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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.