Many of us car lovers would love to be a motoring journalist. Why not? It gives access to so many drives and dining activities in exotic destinations; the envy of the lifestyle beat. It is all part of making the customer, in this case the motoring journalist, feel good. You get to drive many different cars, which is akin to trying different restaurants for a foodie, for free. The only expectation is that a story has to be published sometime soon or usually, even sooner! But I have often wondered, does a motoring journalist have to be able to drive? Not necessarily but it helps to know how because it expands the point of contact with the product, and thus the reach of the story.

I have known some trained journalists with the motoring sections of the broadsheets who did not know how to drive but were quick, adept and streetwise in editing industry press releases; they were also pretty good at the eating part of the job as well! Of course these journo’s will not make expert viewers of the product that they are reviewing, but they are so versatile that they can be shifted from one section to another at the editor’s discretion. Cars are dynamic objects and fair comment should be rendered on how one looks, feels and drives. A car is also a social object, created by its marketers, so subjective perceptions on social relevance and standing have to enter the picture. All things being equal I think that I will stick to my work in book publishing!

Whichever way you look at it, and whatever your political leanings, yesterdays budget delivered a highly political Budget that postponed the pain of spending cuts until well after polling day. I as saw it, listening to it with a few friends, the chancellor made a combined a raid on the rich with the theft of Conservative ideas and faced with a record deficit and an election expected in six weeks’ time; Alistair Darling delivered a no-frills financial statement that made a virtue of necessity, so how will you be affected?

Those that do not drive a car and just use public transport think that they are immune from the tax rise on fuel, but this is an area that impacts on every area of modern life, an increase in transport costs means that just about everything that we touch is affected. I’m not a cider drinker but those that are will be less than pleased by the 10 per cent hike above inflation with a higher £2 per litre levy on super-strength cider.

Naturally if you do not presently own your own home but are thinking of buying one now, you will be bouncing off the walls at the news that first time buyers will not pay any stamp duty on houses costing under £250.000. There is a snag here though, you have to be a first time buyer and that means that you must never have owned a home before that includes your partner as well, not just here but anywhere in the world as well!

Anyone working will have to pay more income tax because allowances for tens of millions of tax payers will be frozen and it is thought that it will amount to £48 a year for all basic rate taxpayers. Although the government do not believe it is a tax increase you must make up your own mind. Whoever is elected after the next election, thought to be around May 6th, the final reckoning of the financial crisis will only begin to hit in 13 months’ time, when spending cuts will have to be made.

My Nan used to play bingo down at the cinema, I think it was the Odeon, but I might be wrong. What I do remember though is the enthusiasm when she went to her twice weekly meetings to play with friends, come rain or shine. Imagine my surprise then when I found my partner using my computer to play online bingo at 888Ladies.com which she says is the one that she really likes.

Now as you all may know I am a nut when it comes to online casino sites and I usually get to play a hand or two of online poker when I am away or get the odd moment at home. Suitably impressed by what I saw the other night I downloaded 888Ladies (you can play if you’re a man!) and I must say that I was in for a huge surprise. For starters I got a free fiver and you don’t pick those up every day, plus 150% Cash Match bonus on my first deposit, with a 50% bonus offered on all subsequent deposits. They run massive monthly guaranteed jackpot games and I found their bingo blog section fun. With 888Ladies being a pleasant site, together with a great mix of slots to go at as well, it’s no wonder that it is so popular. I also found the 888 Ladies Bingo to be a pleasant site and the chat room was fun. I can understand why my partner said “why go anywhere else?”If you are looking for a bingo site which has everything all under the one bingo roof, then I can tell you that 888 Ladies will probably be for you with their free bingo games, big jackpots and great prize promotions.

Organisers have been forced to transport snow to one of the Vancouver Olympic sites because of unseasonal high temperatures. Snow is being brought to the Cypress Mountain venue, this is the one that is due host the freestyle and snowboarding events, from the Allison Pass 93 miles away. Vancouver saw January temperatures that have hit a record average high at 7.2C degrees which has caused problems at this particular Olympic site and the competitors have been unable to practice at the venue. Problems such as this are not new to organisers of the winter Olympics, but as always they are confident that the y will be on top of it ahead of the Games’ opening on 12 February. These problems have meant that the athletes have been forced to practice at nearby Whistler, a situation that the thousands of winter sport holiday makers, enjoying their week at one of the greatest ski holidays destinations in the world, found interesting to say the least!

Skiing holidays in North America are more common now than in previous years and some of the best skiing in the world is to be found in the U.S.A. and Canada. Whistler is regarded by ski holiday writers and enthusiasts alike as probably the one ski resort that ticks all the boxes. With flights across the Atlantic through airlines such as Virgin Atlantic costing little more, in relative terms, than we were used to paying a few years ago to go to Europe, it is no wonder that ski holiday specialists are able to offer such fantastic skiing deals to Whistler and North America generally. Notwithstanding the problems at Cypress Mountain which is effectively just above sea level on Vancouver’s outskirts, snow in these resorts is usually a guarantee and the quality is great. Winter holidays do not get any better.

Spare a though for me I have to go to Davos to be one of the Company’s representatives the World Economic Forum at Davos-Klosters Switzerland during the 40th annual meeting on the 27th to the 31st January 2010. No I am not one of the delegates, I am part of the sideshow that always accompanies events such as these, and you know the thing, lots of exhibitions of people selling their wares at side halls and in the towns themselves.

This really is not my cup of tea, too much standing around and getting aching feet in overheated rooms, but it has to be done and much of it is part of my job anyway. Luckily, like most people there, I will be able to get some time away to “play on the slopes” because both of these areas are top ski resorts and during this week I have checked and the pistes are near perfect with a new powdering of snow and they will be just about empty, so there is some consolation! Davos is a skier’s town with 61 lifts and 318km of prepared runs, there are, 35 on-piste restaurants, 1 natural ice skating rink, which incidentally is free with free skates supplied!

One downside is that I cannot go through my favourite airline BMI which is a shame as I prefer the service that I get through them, but as I have said, I am in the Diamond Club which does make a huge difference. I am waiting to see who that I have been booked through to Zurich, which is the nearest airport to Davos, Easy Jet fly to Zurich but it is from Gatwick which is right out of the question as far as I am concerned, but Luton could be an option. I expect that I will be booked on BA from Heathrow, time will tell.

Thankfully the thaw has set in and I am able to get out and travel around to do my job which has been difficult during this past week. There is one thing that I am really worried about is the number of potholes that have appeared on the roads around the country. The problem appears to be the worst in stretches of road where potholes have been poorly repaired in the past. I know the councils have been at full stretch since Christmas salting and gritting, but prior to this, our roads have been allowed to deteriorate to become some of the worst in Europe through lack of funding, think of all the tax the motorist pays. I have to drive on roads all over Britain and in Europe as well and I have to be honest, our roads compare very badly, bring back the Romans!

Insurance is foremost on a lot of people’s minds at present due to the recent bad weather, not just the damage that may have been caused to your car through a pothole either! Insurers are reporting a steep rise in the number of motoring claims due to snow and ice related accidents with insurance call centres being inundated and resorting to recorded messages, now call centres are another matter, what happened to good old fashioned customer service I ask? With burst water pipes apparently accounting for a massive increase in claims on household insurance (the cost of the resulting damage is thought to be around £2,000.) made me look at my household insurance policy to see if I was fully covered for all likely situations, which I was.

I use internet price comparison sites to look for the best insurance deals, not just for my house and car, but holiday insurance too. However, I have found that it is vital to read carefully all the terms and conditions of the policy, because if you find a really cheap insurance it is what is not covered that may make it so cheap. When I find a competitive quote I always ring the insurer to ensure and talk to a real live person hopefully not a call centre! I have personally found that although the majors may be more expensive, they usually give more cover, you get what you pay for in this world!

So my wife is turning ** next week. I’m not going to tell you her age, because I’m a gentleman and that, but she’s increasingly concerned with her looks. Naturally, that means a lot of my money is getting siphoned off into various beauty products and such.

For her birthday she’s been very specific: ghd hair straighteners or bust!

Apparently – and I have to admit to ignorance here – the ceramic heating elements give a much better effect than their metal counterparts and other stuff that I can’t pretend to understand. The main thing I do understand is that they cost the thick end of a hundred quid for the proper, official ghd product.

There are cheaper ones out there, but they are either substandard products or outright ghd fakes made in China. The latter ones are the ones really to avoid because they are not only shoddily constructed but can be downright dangerous as they are prone to overheating.

So there you are… no iPad for me this week!

I’ve had to suffer the usual gibes such as why did you bother to go skiing before Christmas then, we have enough snow here! Well it’s true we have plenty of snow and it is always the uninitiated that seem to make these kinds of remark. Skiing down a hill is one thing, but getting up to the top is another and a few hundred metres is hardly the Alps! Understandably, for those that have not experienced Alpine skiing, they will be unaware that the runs down are usually several kilometres long and over very varied terrain. Getting to the top of the run can mean a ride in a cable car of perhaps ten minutes or so where you will have a selection or runs varying in difficulty from which you can choose. Alternatively it could be followed by one or two chairs further up the mountain to the even more runs down from top to bottom, or your favourite mountain restaurant for a gluhwein, wine usually red, combined with spices and served warm!

So how are you managing in the unusual winter weather that we are currently experiencing? It is a salutary fact that as we do not get snowy winters like this very often and most drivers have no idea how to cope with it! The last similar one to this was possibly 1982-3 which is nearly 30 years ago, how many of today’s drivers had a licence then? That winter about mid December, South West and Southern England saw around 12 inches of snow with. North East England getting 7 inches, with 6 foot drifts. By mid January, there was general snow, with a cover of 1-2 feet in parts.

1962-3 was considerably worse which really started on Boxing Day with blizzards in Southern England. London had 12 inches of drifting snow. January and February had widespread falls, especially Devon and North East England with 2 feet deep and the winter lasted until March.

But the “daddy” of them all was 1947, which according to records was probably the worst since 1814! It really began on the 22nd January when there was continuous snow cover from this date, right up till 17th March! Late January saw 7 inches of snow in South West England and the Scilly Isles, unheard of! Early February saw the turn of the Midlands and East Anglia, while Northern England, North Wales and Eastern Scotland saw snow in late February. In early March there was a blizzard in England and Wales, with up to 5ft accumulated snow. Remember nobody had mobile ‘phones then to call home and say that they might be late, you had to find a telephone box, ok if it was not covered in snow!

What a day to return home from sunny South Africa after my Christmas and New Year break! My overnight flight with BMI Alliance partner South African Airways arrived early at around 6.30, only to find that my onward flight to Leeds Bradford was delayed indefinitely due to weather conditions there. So it was Heathrow to Kings Cross and then the train to Leeds which was delayed on the stretch to Grantham. It’s great to be back!

With all the snow and the ensuing chaos that it is causing, I like thousands of others cannot get into work today and will have to try to sort out a programme that will result in something productive for my employer, which in my job in publishing may not be easy. The first thing that I shall have to do is reschedule my appointments, not just for today, as it will have a knock on effect for some days to come. I know it’s something that crops up every time we have some snow, but why cannot we deal with it the same was as they do in Europe? In fairness to the authorities they do a magnificent job in keeping the main arterial routes clear, but most of us have minor roads and housing estates that we must use to get to them and it is here that we find ourselves in trouble. If these winters continue, investing in snow tyres for the winter months has to be an option to consider, they are compulsory in Germany.

I am pleased that I delayed getting that new mobile ‘phone that I was considering before I went away to South Africa, imagine how I would have felt if I had gone for an IPhone or a Blackberry only to discover that search engine giant Google had launched their answer to these mobiles. The new Google Nexus One features a number of software and user interface niceties; perhaps the coolest one is the phone’s voice-to-text capability as well as a new Google Earth app for mobile with high resolution images of the earth which apparently look fantastic. We shall see.

I am going to visit a couple of friends who live and work in Cape Town, (lucky them) and so I shall be experiencing an entirely new style Christmas in southern Africa where the strangest thing for a northern European is that it will be not just warm but hot as well! I have been to the ‘Cape’ a few times in late November and early December and it’s a funny feeling to be dressed in shorts and a tee shirt, as you walk down the main thoroughfare in Cape Town. Here you see the whole area dressed in Christmas lights, Father Christmas being pulled by his reindeer depicted in lights above and across the road, with all the shops highly decorated, just like here in the UK with mock snow as part of the window dressing. When I asked if we would be having the usual Christmas turkey with all the trimmings, I was taken aback somewhat when I was told, “heck no, we shall be having a barbeque on the beach” they refer to it as a “brai” of course.

Well at least I am lucky going away to my chosen destination as I am flying to Cape Town with BMI. This is through their alliance partner South African Airways, I still get all the benefits that I would if it was a BMI flight and I get a free trip down to Heathrow for the onward journey. Not so lucky of course are the poor souls that have booked their long awaited holiday somewhere nice and are going with British Airways. It seems such a shame that the long suffering passengers are the ones that are affected in these disputes, and no matter what the rights or wrongs of the case may be, it seems a pity that these things cannot be settled without recourse to strike action. Of course I may still be affected as I understand that airport baggage handlers and check-in staff at Heathrow and Aberdeen airports are set to hold a series of 48-hour strikes in a row over pay, starting on 22 December, If this is the case I shall take hand luggage (shorts and tee shirts!) and buy any other essential items when there. Wherever you are spending Christmas, have a good one!