The Jewel of the Thames

I spent last week exploring the River Thames as it meanders through Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire. Of course, this should have meant a sunny holiday on its leafy banks. But instead, I found myself beside a raging torrent of grey and white foaming water.

I could only sip my coffee, wrap myself in a car blanket, and muse upon what a wonderful beauty spot must be the gorgeous Boulter’s Lock at Maidenhead in gentler climes.

I am afraid, with the river in full flood, many of the early swan, duck and moorhen hatchlings were cruelly washed away with the tide, and the riverbanks were home to some very sad and forlorn looking feathered parents. (Fingers crossed there’s time, as I am advised, for a second brood this season!)

I am definitely going back there for the quintessential British summer lunch one day very soon! It really must be one of the prettiest spots in Britain – if you have foreign friends coming over for the Olympics or the Jubilee, it’s definitely worth a visit.

It used to be known as the ‘Jewel of the Thames’ with uninterrupted views downstream towards Maidenhead bridge – and was once the meeting point of VIPs and glitterati at the turn of the last century.

Pay for your day out by cashing in some of your old, unwanted gold or silver jewelry. Don’t forget, cash for gold prices are still at an all-time high.

So sell gold and make use of Postgoldforcash.com by popping those trinkets into a PGFC bag, sending it off, and waiting to see how much you're offered. It could be enough for a lazy day on the river!

Payday Loans

I did a really astonishing interview the other day with one of my favourite financial experts, who warned about the hidden hazards of taking out one of those short-term, high interest loans called "payday loans".

He gave the amazing example that, if you took out a payday loan for £100, you'd owe approx £340 by the end of the month, since most of them attract an interest rate of about 4000 per cent APR. After a year, you'd owe over four thousand pounds. After five years, and after accumulating interest upon interest upon interest, you'd actually owe a debt of £11,585,620,000. That's over 11 billion pounds. 

I know those sorts of loan are not meant for the long term, but I can just imagine some people finding them almost impossible to pay back after just one month, and so letting it roll over into another. Beware, is all I can say, lest you end up owing enough to bail out a Eurozone country out of debt!

It's worth remembering, if you are hard up, particularly as you face the New Year, that you may have hidden money in your jewellery drawer. Have you considered the financial benefits gained when you sell gold?

Unwanted, old, broken or just tired bits of gold could fetch you a tidy little sum if you pop it into a Postgoldforcash.com envelope and send it off for a quote.

It's as easy as that. Within a day or so, you'll have a PGFC expert on the line making you an offer. You don't have to accept it, but you'll undoubtedly find it's the best price. Within hours, you could have cash in hand.

Far better than a loan of any sort!

Winning the lottery!

Everyone around me is checking their handbags, down the back of their sofas and inside every pocket because we've all heard that someone in our local area has won the lottery but failed to pick up their winnings because, presumably, they've lost that precious piece of paper.

I do that all the time - buy a ticket when I'm at the corner shop, then totally forget all about it. Months later, I find it all screwed up on the floor of the car, and wonder, if it were still legible, whether it would prove to be my passport to a new life.

So is it me this time? I fear not. But my entire production team at my radio station and I are happily dreaming of what we'd do with an instant million quid. Not turning up at work tomorrow would be first move, I reckon!

 If you fancy a smaller, but much more attainable, sum of money - try looking down the back of your sofa for any old piece of gold jewellery (like lone single earrings!) and sending them off to Postgoldforcash.com instead.

They'll give you a cash for gold quote on gold, silver or other precious metals and stones, and it's a quick, simple process that could give you a handy fistful of notes instead of just lying uselessly around!