai typically symbolizes Indian summers. It follows immediately after the monsoons and the weather becomes highly unbearable with high temperatures and humidity. The summer seasons continues till the end of October. After the summers Mumbai experiences the most pleasant weather from the month of November to February. During this period the temperature and the humidity falls together abruptly and reaches their lowest points in the month of January. Mumbai becomes calm with sea turning to a shade of blue in these months.