The good old M6 toll, just how much money would 1 man (or women) spend, to avoid the hustle and bustle of junctions 12 to 4 on the M6.

Now I am not sure when the M6 toll was introduced, 14th December 2003 (thanks Google), but I do know with friends and family in and around the Essex and Leyton area that I have spent definitely hundreds (not sure it runs into 4 figures) on the toll booths and handing my debit cards into the pay machine.

It comes down to this: option 1) £11.00 on a return journey and sit doing 70MPH with next to no traffic in my way and reduce my journey by 20 minutes for sure or option 2) NO COST, but sit in the M6 fast lane doing approx. 0-10 MPH for up to an hour feeling like Michael Douglas in “Falling Down” –

Option 1 wins 8 days a week in my eyes, as to how much I will pay for this luxury only time will tell, but knowing our government TIME WILL TELL.

I don’t claim to be a hotel connoisseur well maybe a little bit, having travelled the UK playing squash since the age of about 9, I have stayed in my fair share – however a few of my favourites have been found more by luck than judgement.

If you are ever in Chester I recommend staying at The Mill Hotel, ideally located on the edge of the river with the bar leading out and barges passing regularly, there is no better hotel when the weather is nice to sit out and relax with a lager, wine or maybe even the wife.

In London I always stay at the Grange in Tower Hill – look carefully for some great rates for a five star hotel that has it all.

The hotel boasts lovely rooms, great leisure facilities and good bars and restaurants in a great location with some amazing Tower of London views available for selected rooms.

In my eyes cycling has got to be the most therapeutic pastime around. Forgive me I have never got into Fishing which, I suspect, can be relaxing (personally I deem it boring) but there is nothing better than cycling.

Living near Manchester the countryside is not on my doorstep but through Poynton, Goyt Valley and Adlington all provide me with the opportunity to cycle around fields, country lanes and scenery that I don’t think I would appreciate behind the wheel of my Audi A3.

Whether it be early morning, after work, weekends or on my days off waiting for friends and family to arrive from London, I truly find a couple of hours on my bike is the perfect way to start or end a day.

Winning at Sun Bingo online is a really exciting experience. There’s something really fun about feeling as though luck is on your side, finally following up its promise with some cold, hard cash. However, you have to have something to spend your windfall on.

It seems to make more sense to use your winnings for fun, because you often need a treat to have a better time of things. You could spend your winnings on a night out if you’ve not had one for a while. A nice restaurant or a nice bar and some drinks in town is a really good way of making the most of your winnings in a positive way.

You could go on a bit of a shopping trip, treating yourself to a new outfit or a couple of new gadgets you’ve wanted for a while.

Another option is to spend your winnings on other people. If you have children or grandchildren, then it’s nice to be able to buy them something or offer them a bit of pocket money. You could even take them out for the day to do something fun with your extra cash.

With such a large proportion of the population struggling to make ends meet at the moment, the UK National Lottery is as popular as it’s ever been, as more and more people are filling out those lottery tickets, keeping their fingers crossed and hoping that their funds will be treated to a boost.

When the National Lottery first made an appearance, the public could enjoy one draw per week. As the lottery became more and more of a success though, the number of draws and options increased, and nowadays there is plenty of choice. This means that you don’t just have to restrict yourself to playing just once a week.

What many lottery lovers still don’t realise though, is that they are simply restricted to placing their bets on draws here in the UK, as there is plenty more choice out there. The lottery isn’t just a UK phenomenon, and countries all over the world have their very own versions, and even when you live hundreds of thousands of miles away you can still take part.

Canada, Brazil and America all have some great lotteries which are well worth playing, and one plus-point with the American lotteries is that they’re held by state- which means even more choice and even more chance to get your hands on a few (or maybe even a lot of) extra pennies.

In light of these new revelations, you may well be wondering how on earth you can take part in overseas lotteries considering you can’t exactly pop to the local shop to make a purchase. This really isn’t a problem though, as you can quickly and easily buy lottery tickets online, and you can also check lottery results online too.

So, whether you play for fun or play to try and win, there’s certainly no reason why you just have to play in the UK. Spreading your wings and playing other lotteries can really add to excitement levels too- so why not step your lottery playing up a little and perhaps even step up your chances of winning?!

Check out the Alottery.com web site if you are looking to buy lottery tickets or find the latest lottery results.

With Christmas just around the corner it is best to be as ready as possible. Yes, this does means the annual trip to go and get the tree, then bring the decorations down from the loft and start to make the home look as festive as possible.

And while the cold weather has not set in just yet – I may be speaking too soon – you can be sure there will be that to contend with too. So this may be the ideal opportunity to get your car serviced and ensure your central heating is in tip-top condition to avoid any mishaps like a boiler break-down.

Then, of course, there is the Christmas presents. I’m sure people have been hinting to you already about what they would ideally like to open on Christmas morning. As you are probably only too aware, the mad Christmas rush to the shops is best to be avoided. Get ordering those gifts in online or plan your shopping expeditions well in advance.

Finally, you need to get all your Christmas cards sorted for friends and family. It is always wise to fill them out early and in plenty of time, as you will most likely have lots of other things to do in December anyway.

In the past six months a few of my friends have been losing a lot of hair or hair colour it must because we are all getting to that age how can we stop it is actually the thing this is something we can’t start we can just hide so I have looked at being secrets out of the Christmas and buying everyone funny wigs for Christmas or hats I am not sure how this will go down okay how it’s Christmas anyway.

I recently had to buy my girlfriend and a new pair of shoes she was very disappointed with the colour I took them back to the shop and exchange them for a different colour and she was still unhappy in and I took her to the shop she then chose her own issues which incidentally were the same colour that I had previously bought on the first occasion how strange.

Recently I have had a really sweet tooth and living in Macclesfield there are various options as it has over 50 cafes.

The things is I’m very lazy and I wanted someone to bring me a sweet delight so I went onto google and typed in “cakes Macclesfield” and found a delightful little site cake called Becky’s Home Baked Cakes. The site is easy to use and allows you to pay via pay-pal, the lady which I’m guessing is Becky, will bake the cakes and do a fresh delivery either the same day or the next day dependent on which cake it is, due to setting times and baking restrictions.

If you fancy a nice treat and your based in Cheshire I can confidently recommend it.

Wimbledon is getting exciting day by day. With Andy Murray getting better and better, Britain can hope that he gets into top list soon. BBC is broadcasting Wimbledon from last few years and with BBC i Player, you can watch live game virtually anywhere. All you need is an internet connection. Last few finals have been absolutely brilliant and we hope that with more experience new players can make it more interesting. Increasing interest has made tickets expensive too. To view a Wimbledon final match, can cost you anywhere between £1000 to £3000. However, you can get tickets cheaper if you buy it 5 -6 months in advance.