Blackpool is worth a look

THIS year many people are deciding to spend their Summer holiday in this country in a bid to save money.

So it is good to see that Blackpool has come up with a good advert on YouTube to try and encourage more people to visit the town.

At first in the advert you think you are watching something about Paris as the trailer has a French actress and shots show iron towers, but by the end you realise the subject is Blackpool.

Ok, so Blackpool does have its negative aspects such as it is used by many people for drunken nights out. However it has many good attractions too.

I have many happy memories of visiting Blackpool with family and friends. Blackpool Pleasure Beach has some truly scary rides.

I can first remember going on the Pepsi Max Big One and being petrified as the carriage was pulled hundreds of feet into the sky and then dropped almost vertically. It didn't help that the week before we went on the ride it had broken down at the very top.

Another good rollercoaster is the Grand National, where you race an opposing carriage.

I have other happy memories of visits to the Sandcastle, which had a wave machine and water slides.

One musn't forget too the Blackpool illuminations, taking a car ride as a child down Blackpool promenade to see the illuminations is like entering another world.

Maybe Blackpool doesn't have the weather of a Mediterranean resort, but it does have plenty to provide hours of fun and entertainment.

Slow down

AN interesting group has started called the Slow Movement.

They recently held The Slow Down London festival with activities such as walking as slowly as possible across Waterloo Bridge. They contrasted with the businessmen running to their trains.

The idea behind the movement is to encourage people to stand away from the fast pace of modern life and take stock of what they are doing.

The “slow” in the movement does not mean we have to move at a snail's pace, but the ethos is that we enjoy what we do and don't try and cram too much into the day and by doing this miss the best bits.

Other activities during the festival included: wine tastings, orchestral performances, and yoga workshops.

Organisers were trying to emphasise the point that you don't have to live in the countryside to “live slow.”

Meanwhile, I wasn't the lucky person who bought the winning Euro Millions ticket.

That honour went to someone in Spain, who by having the numbers 4, 23, 24, 29, 31, and lucky stars 8 and 9, picked up £110m.

If that ticket was bought by one single person, then they would become the world's biggest lottery jackpot winner.

The last highest lottery win was in Italy in October 2008 when someone scooped £81m playing Superenalotto.

Just by keeping the £110m in the bank you would receive an estimated £1,959 in interest a day.

So near, yet so far

I must have had two numbers in the National Lottery Saturday draw now for at least the last three weeks.

It is like getting so far in a sporting competition and then just missing out.
Just as you get nothing for coming second in sport, you pick up nothing for two numbers in the National Lottery.

I have always thought £10 for three numbers is too little, though it must be about time that they looked again at the prize fund.

£50 for three numbers would be more like it, with maybe £5 for two numbers and less for the jackpot.

Meanwhile, I have a lot of respect for those people that take part in the London Marathon.
It is a gruelling 26.2 mile street race around the streets of London.

Amazingly the race started only in 1981, and since then 711,260 people have taken part.

In the early days about 7,000 people took part, but now as many as 46,500 compete in the race.

Moving on I want to see the new film State of Play.

It has a good cast in Helen Mirren, Ben Affleck and Russell Crowe and from what I have read about the plot, it sounds like a good story.

New films wanted

Film bosses are turning to old favourites for ideas to reduce risks in the recession.

This year films such as: The Karate Kid, Robocop, Highlander and The Never Ending Story, are to be remade.

I think original films are often the best though, and remakes inferior.

For example the remade The Italian Job hardly compared with the 1960s classic of the same name, which starred Sir Michael Caine.

What about the remake of Psycho? You don't see that in lists of classic films do you?

Critics have said film studio bosses are running out of ideas, however they have defended the decision pointing out good movies are good stories and can be told over and over again.

One film I would like to see though is the planned new film version of Graham Greene's Brighton Rock.

Meanwhile, I didn't think Kenny Perry was going to win The Masters, he came very close though.

For me the most exciting part of the event was the charges made by Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson. You could almost feel the electricity coming of that group.

Angel Cabrera was a worthy winner though.

Hot tea risk

It was worrying to read the reports last week that drinking boiling hot tea increases the risk of oesophageal cancer by the likelihood of eight times.

Experts are asking people to make sure they have allowed their cup of tea to stand for four minutes before drinking it.

Oesophageal cancer is a disease which is found in the tube connecting the throat to the stomach, and it kills over 500,000 people worldwide each year.

The most prevalent type is called Oesophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma (OSCC), and it mostly occurs in people who smoke and drink alcohol, but drinking hot drinks may also be a cause.

The British Medical Journal reported the study, which was undertaken in Northern Iran.

Meanwhile, what an amazing win for Jenson Button in the Australian Grand Prix at Melbourne.

Button has been in F1 for years and never seemed to have reached his full potential.

Everyone seemed to forget about him when Lewis Hamilton came along.

You also have to applaud the work of Ross Brawn at the team. Brawn was the mastermind behind Schumacher's seven world titles at two separate teams.

It will be interesting to see though if the authorities allow Button's car to keep the same aerodynamics.

Clcoks go forward

Don't forget to put your clocks forward next weekend for the start of British Summer Time.

Although we will lose an hour's sleep in bed, it won't get darker till later and the extra hours of daylight will mean we will able to enjoy more outside activities.

The run up to Midsummer day is my favourite time of the year, because after that date you feel the nights are drawing in and when you get to the end of August you begin to think that Autumn is on its way.

There is nothing better than leaving work while it is still light and walking to the car in the daylight.

Another added bonus is the lighter mornings.

Meanwhile, it seems the credit crunch has even had an impact on this year's Apprentice, which starts on Wednesday.

In the fifth series the international task – where contestants go to foreign countries such as Marrakech and France – has been axed.

Also the task where a team has to sell a foreign item in this country has been changed to a number of “Buy British” tasks.

This year the show will start with eight female and seven males candidates, one male has already dropped out.

The programme will be on our screens for the next 12 weeks.

Without seeing the people on the screen it is hard to see which of them will stand out, but reading what they have said in the paper I think Kate Walsh and Ben Clarke may have the biggest attitudes.

The Apprentice is back

The Apprentice Series 5 is to start on Wednesday, March 25.

Those who couldn't wait were able to catch Comic Relief Does The Apprentice last week.

I found the celebrities on the show irritating. Why is it every time we turn on the TV we are greeted with Jonathan Ross? The show, I think, did not have the same appeal as the real series, and lacked the tension.

It does not seem like a year ago that Lee McQueen was the surprise winner of series four, with the runner-up being Claire Young. Helene Speight and Alex Wotherspoon were in the final.

I missed the first series, but have been hooked since series two. As the weeks go by you get to know the contestants on the show and see the scheming unfold as the people try to assert their authority and ideas.

Some people are brilliant at certain tasks, but then are useless when asked to do something else.

The winners normally are tough and are steely.

My favourite part of the show is the tasks that the teams take part in. It is always difficult trying to guess who is going to win.

It was amusing one year when one of the teams tried, very unsuccessfully, to sell cheap English cheese to the French.

So, who will be Sir Alan Sugar's Apprentice of 2009?