One of my good female friends told me the other day that she was thinking of joining an online dating site. I didn’t know what to say at first, as I have never thought of it before (obviously being happily married!), but fair play to her for making the effort and wanting to meet new people.

I was thinking of giving her some advice, so searched a little on the internet for a little while and came up with five top tips for online dating. I hope this will also help some of you contemplating joining the online dating scene:

1.    Pick the right service. Do you prefer a free service like Flirtbox or paid subscription like Dating Direct? Is your emphasis on general dating (Match.com) or do you want something more long-term relationship-oriented (www.parship.co.uk)? Sites vary, as does the clientele they attract, so it’s important to know what you’re looking for.

2.    Build a winning profile. Your profile is one of the two main elements that will determine the success of your online dating experience, so make the effort to create one that will stand out from the crowd. Keep it dynamic, keep it honest, and keep it fun.

3.    Select the right photo. The photo is the other primary element of success, so put some thought and effort into selecting the right one. It should be current and clear. With competition on these sites increasing, the days of “any old generic photo” are long since past.

4.    Learn effective written communication. As a writer, I can’t emphasise enough how much what you write and how you write it says about you.  Little things like capitalisation and spelling, bigger things like personalising your email and drawing a person out with questions. Take time to learn a few good communication techniques and use them!

5.    Be honest. Let’s face it, if you do meet that Mr or Ms Right and you’ve been fibbing, you’re going to get found out – and lose the guy/girl in the process. So, don’t do it. Post recent photos and tell the truth about age, income, job, etc.

Facing up to the wreckage inflicted on your garden by this year’s hard winter can feel like a major property development project. But, with a little planning and hard work, you won’t need architects or landscape gardeners to redesign it. It’s good, healthy outdoor work, which should make a change from all that indoor building, painting, decorating and plastering for all DIY project aficionados.

Begin by taking stock of just what damage has been done. A first job is to get rid of what’s beyond repair – have a good clear out of all the plants murdered by the cold and pick up all the broken branches littering the lawn. Next, whether you use a rake or a blower, tackle all those piled up leaves and bits of litter – everything looks hugely better after these have gone. If you set the lawnmower blades high, it’ll act as a kind of vacuum cleaner as well as giving a light trim.

Hardy evergreens can also be pruned now, which will spruce them up and make them look much less tatty. Also, tackle those garden climbers – thin them out, and fix any damage to the support structures caused by the high winds and deep freezes.

Start planting now – anything from shrubs, hedging plants, trees, roses and climbers can go into the ground now, and the earth won’t be so water-saturated or frozen, making the work a lot lighter. You could even try planting something to eat later – try shallots or garlic. Painting the garden shed will give your garden a clean look, as well as tidying the garden: it may not hasten Spring, but it’ll put a spring in your step.

In my line of work I am always travelling to different parts of the UK doing surveys and whatnot and need to be in contact with the office regularly. Although hotels that I stay in and some public transport now have Wi-Fi connections for internet access, I find them quite slow or you have to get a code and set up a new wireless access point on your laptop which loses you precious time.

I have decided to get myself a mobile broadband package as they seem to have come on leaps and bounds since there first introduction and could help me to stay connected with the minimum of fuss when I’m away on business.

I looked at a few broadband comparison sites and settled for one of the most popular mobile broadband packages, Virgin Mobile broadband. It gives a speed of up to 7.2Mbps, 3GB download limit and costs just £5 for the first three months and £15 thereafter.

The USB Modem also features a microSD card slot capable of holding cards up to 4GB, which will be handy when transferring files from my laptop to my office computer. I can also use it when I’m out in the garden as my home wireless system doesn’t have good strength.

Can’t wait to get it delivered and try it out, I will do a full review when I have played with it for a few days.

Well I’ve just had a quick read of the sun and it says that UK airports will open again tomorrow so that means that UK Airspace is good to go.

This has all been brought about because of the Volcano erupting over in Iceland. Over 24,000 flights have been cancelled. It’s claimed that disruptions could continue for months as eruptions could happen on and off for a while to come.
I can see it erupting again before the end of the month, which means more delays so I best get a holiday booked soon lol.

I can’t believe that all the UK airports have been closed for days but they are due to open on Tuesday, it’s said that only a skeleton service will run and a see how it goes scheme is underway.

It’s unlikely that I’ll get any of my flights to London booked as I need to go and visit some family ASAP, as I haven’t seen them for a few years and I hate driving that far. arghhh

Summer is coming and it’s time to start buying some more summer clothes, but where to start? I’m not really a fan of shopping as I’ve said before, so decided to do my shopping online (yes I am a lazy git!).

I’m also not too keen on having a random logo or phrase blasted on the front of my t-shirts as people always ask me what it says or means to which I say “I don’t know”, so am looking for a good range of plain t-shirts to add to what my wife calls my bland wardrobe.

Doing a quick search of the high street stores websites does give a few options for me and the Republic.co.uk website seems to have the best choice and price, so I have ordered a few bits from there. The t-shirts were 2 for £10, so I ordered four different colours and a pair of shorts for £20, for this price you can’t go wrong.

I just hope we have a decent summer this year so I can wear it all!