Fifth of parents aged 50+ have visited children living or holidaying abroad Parents aged over-65 most likely to ‘gatecrash’ their child’s gap year or holiday Post Office Travel Insurance extends its annual multi-trip insurance policy to the over-65s.

With many young adults expected to take a gap year to avoid the credit crunch, research from Post Office Travel Insurance reveals they could be receiving some unexpected guests. A fifth of parents (21 per cent) aged50+ with children that have lived or holidayed abroad, said they had visited their child to broaden their own horizons.
Most intrepid are those parents aged over-65 with almost half (48 per cent) admitting to ‘gate crashing’ their child’s gap year or holiday.

With economising at the heart of many travellers’ plans at present, one in five (19 per cent) of people from all age groups said they plan to holiday with friends and family abroad this year. Once again it is the over-65’s who form one of the biggest groups – 32 per cent said they have already taken advantage of a family member living abroad or in the UK, or plan to so later this year.

Despite their willingness to travel, it’s not always easy for over-65s to get travel insurance, with many providers simply not offering policies to this age group. The Post Office’s research reveals that 14 per cent of those aged 65+ have struggled to get insurance in the past. To make life easier, the Post Office has recently extended its annual, multi-trip insurance policy to cater for over-65s.

Rachel Croft, Post Office head of travel insurance, said: “Many children may use their gap year as a chance to get away from their parents, only to find mum and dad have plans of their own to tag along! For parents, being able to stay with their child whilst they are living abroad means they can holiday for less, but often leads to them travelling to new places and holidaying for longer, making it even more important to have adequate travel insurance in place.

“We understand that finding affordable travel insurance can prove difficult for older travellers and can lead to people having to take out policies that impose high costs or heavy stipulations, which is why we are extending our multi-annual travel insurance policy to the over- 65s.“We hope this move will signal the end for seniors to have to buy expensive single trip policies every time they go on holiday. Instead they can now buy one simple policy to cover all their trips for the year, including trips to stay with children living abroad on gap years.”

Issued by Post Office Ltd:0207 250 2468100 Victoria EmbankmentLondonEC4Y 0HQ www.postoffice.co.uk

Notes to Editors
All figures are from Yogi Plc. Total sample size was 2024 adults. Fieldwork was undertaken between 3rd – 6th July 2009. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all UK adults (aged 18+).

About Post Office Travel Services: The Post Office offers single trip policies (no upper age limit and cover available for a maximum of 90 days) and annual multi-trip policies (age limit 74 years). A range of great value extras is also available, including extended baggage, excess waiver and golf cover. The annual multi-trip policy provides cover for any number of trips in a 12-monthperiod, up to a maximum of 31 days’ per trip. The Post Office was voted Best Travel Insurance Company for the third year in a row at the 2008British Travel Awards.
The Post Office is also the UK’s largest bureau de change provider offering over 70 different currencies with 0 per cent commission on all foreign currency and travellers’ cheques. The Post Office pre-paid Travel Money Card offers customers a secure and convenient way to carry their holiday money and the Post Office Credit Card is one of the few to offer 0 per cent commission on overseas purchases,
The Post Office also provides a range of other great value travel services including EHIC forms, passport check and send service and photos and international money transfers.
About Fortis: Fortis Insurance Limited is a leading provider of award-winning personal and commercial lines insurance solutions in the UK. As the fourth largest travel insurer in the UK, insuring in the region of 3 million travellers, Fortis boasts a highly skilled team who on hand 24/7/365 days a year, to provide the very best service to their travel insurance policyholders. Over nearly 30 years Forties’ Assistance International and its team of multi-lingual staff have built an enviable and solid base of experience in managing a network of agents worldwide. Forties is consistently recognised for delivering high-quality customer experiences and links quality of service to speed of settlement. Fortis Insurance Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

Tags: British Gas, Gap year, Holiday, Holiday Activities, The Post Office, Travel, Travel Insurance

Right, the question how to temporarily remove a radiator for decorating is vexing for all those who know that it’s best to paint in all those difficult spots, no matter how tricky, to do a good job.

And painting behind the radiator should not be that hard, if you follow a few simple steps.

Firstly, get together all the gear you will need. First up you will need a good screwdriver and spanner. Then get yourself a jug, large bowl and some old rags. Now you are all set.

Now, before you start, remember that the water inside the radiator is horrible stuff. It’s black and something you don’t want to get on your best Axminster shag-pile. So, either roll it back out of harm’s way, or cover it completely with an old towel, or cloth.

Rights, lets start. Shut off both valves at either end of the radiator. These should turn clockwise without too much pressure. If you can’t shift them with your hands, then try the spanner; although a word of warning. If they won’t budge, don’t try the Arnold Schwarzenegger routine, as too much pressure could buckle the pipe leading to the valve and cause a major leak, which will drain your central heating system all over your floor. It may be that the valve is a bit gunged up and some loosening fluid might be the answer. But, just take care at this stage unless you want to have to call the emergency plumber.

And don’t forget, as you close the valve (clockwise), remember the number of turns it takes to turn it off; as you will need to make the same number of turns (anti-clockwise) to turn it fully on.

Next, you need to unscrew the cap-nut that holds the valve attached to the radiator adapter. Get your jug and place it under the joint. You then can bleed the valve slowly into the jug, making sure all the water is fully drained out.

Do the same with the other valve (all the water should have gone, but keep the jug underneath in case it hasn’t), then you should be able to lift the radiator straight off its brackets and away from the wall. Beware at all times that there may be water, or sludge hanging about in the bottom of the radiator, so don’t lift it about too much, or take it anywhere where a spillage might cause problems. Have the bowl close to hand.

You might want to unscrew the brackets if you’re going to do a thorough job, but also you should make a note of the existing holes, so that you can replace them easily enough. Also, you might have to do a little remedial work, as often taking the bracket off can cause a problem with the plaster and re-drilling the holes could be tricky.

Okay, so let’s assume you’ve got the radiator off okay, you’ve decorated it, and now it’s time to re-hang it. You screw the brackets back in place, re-hang the radiator, then tighten the valve nuts on both valves, and remember to close the bleed valve.

Finally, open valves with care and check that everything has gone back in place properly. Also check for any water leaks, which might just need a readjustment of the valve. Also, make sure you bleed the radiator, as air will have entered the system.

And there you have it, a decorating job well done

Tags: Boiler Replacement, Combination Boiler, Condensing Boiler, Decorating, Radiator

This not about chocolate Easter Eggs that might explode at any minute, this is about a piece of code (or something unexpected) that is deliberately hidden by its creator within software, a game, a film, or a soundtrack, as a source of amusement.

It was said to have originated with early computer code programmers who would surprise their colleagues with weird messages, or events, set to occur at certain times. The term was coined after the pastime of hunt the Easter Egg.

There are examples being discovered all the time and we can have a look at some of the latest.

Let’s start with the N64 Goldeneye 007 game. Insert the cartridge and turn the power on. Take a real close look at the start-up screen which looks like a British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) certificate. The BBFC has been replaced with Twycross Board of Game Classification, which becomes relevant if you realise that Twycross is the base of this game’s developer Rare. And the signature below the word President is James Bond and instead of a normal BBFC rating, say 12+, this has a number 4, with a message that suitable for only one to four people; the number of people that can play the game. Nice touch.

Another one cropped up in the movie Bruce Almighty. Have a look at the scene when, out on the lake, God talks to Bruce. Look closely at the background, and you’ll see some buildings looking like Optimus Prime. Clever, unless you don’t know who Optimus Prime is. And just in case you don’t know, he’s the leader of the Autobots. Still no wiser, the things that run around in The Transformers! Okay, good?

Now lets look at a computer game latest example. Half Life is a big game franchise and in Half Life 2, right at the start of the game, there’s a van which crops up and if you take a second to look at the centre of the steering wheel, you can see the face of the bear which was used to advertise Radiohead’s Kid A. It’s in fact a logo created jointly by Stanley Donwood and Thom Yorke.

Books aren’t exempt either and there’s a good one found in the guide C For Dummies. On page 371, you’ll come across graphical representations of a number of C header files. If you look at the text, it appears to be in Greek and disregarded as a meaningless filler. But, use the Windows font Symbol and put the symbols back to their usual font equivalents, you get:

“This is some very small text that you probably won’t be able to read. If you can, then you are very good. If you can’t, you’re typical. Actually, if you’re my editor, then you’ll probably be looking for some bad stuff. Rest assured. It’s not in here. BUT not that I’m writing this stuff in GREEK, I don’t think there will be a problem with it. Unless, of course, you’re GREEK.”

This is a good example of an Easter Egg, because who would have thought of doing all that’s entailed to get the right message. Pretty nifty.

So there we have it. If you’re on the look out for good Easter Eggs, perhaps it’s a good piece of advice to expect the unexpected.

Tags: Anti Virus, Digital Download Products, Easter Egg, Mcafee, Viruses

It has become a trend to share mobile videos and images on the Internet. In fact, it is more enjoyable, when others take a look of your pictures and videos. Even you may share your videos on popular site such as YouTube. You may need some techniques to post videos on YouTube.

Many sites allow you to post your creation on internet without any charges. The procedures to share images and videos are totally different. Generally, a small video recording may be of big file size. However, the size of the video clip depends on the device used for recording. For example, if a phone records a one-minute video clip, the file size may be around 500 KB. The video recording software compresses the image and changes the resolution of video at 176 x 144 pixel resolution in 3GP format, which is suitable to watch videos in mobile phone.

However, if you record the same footage with a Digital camera, the file size may be around 10 MB, as the video recording software in digital camera do not compress the image as in mobile phone and the files are saved in AVI format.

Points to Remember:

Many video-sharing sites allow users to upload videos only with the help of Internet Browser. YouTube does not allow users to upload their videos via e-mail. Generally, digital photos are of JPEG format however, videos come in many different formats.

A video recorded from mobile phone is generally of 3GP format. YouTube only allow users to upload videos of WMV, AVI, MPEG and MOV formats. Videos recorded from mobile phones are generally of 3GP format. To upload videos on YouTube, you may have to convert your video using video converting software that you may obtain from the Internet.

Initially, YouTube was not able to convert videos by itself, but the new version of YouTube converts all the popular video formats by itself. This will give you the freedom from video conversion procedures. Ensure that the video you are recording is saved in your phone’s memory card. Copy the saved video clip from your phones memory card to your computer’s hard disk. If your mobile phone does not have any extendable memory card, then you may copy videos with the help of data cable. You may edit your video with editing software programs such as Windows Moviemaker to adjust the brightness and contrast of your video.

YouTube requires registration to upload videos. Register yourself by providing your e-mail address. After registration, you will have an account, wherein you will be able to upload and manage your videos.

Final Considerations:

Generally, YouTube recommends video of 320 x 240 resolution encoded in MPEG4 format and MP3 audio. This type of video is suitable for best viewing. Take a look of your video on YouTube to check whether it plays smoothly or not.

It is a good idea to resize the video by clicking the small square box on the lower right hand corner of your video. Have reviews of your friends about the picture quality of your video. Relax and have patience until other viewers post their comments on your video.

Tags: Mobile Phones, photographs, Telecomunication, YouTube

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Starting a stamp collection can be a rewarding and fun hobby. Not just for kids anymore, stamp collecting – commonly known as ‘philately’ – has become one of the world’s oldest and most popular forms of collecting. The advantages of stamp collecting include:

• Learning about stamps which have been issued by other countries of the world over the years
• Appreciating stamps as works of art – colourful, well-printed, and well-designed
• Understanding the purpose of the stamp – whether it is to commemorate famous people or events, flowers, railways, flags, or space and sport

Stamp Collection

Stamp collections can provide both entertainment and education. By learning about all the stamps which have been issued by the countries of the world, you can begin to understand another country’s geography and history. Stamps collection is also a practical way to learn the politics, religion, and everyday way of life in different parts of the world. Stamps also open a world of education about a country’s postal services and postal history, transport systems, and the significance of postmarks.

Want to Start Collecting?

Many stamp collectors have advice for those looking to get into the stamp collecting scene, however, the best advice for the novice is to buy the largest packet of whole-world stamps you can afford. Also, consider buying with this purchase, a medium-priced album and some ‘hinges’ to mount the stamps. By buying a large amount of stamps at first, you can then go through most of the stamps, identifying those which you don’t believe you can find in the stamp collectors catalogue for identifying purposes.

Sources of Stamps

To keep your stamp collection moving along, there are several different types of stamps and locations to pursue:

• Persuade your friends to save your stamps from those letters mailed to them from abroad
• You can buy stamps from the UK Post – several times a year, the UK Post will issue special stamps for those interested in collecting
• There are several stamp magazines where you can see and meet other collectors
• Review the online stamp collecting websites for forums and discussion on where to get the latest stamp collection tips

Stamp Collecting and Increasing Worth

Over the years, as stamps age and their rarity increase, the worth of the stamp can increase tenfold. The condition of the stamp is vitally important to its worth. Nothing detracts more from the value of a stamp than a crease, tear, or heavy postmark. Damaged stamps are generally considered useless and worthless, so be wary of your collection when adding stamps.

If you are looking to make the most of your stamp collection, have unused stamps in their original gum as issued by the post office. Also, the ideal postmark is light and clear, as heavy postmarks decrease the value of the stamp by large amounts.

If you are already realizing that there is much more to stamp collecting then first thought, you are right! Stamp collecting can be extremely rewarding if you take the time to pursue it as a serious hobby. Consider learning more about your planet and start your stamp collection today.

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For More information on specific Banks use these links

• Alliance & Leicester
• Bank of Scotland
• Barclays
• Capital One
• Child Trust Fund
• First Direct
• HSBC
• Post Office
• Tesco Savings

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For all the best deals on Home, Car, Travel and Life Insurance, Credit Cards, Travel Money cards and Savings Accounts from The Post Office visit www.quoteservices.co.uk/

Tags: Hobbies, Stamp Collecting, The Post Office