C – C is for cosy! It is the best time of the year for snuggling up in soft slippers, having a glass of sherry and watching a classic Christmas movie. A few of the best ones are Miracle on 34^th Street, Arthur Christmas and Elf to name but a few.

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H – H is for home. Whether you are going to be at your home or a family members home, there is nothing like home at Christmas time. Making the house look its festive best is all part of the fun. Get creative and check out Makower Christmas fabrics  http://www.higgsandhiggs.com/fabrics/designers/makower-henley-studio/show/all.html, and make some special Christmas tree decorations. Then sit back and admire in all its festive glory!

R – R is for Robins – and thrushes, blackbirds, chaffinches etc.… the robin is of course a Christmas card favourite, but don’t forget the garden birds in the winter time. Get some seeds and makes some fat balls to put in the garden on a bird table. It is the hardest time of year for wildlife to find food.

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I – I is for inspirational! Get inspiration for making some homemade gifts. People love to receive gifts that you have put time and thought into – it can be a simple photo in a handmade frame, or maybe you are a whiz with a sewing machine, you could make some personalised Christmas cushions!

S – S is for singing! Go to a traditional carol concert or midnight mass to get that warm Christmas feel of days gone by.

T – T is for tree! There are such a range of different trees you can choose from, whether real or artificial, there are pros and cons to both. One of the most fun things is picking out the tree decorations and hanging them on the tree. Remember, if you have a large tree, it may be a good idea to get a couple of sets of fairy lights to make it really twinkle!

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M – M is for meal! The best meal of the year, Christmas dinner! If you are cooking it yourself, make sure you prepare in advance how many guests you have coming, and if you have vegetarians joining you for dinner. Doing your food shop online and booking a delivery slot is the easiest way to avoid the Christmas stampede at the supermarket!

A – A is for advent – get into the Christmas spirit by counting down the days – and it isn’t just about chocolate advent calendars nowadays! Recently there have been a surge in luxury advent calendars for grown-ups – with the contents ranging from gin to make up and more!

S – S is for spirit – not just the Christmas spirit, but the ones that come in a bottle! This is a great time of year to get adventurous with the cocktails – have a look here for some ideas, or have fun coming up with your own!

With Christmas just around the corner it’s time to start thinking about what to buy your friends and family, and often this can revolve around their love of wine.

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Online wine retailers are growing in dominance and sales are expected to increase to 14.3% of the total off-trade market by 2019. There are also a range of accessories available on the internet, so if you’re looking for the perfect gift for a wine enthusiast, we’ve pulled together some of the best ideas.

The Coravin Wine Opener

This accessory has to be one of the coolest ways to open a bottle of wine and it’s ideal for the sophisticated connoisseur. The system works by using a thick, hollow needle that goes through the foil and cork, so there is no need to remove the cork. Argon gas then pressurises the bottle to allow the wine to be poured without oxygen getting in, which maintains the quality for years.

Vinnebago

If you know someone who enjoys a chilled glass of wine in the sunshine, then the Vinnebago is perfect. It maintains the same temperature of a chilled bottle for a maximum of 25 hours using innovative insulation technology, and the bottle even has a beautiful contemporary design.

A Wine Travel Case

If you’re searching for the ultimate wine gifts then why not purchase a VinGardeValise, which is a hard-shell suitcase containing temperature regulating high-density foam to protect wine bottles in transit. This is a fantastic idea for travelling wine enthusiasts who like to bring a few bottles home when they go abroad, and it meets airline regulations for checked-in baggage.

A Bicycle Wine Rack

When you’re thinking about where can I order wine gifts online, you’ll probably come across a number of unusual gifts and the bicycle wine rack certainly fits into this category. However, if you know someone who uses their bike regularly to get around and picks up a bottle of wine from the shop, this leather bottle holder could be just what they need.

An Unusual Decanter

Buying a traditional style of decanter wouldn’t be that different for a true wine enthusiast, so opt for something more unique which will became a real feature when they’re entertaining. For instance, the Riedel swan decanter is designed to represent a swan’s curves, which has created a stylish ‘J’ shape.

It seems hard to imagine a time before Google. A major player on the internet stage for many years, the word ‘Google’ has been transformed into a verb, showing the huge importance that this internet giant holds for us all. Along with Hoover and Biro, this is a brand that transcends the company it represents, passing into the language as a generic term. We ‘Google’ something even if we use an alternative search engine.

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But there was a time back in the 1990s when Google had yet to be invented. The internet was still relatively new, although it was growing in popularity at an astonishing rate, but the technology was still very much in its infancy. We’re talking about a time before laptops and flat screens, when computers had bulky hard drives and monitors were as deep as they were wide.

Look Back in Wonder

If you struggle to remember those dim and distant days – or perhaps you were still too young to recall them – it makes interesting viewing to look back on screenshots from those early web pages. The Wire has some wonderfully pared down examples on its site that show how very simple life was back then.

In a similar vein, The Register as some screenshots from pre-Google days, starting with Alta Vista, which was one of the go-to search engines from around the mid-90s.

These were the days of dial-up connections, when your service provider supplied you with a portal page designed to steer you through web pages through a system of directory entries. Search boxes usually came with the words ‘powered by..’ to show the search engine being used, but they were sketchy affairs.

In those early days, it was important to remember web addresses. These would be given out over the television, incorporating the ‘http’ prefix and a series of letters, words and slashes that needed to be written down before they were forgotten. If you liked the page once you found it, then it was a matter of bookmarking it for easy reference on future occasions.

Searching for Information

When Google came on the scene, it fairly quickly changed the way we interacted with the World Wide Web. By using web crawlers – software that trawled through every web page – Google was able to point people quickly and easily to the information they were interested in.

Search terms made life even easier, as now it was possible to look for website design in Dyfed or Stratford, or whichever town was applicable, and instantly access a list of results. In just a couple of clicks, you could find web designers such as Leicester web design agency Pixel Utopia without having to trawl through a long list of directory entries.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who developed Google, continued to refine their search engine, developing keywords and search terms that made finding the information you wanted even easier. PageRank was created to determine the popularity of a site based on links. It’s a little-known fact that the ‘Page’ in PageRank doesn’t refer to the web page but is actually named after its inventor, Larry Page.

The standard family kitchen has evolved constantly over the last century, to become what it now is in many homes an area for family and friends to meet and socialise. Now it is not uncommon to find every member of the family in the kitchen and involved in food preparation one way or another. Kitchens are no longer simply for cooking – they often links to other areas of the home such as the dining room or living room, and are no longer just workrooms tucked away at the back of the house.

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In fact, kitchens are now seen as such an important part of the home that, in recent months, it has become quite common to see politicians and other public figures being interviewed in their kitchens as The Mail describes.

Kitchen design

From rooms with only a fixed sink and cooker together with freestanding cabinets and a table for both food preparation and dining, kitchens have evolved to have units built in to fit the available space.

Colours and finishes have changed over recent decades, and today materials such as slate, copper, glass, concrete and stainless steel are among the most popular. In newly built houses today, much more space is allotted to the kitchen than ever before, reflecting changing lifestyles and an increased interest in cooking as evidenced by the plethora of cooking shows on television.

With more windows comes more natural light.  The more light and spacious a room the more enjoyable a place it is to be.  If you have a large window leading out onto a garden or terrace of some form the use flowers and plants can equally add a touch of class.  Of course with every window comes a risk.  If you have the “next David Beckham” and your window becomes his latest make shift goal be careful.  Should a ball come flying at the window and crash through, help is always at hand.  With such businesses as Leicester emergency glaziers NandU being able to put things right in no time at all.

Lighting has changed from a stark fluorescent tube giving out bright, somewhat harsh light over the whole area, to recessed ceiling lights complemented by spotlights for creating a practical but intimate atmosphere. As so much time is now spent in the kitchen, many have built-in entertainment systems including TVs.

Kitchen appliances

From simply relying on a gas or electric stove for cooking and a pantry and perhaps a meat safe for food storage, today we have an appliance for every job. Perhaps the appliance that made most difference in the kitchen was the refrigerator. Commercial refrigeration has been with us since the early 1900s and, first patented in 1914, the modern refrigerator revolutionised food storage, making the ice industry almost redundant and allowing many people to sample foods that they had never tried before. According to the BBC, while 99% of families in Europe and North America own a fridge, this figure is only 63% in Africa and the Middle East, despite the fact that the climate makes refrigeration even more vital than it is in the West.

In addition to conventional ovens and hobs for cooking there are many other appliances available to save time, labour or both. Most modern kitchens have a microwave oven which, even if not used for cooking, is invaluable for heating the ready meals on which so many busy people.

Since there are home appliances that can make everything from ice cream to waffles, as well as “healthy” fryers and professional coffee machines, we are now able to produce any kind of food in our domestic kitchens, and with dishwashers to help with the clearing up, life for the cook has never been easier.

Running a pub is a career path which appeals to many people from every walk of life. Prospective landlords are attracted by thoughts of the freedom of being their own boss and taking control of their own future.  Taking a formerly owned pub and stamping your own mark on it could be right up your alley.  RG Cole specialise in all types of furniture for bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms for people in Essex and with a range of old cham furniture making your mark could be easier that you think.

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However, running a pub can be challenging and very hard work, so it is vital to give careful consideration to whether you would be truly suited to this role in the current climate. According to the Guardian, 31 pubs are closing each week, largely because they are being undercut by the low alcohol prices offered by the major supermarkets. But if you are committed and prepared to put in long hours, becoming a landlord can be incredibly rewarding.

What’s Involved in Being a Pub Landlord?

If you run your own pub, you will be solely responsible for everything involved in its smooth running, so it is important to consider the various tasks you would need to undertake on a day-to-day basis. The most important of these is that you must ensure you comply with the Licensing Act of 2003 – otherwise your business will be at risk of closure. You must hold both a premises licence and a personal licence and will be responsible for adhering to the legal requirements of the Licensing Act. These include the prevention of crime and disorder, ensuring public safety, prevention of public nuisance and the protection of children from harm. You can find further guidance on the Licensing Act on the government’s own website.

Another top priority is to recruit and train a reliable team of staff. Some aspects of staff training are compulsory, such as those required under the Licensing Act. However, you may wish to further their training in things such as customer service in order to create the best possible ambience in your premises.

General maintenance and cleaning are a vital daily tasks. Your equipment is one of your main assets and will need to be kept in tip-top condition. It is also very important to make sure your establishment is kept clean in order to retain your customers. Many landlords choose to hire professional cleaners to cover this side of things.

Serving Food

Making the decision to serve food in your pub can mean a substantial rise in profits. This will require careful planning, as you will need a team of kitchen staff as well as an experienced chef. It is also worth taking some time to consider what drinks you will serve; you will need to consider your target market and which drinks are likely to be most popular with them. If you are to make a success of this side of your business, it is crucial to have reliable suppliers.
All in all, if you are ready to invest your time and do some hard work, then becoming a pub landlord can be a hugely fulfilling career to embark on.