Women Bishops in the Church of England

Interesting article on the BBC News website re the Women Bishops debate http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-20423664 I hope that sooner rather than later we allow Women Bishops in the Church of England, making provision, if needed, for those who don't want to be under the ministry of a Women Bishop.

Nespresso Compatible Capsules

Great to see that the number of companies offering compatible capsules for the Nespresso system has increased. However with this brings the question, when making compatible capsules, do you aim to make a top quality capsule at roughly the same price as a Nespresso capsule, or do you go for the cheaper option, and make a capsule 50p or so cheaper than Nespresso, with the equivalent quality a cheaper capsule brings?

I recently bought some Nespresso compatible capsules that were about 20% cheaper than the Nespresso ones, and I guess I was swayed by the price, more than the quality, as having got towards the end of the first box of 10, I realised that the coffee quality was not as good as Nespresso. This proved to me that cheaper is not in this case just as good as the original Nespresso capsules.

Whilst I think it is good to have 1 or 2 brands of capsules that are sold in a supermarket chain, as this allows those who don't wish to order online, or visit a Nespresso boutique the chance to get capsules for their machine, I think these capsules have to be as good a Nespresso original, or not sold at all, otherwise it damages the Nespresso brand.

Andre Rieu Live in Masstricht

Watched a fantastic Cinema Live presentation of Andre Rieu, "Live in Maastricht 2012" last night. Great concert with some great songs and guest appearances. Seemed strange to watch Andre's orchestra performing the Smurf Song with Father Abraham one minute, and then perform Zorba's Dance with a Russian trio the next.

To round off the weekend I watched a DVD of last years concert in Maastricht - "Under The Stars, Live in Maastricht V" with more fantastic songs, including I Will Follow Him from Sister Act, Ravel's Bolero, Neussen Dorma. I bought this DVD in France, and it is a shame that it is not available in the UK.

I noticed on Amazon.co.uk today that "Songs From My Heart Live in Maastricht" (his first Maastricht concert on DVD) is being released on the 2nd of July for the first time in the UK (it has been available in Europe for quite a while), while at the same time it seems that a lot of Europe is getting a 6 DVD box set of all his Maastricht concerts that are available on DVD. It would be nice if all his latest releases were available in the UK - for example last November his new CD "And The Waltz Goes On" was released in the UK, while in the rest of Europe, they got the same CD, and the DVD "And The Waltz Goes On" filmed at a concert in Vienna. Perhaps I am asking too much to have everything available by Andre Rieu on CD/DVD available to the UK? Perhaps with Andre Rieu's popularity taking off in the UK in the last few years, Universal Music have decided to release some of his back catalogue, that hasn't previously been available to the UK, before latest releases.

Espresso Coffee Club

Found a new way to purchase coffee for my Nespresso machine - from the Espresso Coffee Club. They are a new online retailer of coffee pods that work in Nespresso machines, and they have 6 blends - Decafeinato, Lungo, Aromtico, Italiano, Milano and Forza Roma. Best of all these capsules now sell for £2.50, 50p cheaper than a sleeve of Nespresso Capsules and for each pack you purchase you get 10 points. Once you have 200 points you can get a free pack of capsules!

Received my 2nd order from them today, and along with the 4 boxes of capsules I ordered, I got a sample of each of their capsules to try, which is great as it will help me decide if any of the other coffees, besides the ones I ordered - Lungo and Milano -  are any good.

Hopefully once they start getting loads of customers, they increase the coffee blends they sell, and maybe sell other Nespresso accessories.

Daddy Cool Musical in Mallorca

Great to see that the Daddy Cool Musical is being performed on the holiday island of Mallorca this summer. Perhaps if this is successful it will return to the UK, as it is a great musical with a brilliant story line and some fantastic songs, such as Sunny, One Way Ticket, Be My Lover, I Can't Stand The Rain and Brown Girl In The Ring.

Fairtrade comes to Nespresso

Great to see that the Ethical Coffee Company has developed 2 new Fairtrade coffee for the Nespresso machine - Lungo and Inca Soave. It is about time that Fairtrade certification came to coffee for a coffee machine, as it means the coffee has produced to international Fairtrade standards, and the people growing the coffee have been paid a decent wage.

Only problem with these capsules is that they are not yet on sale throughout the whole of Europe, which is a shame, as I am sure that there are many Nespresso owners who would welcome the chance to purchase an Ethical capsule for their machines.

Hopefully the time will come when Nespresso switches to a more ethical way of obtaining coffee for it's capsules, perhaps even going as far as obtaining Fairtrade certification for them!

RunKeeper

Just joined a new website called RunKeeper that enables people to track their running, walking and cycling etc. to help them get fit. What's great is that there is a mobile app (which is free!), that uses GPS to track your workout, which is great as it works out how many calories you have burned, your average speed, distance walked or run etc. and a Google map of where you went.

Have already completed 4 fitness events, using RunKeeper and I must say that it is a great help to me and motivates me to keep going, as every 5 minutes it gives me a rough estimate of how well I am doing.

eBook Pricing

Click here for an interesting article on the price of eBooks. Hopefully the outcome of this American lawsuit changes the prices on eBooks for the better.

hanashi

This program from SonyEricsson is a great way to message your friends. It's rather like BlackBerry Messenger, but better, as it works on a wider variety of phones - Android, iPhone and older SonyEricsson models. Better still, if your friends don't have hanashi their SMS messages can appear in hanashi, and you can SMS them, making it an all in one message center.

What I really like about hanashi, is the ability to set a status message, display an avatar for yourself, see where your friends are on a map and send them voice message as well.


hanashi is free to download and sending message to your hanashi friends doesn't cost anything, it just just uses a few bytes of your mobile data allowance, which if you have a large allowance isn't going to be an impact at all.

The Emirates Air Line

Looking forward to going on this when it opens in the summer. It will be an interesting way to cross the River Thames, and I suspect that the views will be fantastic! Hopefully a TFL Travelcard will be valid on the service.

Kylie Minogue - Finer Feelings (Abbey Road Recording 2012)

This is a great recording from Kylie to celebrate 25 years in the music business. It's a shame it's not available for download on iTunes - if it was I would certainly want to purchase a copy to add to my music library!