Pop In A Box - Homewares By Post From Funko Pop! (Sent for review)

We all know Funko Pop! make collectibles featuring a huge range of pop culture favourites, but did you know they also make useful merchandise for around the home, and out and about? We've been sent a selection to look at - and there really was something to suit everyone...

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 11th December 2020.

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News Update 11th December 2020.

The UK added 21,672 cases today and now has reported a total of 1,809,455 positive cases of COVID-19. We completed 400,646 tests yesterday. 

16,136 people were in hospital on Wednesday 9th, with 1,267 using a ventilator yesterday, 10th December. 

In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we officially reported the loss of another 424 people who have tested positive to COVID-19 within 28 days. We now very sadly have a total of 63,506 officially reported losses of life in all settings.

Rep. Of Ireland 75,507 (+304) cases and 2,120 (+3) losses of life.

There have now been a total of 71,169,730 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is 1,597,073. Already 49,412,394 people have recovered.

From Monday 14th December across the whole UK, the Government are reducing the number of days you need to self-isolate from 14 days back down to 10 days. This includes:

- People quarantining on arrival in the UK

- People who test positive

- People with symptoms

- Contacts of people with COVID

If you started self-isolating already, and are still meant to be isolating on Monday, your isolation can end after you've completed 10 days. 

Self-isolation had already dropped to 10 days in Wales. 

(As luck would have it, I've written up figures on this, see below.) 

The 14 day deadline for 25th December would be today, and if people get told they need to self-isolate, they might try to ignore it. By cutting it to 10 days, it allows for arrivals and notifications over this weekend, and paradoxically a lot more infectious people are likely to actually stay home over the next week or two. 

UK Travel Quarantine Updates: Botswana and Saudi Arabia will be added to the exempt list at 4am 12 December. The Canary Islands will be removed from the list at 4am 12 December.

The number of people with hospital-acquired COVID in the UK has been climbing and is hasn't been as high since the first peak.  

I don't even blame hospitals or staff. COVID is a real bugger to contain. It loves shared accommodation, and with the best will in the world, you can't catch all of the asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic patients. Remember Trump still caught it, even though everyone who comes into contact with him is tested regularly. 

COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 16th October 2020.

 COVID-19 Coronavirus UK and World News update 16th October 2020.

The UK added 15,650 cases today and now has reported a total of 689,257 positive cases of COVID-19. We completed 304,315 tests yesterday. 

5,311 people were in hospital on Wednesday 14th (up from 3,660 a week earlier), with 580 using a ventilator yesterday, 15th October (up from 436 a week earlier). 

In the 24 hours up until 5pm yesterday, we officially reported the loss of another 136 people who have tested positive to COVID-19 within 28 days. We now very sadly have a total of 43,429 officially reported losses of life in all settings. (57,690 people have had COVID written on their death certificate.) 

England 584,843 / 38,524
Northern Ireland 25,177 / 608
Scotland 45,232 / 2,594
Wales 34,005 / 1,703

Rep. Of Ireland 47,427 (+998) cases and 1,841 (+3) losses of life.  

There have now been a total of 39,416,753 reported cases worldwide. The number of people who have lost their lives worldwide to COVID-19 is 1,106,120. Already 29,510,661 people have recovered.

"The new restrictions we have seen brought in this week have made little practical difference to restrictions faced by most people. Cases will continue to rise in the majority of areas.
Waiting to discover the impact of the new 2 Tier system, is allowing time for the virus to spread further."
independent SAGE advisory group. 

From 4am Sunday 18 October, people arriving in England from Italy, San Marino and Vatican City State will need to self-isolate, as they will be removed from the travel corridor list this week .
The Greek island of Crete will be added to list for England.

The University & College Union have done a tally, and this morning said that over 20,000 university students have now tested positive in the UK.
That is an awful lot of worried parents, and food parcels...

At midnight tonight Wales close the border to anyone from Northern Ireland, England's Tier 2 and 3 areas, and the central belt of Scotland. You are not welcome, you disease ridden Angles. Fod wedi mynd.
Obviously this is bad news for anyone who was hoping to take a break in Wales, and I do sympathise with you, but at the same time you can hardly blame them. Movement restrictions are one of the very best ways to contain and suppress any virus.
Welsh Ministers are also reported to be considering a circuit-break lockdown. 

Build Your Own Telescope Kit Review age 8+ (Sent for review)

The Build Your Own Telescope is a really fantastic set with a very beautiful telescope, but much more than that, you learn how a telescope works as you build, and along with that learn about light, reflection, construction and engineering! It's an all round STEM toy, and we were sent one to review. 

We love our STEM toys and all things space, so the Build Your Own Telescope really caught the attention of my 11 year old son. He was so excited he built it within 48 hours of it arriving. Everything is paper, the only plastic parts are the lenses, so it's an incredibly eco-conscious toy. 

Even the packaging is a cleverly designed cardboard box, which is folded to protect the lenses during transit. 

Inside the very small box is everything you'll need. 29 slot together cardboard parts, magnification lens, eyepiece lens, mirror and easy-to-follow instruction leaflet. 

Slapstick Family Theatre Review, HOME Manchester (Review Visit)

Last Friday we visited HOME Manchester for the very first time and we had an amazing night out! Slapstick is performing until this Saturday 22nd December and the group of 5 Dutchmen are true all-rounders. An amazing array of instruments played, perfect comic timing and complete commitment to character make it a unique show that really is a great night's entertainment for anyone.

We took the tram down and HOME Manchester is really easy to find, 5 minutes walk from Deansgate And Castlefield Station at Tony Wilson Place. It's gorgeous down there and the area was alive with people excited for Christmas. The HOME bar was really busy, but we were still served drinks quickly.

The show started before we even took our seats, as an 'elderly infirm man' wandered through the crowds with his walking frame, making the crowd laugh by getting in the way of everyone. Once we were in the auditorium the actors were all wandering around warming up the crowd and swapping the sweets and crisps of any willing participants.

Gardensite £100 Of Christmas Decorations Giveaway (sent for review)

We've got a really exciting giveaway today - and it's about as festive as you can get! Gardensite sent us a bundle of Christmas Decorations worth over £100 and one of my readers can win the same! Apologies if you don't like what we chose, but we let the children write a big list of things they liked, honed it down to the options that didn't need a stepladder or a huge display area (sorry light up Moscow) and chose 5 items that can really add a bit of sparkle this Christmas...

Outdoor Acrylic Penguin Family (£33.99) was chosen by our 10 year old. In fact his wishlist had 6 items and 5 of them were penguin lights - I think he's trying to tell us something!

Suitable for indoors or outside and mains powered with the plug and transformer included. The cord is just over 1m long, which is long enough to be helpful for most jobs. There are 48 LED's in this set and the tallest penguin is 9 inches tall.

Christmas Activities and Events for Families in Manchester and the NorthWest UK

It's Christmaaaaaaaaaaas.....well, it isn't yet, but if you are looking ahead at what you can do with the family over the festive period, here are loads of ideas for theatre and other events in the Manchester and NorthWest area of the UK.

I'm happy to add anything relevant that is in the NORTHWEST UK and is suitable for families of any age - please send me an email with NW Christmas in the subject heading...

Tofuture Tofu Press Review - How To Make Your Own Tofu At Home

Tofuture make a great little tofu press that you can use to press bought tofu. This makes it a firmer consistency which will soak up marinade better and be more suited to stir fries. This will give you a tastier meal, but you can also use the press when making your own tofu from scratch.

The press comes in 3 parts - a deep outer tub, the insert with perforated base to let the whey drip out and the clip on lid. The lid clamps on securely at the sides using rubber bands, which have 3 different positions depending on what you have in your Tofuture press at the time.

Dr Beckmann Embarrassing Stain Social Experiment and Stain Devils Giveaway (5 Winners)

The kids are back to school and you'll have to wash all of those 'white' polo shirts covered in whiteboard marker, paint and an unidentifiable selection of foods. Hurrah! But hang on, it's not just the kids who manage to stain their clothes...

With children life is all about stains and it starts long before they can even walk, but it doesn't stop when you become an adult. As a child you can get away with it, my son doesn't care at all, but when you are grown up having a stain can be incredibly embarrassing.

Dr Beckmann Service-it Washing Machine Cleaner Giveaway with 10 Winners!

Dr Beckmann can be relied upon to clean all of those things we try to ignore - smells and dirt from washing machines and dishwashers, nasty stains on your clothes and those not-so-white net curtains. Still family owned and based in Bolton, the people behind Dr Beckmann have been making cleaning and laundry products for almost 100 years.

My washing machine lives a very hard working life. My previous machine lasted me 9 years and over 10,000 washes, so when I got my new Hotpoint washing machine almost 2 years ago, I knew I wanted to look after it as best I can.

I regularly use Dr Beckmann Service-it Washing Machine Cleaner to keep my machine whiff-free and happy - in fact, I'm quite proud to say for once mine looked much cleaner than the one in the advert!

Who Will Be Your Family Flood Marshall?

Recent research has found that the 72% of us have no idea what to do in the event of a flood in our home. We don't understand what a flood alert is, don't have a personal flood plan, and only 18% of us know who is responsible for keeping our home safe from flooding.

My 8 year old has stepped up to the challenge to answer these questions and become our Family Flood Marshall.

Our home has never yet been in a flood, but some of my children's schoolfriends aren't so lucky. In December 2015 hurricanes Desmond and Eva caused 16,000 homes in the UK to be flooded. Many of those homes hadn't ever flooded in the past, and fairly close to us, a 200 year old pub was washed away. Nature likes to surprise us.

1. Are we in danger? The first thing the Family Flood Marshall needs to know, is if we are in danger of flooding. Listen to the radio, watch the news and weather reports, and if you feel you are at risk, you can always get the most up-to-date information available from the Environment Agency Flood Information Service or by calling Floodline 0345 988 1188.

Finding The Right Local Professional Easily With Bidvine (Review)

Bidvine was launched 18 months ago, and is a local services marketplace that intends to be the easiest way for you to find local professionals with the right qualifications and experience to complete the job you have.  Professionals pay a fee each time they are hired, but customers don't pay anything extra to use the service.

The site  is really simple to use, and actually allows you to find out if they have what you want before you even log in. The UK is split into local areas, with most of the UK population covered by the 75 areas currently shown.

Bidvine list absolutely tons of different professions - from Accounting to Asbestos Removal, Zumba Lessons to Mobile Petting Zoos. The autocomplete gives you a clue as to what you can choose from, although you may find there aren't actually so many of the more obscure...

For my review I chose Family Photographers in the Manchester area, adding a random postcode fairly near to me for the purpose of the review. Then I was asked a series of quick questions to find out more precisely what I wanted - indoor or outdoor? Studio or home? How many people will be in the photos? etc. These are the questions I'd have to answer each time if I was ringing round for quotes.

Kidecals Personalised All-Purpose Washable Labels Review and Discount

Kidecals labels might initially cost a bit more than writing a name on in pen, but they are washable, waterproof, dishwashable, tumble drier and microwave safe, personalised labels that will stick to clothing, lunchboxes, PE Kits, bags and shoes, and practically anything else you can think of.

So lets test those claims...

Beets BLU Bluetooth Digital Bathroom Scale with Body Composition (Review)

Beets BLU are well known for their innovative gadgets which make use of Bluetooth connections to connect to your phone or tablet. We've previously reviewed a keyfob which alerts you to where you have left your keys, and we've now been sent their Digital Bathroom Scale with Body Composition to review.

Well packaged and with clear, simple instructions, it really is a complete doddle to set up. The quick-start basically involves downloading the app to your device, putting the batteries (included) into the scale, and stepping on.