The Weak, Collapsing Pound against the Euro and Dollar.

As recession bites deeper into the United Kingdom, our usually strong pound has recently been derided as a “Peso Pound” abroad.

At the time of writing, a pound is worth $1-44, One Euro or Forty-One Russian Rubles. A collapse of over 25% in just a few short months.

Anybody with a second home in Europe or the USA, who did not stack ample cash reserves in those currencies already, will already be feeling the pain in the form of increased sterling equivalents when paying their Euro or Dollar denominated mortgages.

Anybody in the Euro zone or the USA who receives income in £ sterling will be similarly reeling, as are holidaymakers and importers.… Click here to continue reading this article

Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors

Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors Face Bleak Midwinter

Depositors in Landsbanki Guernsey face a desperately bleak Christmas, with no prospect of the full return of their savings following the collapse of Landsbanki Guernsey on 6 October 2008.

The Landsbanki Guernsey Depositors Action Group (LGDAG), which [claims to] represent the 2,033 depositors from the collapsed Icelandic bank (although someit purposely excludes), have expressed extreme disappointment that the Governments of Guernsey, Iceland and the UK have been unable to find a solution to ensure the return of their savings, leaving many depositors facing an uncertain future this Christmas.… Click here to continue reading this article

£27k 2000 Mercedes S Class -v- £550 Volvo 960 Estate

Mercedes S-Class Blues

 

A Readers Experience With A £27000 Mercedes S-Class Versus a £550 Volvo

 

I Bought a Mercedes S320 S-Class Year 2000 W Plate around eighteen months ago, it was a one owner fully dealer maintained car sporting a mere 42000 miles, midnight blue metallic, mushroom leather, CD, Sat Nav etc. A top spec Car. The first owner had upgraded to a new AMG model and I had the opportunity of purchasing his car direct from him affording him the advantage of no part exchange. The car had been meticulously maintained by him from new, only MB dealers and approved specialists had ever laid a spanner on the car, it seemed a wonderful purchase at £27000 rather than the going rate of around £30000 elsewhere for the same car.… Click here to continue reading this article

UK Recession Overview

A recession or a depression does not happen overnight. You do not go to sleep one night feeling affluent, and wake up the next day inexplicably impecunious. It takes time for the economy to get over inflated, reach a peak, and then begin the slide downwards. How far it slides, and for how long, dictates whether the down wave is called a downturn, recession or a depression.

The government is fond of using other euphemisms to stop the spread of panic. “Business contractions”, “periods of stagflation”, “credit crunch”, “extended seasonal slumps”, “market corrections” and “rolling adjustments” are all fine examples of political doublespeak that all mean pretty much the same thing to you and me.… Click here to continue reading this article

microsoft critical update spam from wchurl.info

A major blog spam robot hit the “comment” box automatically on millions of blogs last night all around the world. 

The text of the comment was as follows: Just wanted to pass some info along about a microsoft critical update that was in the news a couple days ago, you can google for info or I have provided a link below. I was sitting on my couch looking at my computer screen and noticed my mouse moving around and became irate, you guys be careful.

Naturally, there is no “critical update” and internet security specialists are advising that recipients DO NOT click on the links given.… Click here to continue reading this article

Visit to a Russian Girl in Penza, Russia.

One day before Miss Penza and I had a very strong discussion and fight in a 3 way call with the help of Ladagirl I did not know if she would be there at the airport in Penza or not, but I decided to go anyway.

Flight from Mexico City to Madrid took around 11 hours, later I waited at Barajas airport more time and the flight to Moscow with Iberia was delayed around 5 hours….. finally I arrive to Moscow with 5 hours of delay….. the guy at Russian customs was taking all the time in the world to check the visas and passports… after customs one guy had my name on a card he was the contact from the travel agency he spoke English and told me to hurry because the flight to Penza was about to leave……..… Click here to continue reading this article

I wanna be a Rockstar song by Nickelback

Have you heard the song all over the radio? “I wanna be a Rock Star”. Who is it by? It’s by a group called Nickelback. 

What I find particularly irritating is that most of the Radio stations are censoring words from the lyrics. So you are here probably to find out who sung it (you know that now), what are the missing censored words and where you can get it? 

Doesn’t it just piss you off totally when radio stations censor words from songs? Who are these guys, the word Police?… Click here to continue reading this article

How to ping Google, Yahoo and Ask

Pinging is a way to inform Google, Yahoo and Ask of site updates.  Many webmaster forums are informing people that it is not possible to “ping” Google and other engines. They are wrong – it is. 

Pinging search engines is something often done after you have updated your XML sitemap. Before you can send XML sitemap ping update notifications to search engines such as Google, you will usually have to submit the XML sitemap to them first through your webmaster Google account. 

Having done that, all you need to do is go ping them.… Click here to continue reading this article

Cheryl Cole from the X Factor – Thin or Slim? The media outcry!

The delicious X Factor darling Cheryl Cole has been hauled over the media coals again this week. This time it is alleged that she is too slim. In fact, more than that, her detractors accuse her of being “emaciated like she was about to snap at any minute”.

An overweight feminist hack in the Mail on Sunday managed to rant on for the best part of a page about how thin Cheryl has become, if she has had implants or not, and wait for it…….. you could see the outline of the odd bone!… Click here to continue reading this article

Landsbanki Guernsey Crisis – UK Government cover up and pressure to close protest websites.

Thousands of British savers with Landsbanki Guernsey may not get their money back, it emerged recently.

The bank, a subsidiary of Icelandic bank Landsbanki, which has been taken over by the Icelandic Financial Services Authority, did offer some of the best rates on offshore savings accounts. But now savers in both the UK and the Channel Islands are unable to access their money.

There is no deposit protection scheme in Guernsey, and Landsbanki Guernsey is not covered by either the UK’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), or Iceland’s protection scheme, because it is registered in Guernsey.… Click here to continue reading this article

Canadian to Odessa, Ukraine, to meet a Former Soviet Union lady

This is how it all started……….

In the fall of 2001 I was given a laptop and after knowing what little I knew about the internet, I spent my time looking at porn, HEY! It was easy to find!

Then one day I came across and FSU date site, I was looking for some eastern nudes, but I did manage to find my first FSU dating site this way.  I was stunned by the beautiful girls, and even more bewildered to think how it was even possible that they had no guy in their life.… Click here to continue reading this article

A Drive from UK to Estonia via Poland, Lithuania & Latvia

I am driving to our pad in Estonia with a spare car to leave there and a van full of furniture leaving Friday 13th. 

I will have a pal of mine in tow who likes the idea of Eastern European women, who wants to see some in their natural habitat en route. 

After our side of Europe, this little sojourn will be taking us through Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and the whole length of Estonia. (Going around Kaliningrad as you cant go through there without a transit visa)

So here is the route……..… Click here to continue reading this article

A trip to Kiev to see a Ukrainian girl and fun at Frankfurt and Borispol airports

Day 1: Goddamned Germans stole my booze.

The majority of my flight was unremarkable, until I got to Frankfurt. There things took a turn for the worse.

I bought a bottle of Patron silver at the duty-free shop in DC, thinking to bring a bit of Hispanic culture to Kiev. Naturally, I didn’t have a chance t pack it in my checked luggage, so I brought it as a carry-on. When I arrived at Frankfurt, I had about an hour to get to the far end of the airport and make my flight.… Click here to continue reading this article

First Trip to Nikolaev, Ukraine

After a very disappointing few months with eHarmony (oh the shallow women!!!), I decided to make the plunge into the FSU forum of opportunity.  A month of investigation and I ended up with my profile on Elena’s, Anastasia, AFA, TAU2, and a few others.  I chose about a dozen women from these sites and prepared a lengthy letter of introduction and had it professionally translated ($120 for the 5 pages).  I am aware of the discussion on this topic (introduction letter length), and have to say that, what will work for one, may not work for another. … Click here to continue reading this article

VOIP Skype, How Good is Skype?

Nowadays I use Skype – they have made great advances in terms of quality and are able to offer ‘business class’ quality connections almost all the time.

However the real reason for the change from another provider was not quality but because Skype is not just a cheap phone call provider but rather an integrated communications system.

This may not be overly important to the ardent swain who wants the cheapest way to hear the voice of his imagined best beloved in some remote corner of a muddy place,  but I can do lots of fun stuff with Skype.… Click here to continue reading this article

Trip to Berdyansk, Ukraine and K-1 Interview in Kiev

I am visiting a city that I have not found any trip reports on, Berdyansk, Ukraine. It is located on the sea of Azov in between Melitopol and Mariopol. I am going down to join my fiancée for a few days and then we will go to Kiev for her K-1 interview and spend some more time in Kiev.

I have not been able to find a lot of information on Berdyansk. Not a great tourist destination for Westerners.  But having talked about the city with N through 2 summers now, I know its beaches are a destination for many Ukrainians and Russians during the summer.… Click here to continue reading this article

A Trip to Samara, Russia to Meet a Russian Girl

I decided to use frequent flyer miles for a trip to Russia in June. The only days that were available included the maiden voyage of Delta flight 46 from Atlanta to Moscow nonstop on June 1st. I used Infinity.ru to book the tickets for Samara – $120 roundtrip.

Like most Americans, the amount of vacation time I have is small; I only get 96 hours a year for vacation (10 days + 2 floating holidays). To augment my time off, I decide to lie to my employer and call in sick the day before my vacation time at work officially starts.… Click here to continue reading this article

Who is The Stig on Top Gear?

A question asked all over the internet is the identity of the Stig. Here on the Real Deal we can give you the lowdown as usual.

The reason they have been able to keep it such a closely guarded secret is because there have been more than one. There have been two official Stig’s on the show, while various other Stig’s have made appearances for particular episodes. The whole point of the Stig character is that Top Gear can use who is available at the time without explaining the changes.

The Stig is sometimes just the best driver available when Top Gear need a car testing.… Click here to continue reading this article