The Good News Blog

I love the British sense of humour and irony, and this story caught my eye on the BBC:

All you don't want for Christmas
By Stephen Robb

A quick search on auction site eBay for the words "Christmas" and "unwanted" already brings up hundreds of results.

And with many eccentric relatives and limpet-like family friends only just departing this weekend, many more people will soon be online to rid themselves of undesirable Christmas tat.

"Grab a sick bag," warns the seller of what appears to be a small china ornament of two bright green pea-pod creatures.

"What uses do these have?" continues an unconventional sales pitch that has in four days generated one bid at the starting price of 99p.

Whether it is purely a reaction to their unwanted gift, or the result of "quality time" with family, Christmas spirit seems to have deserted the seller of a golf club brush set.

"Santa must have left this in error, I'll give him error when I get my hands on him," they write.

"Do people who play golf scrub their things then? The mind boggles." Not least at how such a specific gift was so wrongly directed.

Bidding up to £1.04 seems unlikely to offer a calming effect.

"Well I'm not sure what happened here," writes another seller, capturing the familiar bemusement at the most misjudged Christmas gifts.

"I'm a girl with absolutely no interest in cars whatsoever, can identify a Mini at a push, and yet someone gave me this as a Chrimbo pressie," she says.

The book by Jeremy Clarkson is being sold to free up shelf space "for some Serious Chick Lit", she says.

But Clarkson's Don't Stop Me Now has so far failed to get any bidders started, even priced at under £1.

Surprise

Meanwhile, a faithful recreation of the Christmas Day present-receiving experience can be secured on eBay with an unopened "secret Santa" gift.

"Remember I don't know what's in here as I don't want to open it to check," the seller writes.

Few clues are offered by the additional statement: "The gift measures about 20cm, tried shaking it, there's not a lot of movement."

Whether it delivers a delightful surprise or another unwanted Christmas present, at least buying on eBay requires no forced smile and fake gratitude.
Elsewhere, a seller is looking to cash in on the unpopularity among his loved ones of certain items from the traditional sweets tin.

Bidding for the "yummy gold-wrapped toffees" has reached a dizzying 55p, from a starting price of a penny.

But there is a warning of an additional £100 payable in dentistry fees after the sweets "yank out your fillings".

Pie buy

A lively debate has sprung up around the auction of a half-eaten mince pie, with queries about accompanying sauces, its metal container, and a possible swap for other vegetables.

Bidding has reached 6p for the pie portion, deliverable by the usual methods or "food fight", the seller advises.

There also appears to be a trend developing for eBay's use as a means of disposal for that most divisive of seasonal foods, Brussels sprouts.

One seller is hoping to sweeten the deal on four sprouts by throwing in some peas - precisely 83, in fact - a little gravy, and even the orange plate on which they were photographed.

The lack of bids for this item suggests that in the area of auctioned sprouts, less may be more.

Bidding has reached more than £15 for a lot comprising just two unwanted sprouts.

"Luckily for them, they stayed together with only each other as company, and despite them being quite upset, they would love a new home," the seller writes.

Excitement is building as the auction nears its end on 1 January.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/uk_news/7802144.stm

Published: 2008/12/28 16:16:19 GMT

Just to let you know that the poem I wrote in response to David's Credit Crunch Challenge has been put on the BBC website.

Here's a quick link

I am to be published! For full details see my poetry blog.

Thank you David

this is a great story about a cat that disappeared from home, and was reunited with its owners after 9 years, when it turned up disheveled and thin about 1 mile from where they lived. It had been microchipped, so could be identified

Incredible heh

full story here

Maybe this is not quite good news, but it ends well, and I have been rather neglecting this blog recently.

This story made me smile, about an elderly Swedish lady, who thought that the way to get on the plane was to climb onto the luggage belt with her case, which she did apparently.

Alls well that ends well - full story here

A newborn red panda rejected by its mother in Amsterdam's Artis zoo has been adopted by a domestic cat, the zoo said Friday.

The cat is nursing the red panda, currently about the size of a kitten, along with her own four kittens, the zoo said. The cat belongs to a keeper at the zoo, who decided to try this after the panda had initially been put in an incubator.

The red panda was born on June 30 and rejected by its mother soon afterwards. It will drink the milk from the cat for 3 weeks, and then move onto bamboo.
Red pandas look like raccoons and when fully grown are slightly larger than a domestic cat -- substantially smaller than the black and white giant panda.

"They are skilful climbers that, when not foraging on the ground, spend most of their time in the trees curled up with their long, bushy tails wrapped around their heads," the World Wildlife Fund conservation charity said on its website.

Well today is International Kissing Day - now that's what I call good news!

Have a lovely day!

And about time too!

Read the full article click here

I have just discovered a new search engine

Everyclick.com works just like any other search engine, but allows the users to choose the charity they would like to benefit from their searching. The revenue generated for charities comes from companies that advertise on the site. There is no sign up fee or hidden charge to the user or the charity, it’s free giving.
Charities of all sizes are benefiting from this new fundraising service, they range from Cancer Research to small village schools. If 10% of the UK online population used Everyclick.com for their searches, an additional £172,000 would be raised for charity every day.
“Most of us wish we could give more, now we can. Everyclick is a really simple way to raise money for free, just by doing something you already do” said Polly Gowers CEO, co- founder and winner of the WEBA Ethical Entrepreneur of the year 2007. “As we see it, every search that is not raising money for charity is a search wasted.”
Everyclick.com has raised hundreds of thousands of pounds for charity, please see the website for an up-to-date total

click on the logo below: