Arvind here back after a break from the online world.

It seems that summer has finally arrived in London, just in time for my annual picnic.

This is the 7th year that I will be holding my “Friends and Friend’s Friends” picnic /party in Regents Park, central London.

So if you are in London it will be great to see you! If you are not in London, here is my guide to organise your own friends and friend’s friends picnic.

For me this is a great way of celebrating friendships and keeping in touch with close friends & acquaintances. It is also a great way of meeting people and making new friends. At my annual picnic, I usually meet people who are 3 or 4 degrees removed from me.

The world is definitely getting smaller and perhaps we are now even more closely interconnected than implied by the principle of six degrees of separation.

How do you keep in touch with your friends?

What will you be doing this weekend to celebrate your friendships?

And which one person in the world would you most want to invite to your picnic?

Mike here

I’m doing an interview with the world’s longest running literary agency AP Watt at moment. Here’s a sneek:

Can you tell me about some of the more bizarre submissions you have received?

You get all kinds of things – from someone re-writing the bible and claiming it’s all about UFOs, to a million Harry Potter and Dan Brown copycats. And, of course, there are the deluded many who are convinced they are undiscovered geniuses. It’s a bit like The X Factor auditions on paper sometimes: painful, embarrassing, and very wrong.

Heh heh. So if the bible really was rewritten today what do you think it would say?

Here’s one from Spike Milligan:

In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth.

And God said, let there be lights in heaven to give light to the earth, and it was so, except over England where there was heavy cloud and snow on high ground.

Anyone for tennis? As Wimbledon 2008 hots up we thought it’s high time for another competition here at Flowers! Your chance to win $60 of flowers delivered anywhere in the world courtesy of our partners Flora 2000, the International delivery experts.

Seeing as it’s summer Deep and the gang have planed these new banners here around the garden for you to click and send anywhere in the world:

To enter just pop in ONE CAPTION in the comments section AND include one fact about yourself, your blog, your webiste, your business or how you feel at the time of writing. Your chance to have fun and promote yourself. So here we GO! flower folk:

You could always celebrate summer and send flowers to someone right now, anywhere in the world . Simply click on our spanking new summer flowers banners and use code GSTF00 to send someone flowers and you’ll be entitled to a bit of flower smelling discount! Contest ends on Friday 4th July Midnight Dubai time. Good luck flower smellers!

**Remember - Only 1 caption per person please - if you think a more than one then get a friend to enter

Mike here,

Do you sit and watch as things spin around you in life or do you reach out and try to change them?

I received this the other day….

“Sorry I haven’t emailed but something crashed on my computer and my mouse is missing”

We had a good old chortle here in the Fabulous Photo Gifts office i can tell you.

What excuse have you used in the last 24 hours and why?

Yes folks - one of those mad midnight hour moments to share - Mandy has been checking the webcam on Rhosneigr beach - Anglesey - as a prelude to a possible weekend visit.

We just sat down and she thought she’d login and see what the beach looked like, forgetting it is now dark!

However, we got an even bigger surprise - the camera seems to be stuck on sunset! - how nice.

So have you had any surprises when you’ve logged onto a particular site - something other than what you expected to see on a regularly visited website?

 Yes Ok I know it’s a bit of a thin link but to be honest I was dying to try out image uploading on GSTF’s since the move as i haven’t been able to - thanks Deep and Jim for helping!

Anyway - back to the post.

Recently, a group of divers were washed out to sea (where else?) and managed to clamber to shore only to find themselves on the island of Komono Dragons (have I spelt that right?).

Apparently the wee beasties were not pleased to see them (note the Star Trek reference there) and were quite territorial (fancy that?)

It made me dream of waking up in the shoes (or should that be flippers) only to be eye to eye with one of these dragons - you could have been forgiven for thinking you’d washed up on some lost island.

All that would have been needed would have been Doug Mcclure running out of the vegetation closely followed by a fur bikini clad Ms Welsh (i told you this got better!).

So what’s your desert island fantasy? and if you were washed up on a desert island, what would be your first task?

Those of you in the UK would have heard of this by now…
If not here is the News Report cortesy Telegraph UK

Police chase UFO over Cardiff

A police helicopter crew gave chase to a UFO after it almost collided with their aircraft near a military base.

The pilot was forced to bank sharply to avoid being hit by the mystery aircraft as the helicopter was returning to the Ministry of Defence base of St Athan, near Cardiff.
The three crew, who described the UFO as ‘flying saucer-shaped’, then gave chase, getting as far as the North Devon coast before they ran low on fuel, it was reported.
The police aircraft was hovering at 500ft and waiting clearance to land on June 7, when those onboard spotted the other craft hurtling towards them from below.
A spokesman for South Wales Police said: “We can confirm the Air Support Unit sighted an unusual aircraft. This was reported to the relevant authorities for their investigation.”
It was reported that the aircraft closed in at great speed, aiming straight for the helicopter which swerved sharply.
“They are convinced it was a UFO. It sounds far-fetched, but they know what they saw.”
The helicopter crew are said to have crossed the Bristol channel in pursuit of the UFO, but lost sight of it and had to turn back due to a fuel shortage.
The sighting comes weeks after the most comprehensive Government files on UFO activity are opened to the public for the first time today and they disclose that even air traffic controllers and police officers have seen mysterious craft in the skies over Britain.
The sightings range from incredible tales of little green men visiting the Wirral to corroborated accounts from policemen and pilots of Unidentified Flying Objects hovering above towns and cities.
All were recorded on official forms, held by air bases and police stations, and compiled by the Ministry of Defence between 1978 and 2002.

For those of you who are still a little specticle and disbeleive the story here is the Police Helicopter Footage..

Do you Know what it is? because the Police, Air Traffic Investigators and the Government have no idea..

and just to top this off what was hovering over O’Hare Airport December 2006

So many people are quick to call those who believe in ET’s as nutters and it is fair to say that there are some, however there is a growing number of people who have stated and reported close encounters. I do not mean little green men invading their homes, but Unidentified Flying objects both in our air and in space. Astronauts, Pilots, Military Pilots, Police, Politicians and the list continues.

Whether these are actual vehicles from other worlds or secret Military tests remains to be seen, but with the UK Government open the files they have held for many years and the vast number and unexplained incidents it is fair to say that there is something going on.

After all many witnesses are very credible people. Some you may have even voted for.

Hi Time Lord fans…. I Just caught up with last nights episode and wow the teaser for next week - sarah jane, cap’t jack, rose, a red dalek and davros…. can it get any better?

Have they peaked too soon or does this signify the start of plans to bring david tennant to the big screen at long last?

What do you reckon?

Mike here,

So go on, what face would you paint onto the faceless lego men above, to represent you today and why?

Maybe your cross like this fellow?

Photo credit: Kurtis Harris (edited)

Last week in our 27th free flowers contest we invited all visitors to GO! Smell the flowers to post a caption for this image AND include something about yourself, your blog, your website or you in your answer.

With 28 entries from a variety of blogs around the world the winner on this occasion was flowers founder Mighty Morgan with:

“oh no…here HE comes again…everyone pretend your asleep”

Random fact about Mighty Morgan - ‘I stink at these free flower caption contests’

Well not on this occasion - Well done Mighty - the $60 of free flowers will be sent wherever you choose! Just accept your prize here in comments and we’ll contact you with the details on how to claim your prize.

Thanks to our partners Flora2000, the international flower delivery experts. You could always send flowers to someone right now, anywhere in the world . Simply use code GSTF00 if you send someone flowers and you’ll be entitled to a bit of flower smelling discount!

More free flower contests next month!

Some of you have noticed that like Taylors blog, Aussie too is gone for a holiday.

We have encountered an slight problem, which is in the process of being fixed, in other words hubby and I (to a lesser extent.. I make the coffee) is sitting here and working extremely hard long hours to put her back on line.

He truly is a clever clog, But Aussie will be off line for a little while hopefully only another day or two.

Like Taylor I am suffering withdrawal symptoms perhaps akin to greiving the loss of a pet or similar.

So in order to cheer to myself up and keep in the spirit of irony to which I have been taking to with new vigar of late here is one of my totally Favourite commercials of all times …

Whats yours?

Here’s a top tip to save you getting all hot and bothered when moving heavy household appliances.

Borrow your kids skateboards and use it as a giant roller skate to move fridged etc around the kitchen. My next door neighbour swears by this method - big american style ‘ice boxes’ can be tipped up and a skateboard inserted underneath making moving it around effortless (well compared to 4 guys all getting hernias).

So what alternative use have you found for every day objects to make life easier - do share.

(p.s please remember to take care when moving any heavy object - my neighbour hasn’t had a skateboard break on him yet but there’s always a first time! - I don’t suppose the kids will mind - they’ll get a new skateboard out of it.) 

Arvind here wondering how to spend Friday the 13th.

Tomorrow it is Friday the 13th, a day considered by many cultures to be unlucky, whilst some consider to be a lucky day.

There are even a whole range of phrases that have arisen around the fear of Friday the 13th, such as paraskavedekatriaphobia, apparently a word derived from the concatenation of the Greek words for Friday, thirteen, and phobia.

(Alternate spellings include paraskevodekatriaphobia or paraskevidekatriaphobia or friggatriskaidekaphobia, and is a specialized form of triskaidekaphobia, a phobia of the number thirteen).

So what do you think of Friday the 13th and how will you spend it? Just another day or a day to stay in bed under your sheets?

And what new word can you think of for this day?!

Competition time again at Flowers! Your chance to win $60 of flowers delivered anywhere in the world courtesy of our partners Flora 2000, the International delivery experts.

To enter just pop in a caption in the comments section AND include one random fact about yourself, your blog, your website or what you had for breakfast in your answer - that’ll confuse the SPAM folk and help us get to know you here. Your chance to have fun and promote yourself. So he we GO!

You could always send flowers to someone right now, anywhere in the world . Simply use code GSTF00 if you send someone flowers and you’ll be entitled to a bit of flower smelling discount! Contest ends on Tuesday 17th June Midnight Dubai time. Good luck flower smellers!

Hi from Toronto and a BIG thanks to our flower smelling pal Dave Ross for introducing us to the show the family guy. With us not having TV in our Dubai abode we’re far from being up with the ‘must-sees’ of TV and have opted for the box sets of the likes of 24, Prison break and House.

Here’s a family Guy clip that takes us back to last week when we were sat around the ‘camp’ fire in Calgary:

So has anyone else seen this show or is it just a Canadian thing?

What others are on your hit list to watch thesedays? Do tell!

Busy Busy Busy - either the sun’s gone to our heads after our photo gift display at a local dog show (perhaps we’re barking?) or we’re just feeling in a good mood - bought on by the sunny weather.

So we decided a little instant competition was just the ticket - or should that be photo gift?

Anyone ordering a personalised photo gift from Fabulous Photo Gifts between now and the end of June 2008 with a picture of a pet or animal is automatically entered for the chance to win a free deluxe photo panel (13 x 18cm) worth £9.95  personalised with the winning photo.

Full details over on our blog - http://purple13.blogspot.com.

We’ll announce the winner during the first week in July.

We’re so excited we could jump off a doll’s house…… 

The Little Aussie Cynic has gone out on a limb here with my first ever competition.
Yep thats right! The Prize is ONE MONTHS FREE advertising on Aussie to the winner.

For competition Details please visit Aussie Cynic
A brief explaination may be in order, so here goes…
I started this competition because of one reason and one reason alone… I am fed up with the fear mongering, political reteric being forced upon us. Yep… I am sick a tired of being told of terrorist threat, potential evil countries, Places with potential WMD etc.. yes sick of it. If the world was serious about saving people from genocidal Governments then we would have invaded Zimbabwe….
So this is my little way of relieving some stress, coming to terms with the possibilities around the world which are out of our control…
So why not enter… check it out.. what have you got to loose?

Do you even know what we go through in our lifetimes? Here’s just a sample…

In our lifetime we will:

eat 10 354 bars of chocolate
take 7 163 baths
have 104 390 dreams
speak 123 205 750 words
walk 15 464 miles
cry 121 pints of tears
make 1 700 friends
take 59 trips abroad
read 533 books
get 628 Christmas presents

I can’t believe I’ll get only 628 Christmas presents in my whole life? OMG!

Are you surprised???

Mike here,

So what’s the worst thing you’ve found and what colour was it?!

And if you want a story of a fridge, here’s my first short story for a group called The Society of Midnight Wanderers, run by the Supplicant and one of our Flower Smellers, Mr Grudge.

Photo credit: IndieAddicted

Last week my kids and I trekked up to the north end of the city. It usually takes almost two hours with public transit to get there. But, while I was there in the north I saw an article on useless inventions that I had to share.

1. Black coloured highlighters (I can use them on the things I want to forget!)
2. Waterproof tea bags (What??)
3. Glow in the dark sunglasses (if it’s dark why do I need them?)
4. Fake faux pearl jewelry (it better not turn my skin green!)
5. Double-sided playing cards (how will I count cards then?)
6. Inflatable dartboard (it would make the game that more interesting!)
7. Checkered paint (at least you wouldn’t have to measure out the squares!)
8. Silent alarm clock (great excuse for the boss…I didn’t hear my alarm clock…and you wouldn’t be lying!)
9. CD rewinder (uh sure???)
10. Impact-activated parachute (I’m sure it’s too late for a parachute if you already have impacted the ground!)

What are some useless inventions that you know of?

Sorry I’ve been absent - a busy week with a dash to Cambridge in the driving rain with a return journey in equally driving rain during the 4am hours of the following morning…. and my poor wipers were on double speed the whole time so now i need new wipers too.

Anyway, i had a grand post prepared about driving in the rain - idiots without lights on etc and a suitable picture of a wet road seen through a car windscreen (perhaps I’ll use it next week??) but then i received this image on an email and i knew i just had to share it.

You see we get so uptight about the weather - the Brit’s find it especially enthralling (you’d think we’d be used to it by now) and after seeing all the news stories about ‘happy campers’ braving high winds and rain etc during a school holiday week - then, well you get the idea.

So my query is this. Have we really advanced weather forecasting with modern technology? are the old country ways still just as relevant and what outing have you had to recently postphone due to the weather or did you ‘brave it out’  in true ‘brit style’?

Do tell - (oh and don’t you think the picture is just the funniest?) 

Mike here,

What’s the difference between Knowledge and Wisdom?

Here’s an answer I heard the other day ….

Knowledge tells you that a tomato is a fruit.

Wisdom tells you not to put tomatoes in your fruit salad.

Must be others! Set your thinking caps on and pitch in your contribution in the comments!

Picture Credit: OP

Arvind here checking out New Yorkers down a long tunnel from London!

Londoners and New Yorkers can see each other across the pond without the benefit of cable TV or video conferencing, courtesy of an unusual live optical hookup created by a conceptual artist with a fanciful tale of a long-lost tunnel.

An optical device called a “telectroscope” has been placed in Brooklyn and another one on the Thames River in London.

Spectators can step up to the machine on both sides of the Atlantic, wave and write greetings to each other in real time on wipe-off message boards.

The story goes that deep beneath the Atlantic Ocean, forgotten for the best part of a century, lies a tunnel linking London and New York.

It was built on the whim of a Victorian inventor with the aim of linking two great cities and developing the kind of friendship that exists today. And now his great grand son has “opened” up the tunnel and brought this vision to reality.

If you could see through a tunnel to another place, which city or town would you choose and why? What would you say to someone on the other side?

And what other tunnel “tall tales” have you heard lately?!

Sometimes I feel super lucky…and last week was one of those weeks! I won two contests on the internet. Though the prizes were small, I was so excited! (I won my awesome 22 inch widescreen monitor about 7 months ago online too!!) It makes you feel special and you want to cheer. So what were the prizes you ask? A Supernatural graphix book signed by Eric Kripke (he is the creator of Supernatural or something like that) and someone else (hee hee) and then I won a t-shirt with a monkey on it. I need some shirts! It’s summer time here and the long sleeve shirts won’t cut it anymore!

Have you won any contests? Please tell…I would love to hear what the biggest prize won has been.

Mike here,

NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander touched down on the northern polar region of mars on the 25th May at 4.53pm pacific time. This is one of the first images it saw as it opened its eyes.

So when you opened your eyes this morning, what did you see? The vast arctic plains of Vastitas Borealis or something a bit more down to earth?