Shop Junction Blog

I bought my mountain bike a few years ago and it was a pretty good specification at the time. However, last weekend, I had the chance to compare it with my riding buddy’s new bike, the Kona Kula 2008 ..and I think I need to buy a new mountain bike!

Firstly, the 2008 Kula is great value because it is approximately £300 cheaper than the 2009 model. While next year’s bike may be better specced. I’m not sure if it is £300 better?

Secondly, the bike has a few ‘technical improvements’ that I could only dream of when I bought my bike. It has disc brakes which seem to have crossed over from the car world in my absence from mountain biking shops. It has more gears than my mountain bike (boy, do I need extra gears sometimes!) and it has front suspension as standard.

It all seems to be in a different league to my trusty old Specialized Rockhopper!

Seasalt from Cornwall sells bright, fashionable and fun organic cotton clothing and accessories for men, women and children. Seasalt has high ethical standards and the clothing they sell includes many eco-friendly products wherever possible. In fact, Seasalt was the first fashion brand to have its clothing certified to Soil Association organic standards and in 2008 was ranked equal first UK fashion company for Ethical Conduct by the Ethical Company Organisation.

The Seasalt website has a brightly coloured theme that reflects the products that it sells. The home page make good use of attractive images and includes a subtle image slideshow. The website is easy to navigate and the products are organised into sensible categories.

All the familiar ecommerce features are there and I was also slightly surprised to see some other web geek features like the ‘Add This’ button. Good idea though!

The product pages are well thought out. In addition to the normal product description, each page has alternative images of the product and other useful information such as related products, a size guide, and delivery information, closely positioned next to each main product.

The website also has a lot of related content including Seasalt Stories, an online magazine, and community articles, for example about the retail shops that have adopted and cleaned local beaches. This is a good idea because it establishes the company in its niche and provides interesting content for new and existing website and retail customers…meaning that customers are more likely to return!

It’s all very professional and gets high marks from me.

Info: Yes, Shop Junction is a shopping affiliate of Seasalt but this article is an honest opinion of their website.

I try and get out cycling whenever I can although my wet weather radar is set reassuringly low. An essential piece of equipment for each ride is a cycling computer or trip meter that measures speed, distance, average speed, and various other indicators. I fitted a bike computer from the start which means that whenever I leave home without it, I feel like I am not getting the best out of any ride.

There are a wide range of cycling computers that you can get these days. From basic speed through to models with wireless technology and even models that will display your heart rate. I’ve not been brave enough to measure heart rate since I was cycling up through Macclesfield Forest with a monitor strapped to my chest. The rapidly increasing numbers were a bit worrying as I approached the top of the hill!

Apart from the heart rate measurement in some models, the other indicators like speed and distance are things that I need to know on every ride … even if they are not particularly high figures! If I have not ridden for a while, I use the average speed to tell me how (un)fit I am. Otherwise, I just like to see how far I have cycled.

Evans Cycles has a reasonable range of bike computers. Try the Cateye Enduro 8 (above) for a reasonably priced example.

I was a bit of a latecomer to the Welsh pop singer Duffy. Sure, I’d heard the eponymous first single from Duffy’s debut CD Rockferry but initially it did not grab my attention as much as it might have. Subsequently, the second single Mercy hit the charts in a massive way and this was followed by another single Warwick Avenue. I started to listen a bit more!

After this, it was only a matter of time before I bought Rockferry and I think it’s a great album. Most of the song styles are heavily influenced by the 60s. That’s not normally my kind of thing but I have been converted! There have been comparisons made between Duffy and Dusty Springfield. Perhaps, but those kind of comparisons don’t tell the whole story. This is a modern CD that highlights a great vocal talent.

Even though the single Mercy is probably the biggest hit from the album so far, the rest of the CD is closer in style to the singles Warwick Avenue and Stepping Stone than the more foot-tapping Mercy. That’s a good thing in my view because it really suits Duffy’s voice. For example, the song Distant Dreamer is a favorite of mine and the chorus really emphasizes Duffy’s vocal.

Duffy has a great future and I’m looking forward to her second album already!

More: Duffy on Wikipedia · Duffy official website

I’m always looking for cookbooks that provide relatively simple and quick recipes. If there’s one thing that I find frustrating, it’s when you slave away in the kitchen for several hours … only to eat the food within what seems like a few minutes. At the same time, with everyone’s busy lives, it’s often difficult to find the time in the first place.

So, I reckon that Nigella Express might be just the book for me. If you have watched the TV programme of the same name, you’ll know that our domestic goddess Nigella makes it look ridiculously simple and quick. Granted, that might be because she is a domestic goddess after all …. but I must have half a chance of finding some quick and simple recipes in this book.

I’ll put it on my Christmas list!

Previously on this blog: Cookbooks by Rachel Allen

I’m a bit of a fair weather cyclist. However, I will be joining some friends for a little cycling trip round the Isle of Wight in a few weeks time. Fingers crossed for good weather but it’s October after all. So, I figured I should buy a lightweight, windproof, waterproof cycling jacket for my trip.

After a short journey to my local Evans cycle store in Gatwick, I’m now the proud owner of this Altura Nevis jacket in blue. It seems to be a very good jacket for the price (£50) and I’m pleased with the purchase. It’s not the most expensive jacket in the world but I did not want to pay more than £100.

The jacket feels very comfortable, it’s breathable and it has reflective piping for those October  evenings. On my trip, I’m hoping to be in the bar by the time it gets dark (!) but you never know whether you might be delayed by punctures or map reading on cycling trips…. so reflective material might be useful. I’ll also be taking lights and other reflective gear as well.

All in all, I feel ready for anything that the Isle of Wight and October’s weather can throw at me….

We replaced our old washing machine with a Bosch washing machine recently. We chose the Bosch WAE24363GB from Sainsburys Kitchen Appliances because we had read that Bosch were good machines and we already had a Bosch fridge that has worked well.

The reviews of the Bosch WAE24363GB were pretty good and in our experience it has been impressively efficient and very reliable so far. It’s difficult to get too excited about something as domestic as a washing machine but the Bosch is quiet and seems to just get on with the job. It’s easy to programme and clothes come out quite dry even on the lower spin speeds.

One thing that is a good idea with the Bosch is that spin speeds can be changed during the wash cycle if you need a higher speed. Another good feature is that the machine tells you how much time is left during each wash.

It’s a big improvement over the old machine!

The Wire is a TV series made by the US cable channel HBO. Another Sopranos, you might be thinking. You’re wrong, it’s better than that! The final episode of The Wire has just screened on UK TV. Here’s my overall review of the whole series.

The Wire starts off as a slow-burning story about Baltimore cops trying to catch a drug gang. So far, so conventional. However, the real-life nature of the programme, the large cast of characters over its five seasons, and the uncompromising, but entirely plausible, storylines make this the must-watch TV series of all time in my opinion.

The fact that it has not won a string of awards is bizarre. Perhaps it is the nature of the story and the almost documentary style of the narrative that goes against it. However, give it a few episodes and you’ll be hooked like I was…

Read the rest of this entry »

I have the basic Sky TV package but friends tell me that Sky+ HD is a better package because of the ability to stop, pause, and record live TV … not to mention the greater picture quality if you have a high definition (HD) TV. I saw a demo of HD in a TV showroom last weekend and the pictures were fantastic. I might just be tempted to upgrade to Sky+ HD before Christmas.

Sky has a new HD offer running from 24th September until 30th of October. For new customers, the Sky+ HD box is £75 (normally £150). Here’s a summary of the offer

• New Customers – Sky+ HD for £75 and free standard set-up
• Existing Customers – Sky+ HD for £75 with £30 standard set-up
• Existing Customers – £30 set-up discount when you take up multi-room

» Sky+ HD Offer

Waitress is a film by the late actress-director Adrienne Shelly. It is a bittersweet comedy romance based in a small American town. Keri Russell plays the main character, Jenna, who is a pie-making waitress in a typical American diner. The story revolves around her life, married to an overbearing husband, her pregnancy, work at the diner, an affair with her doctor (played by Nathan Fillion), and the life choices that she makes.

I found the film moving and very funny but it’s not an over-the-top gag fest like some other modern films. The humour centres around the characters and their personal foibles. In particular, Jenna’s relationships with the other waitresses (Adrienne Shelly and Cheryl Hines) and the diner owner (played by Andy Griffith) are sympathetically illustrated with realism and warmth.

One of the main themes of the film is Jenna’s pie making which she uses to reflect her life. Each pie is made and named in her mind according to her daily mood. For example, “I Don’t Want Earl’s Baby” pie (an egg and cheese pie with ham!)

The film is made even more poignant by the murder of the director Adrienne Shelly in New York just after the film was finished. It’s a real life tragedy that puts everything into perspective.