Tag: online

Guest Post: 7 Reasons Why You Should Shop Online

There was tension in the office when Clive accused Deborah of stealing his voucher code

1. Shopping naked. Let’s face it, we all love a bit of nudity, but unfortunately public displays of it tend to be frowned upon. As such, going down to the local shopping centre in the buff may result in you going home in a police car. However, in the comfort of your own home, you can shop naked, cross dress or even wear your underpants on your head.

2. Cashback. A shopper’s dream is to be paid to shop so who would have thought you would be given a discount simply for shopping; well this is the case with the internet. There are various sites that track purchases and return a percentage of the sale to your wallet. If you’re feeling generous you can even use this to donate through sites like easyfundraising.org.uk.

3. Shopping for a partner. The internet really has opened our eyes to what people will pay for. Nowadays, you can pay for almost anything online from the meaning of life to a 10-year old Virgin Mary grilled cheese (real ebay sales). In terms of more normal behaviour, people have also turned to the internet to solve their relationship problems and now through sites like Lovestruck.com you can even pay for the chance to find love.

4. Keeping your sanity. Once you do find that soul mate through an online dating service, it’s important to do as much as you can to avoid going shopping with them. Connected by an invisible wire, many men have lost their marbles whilst accompanying their partners on shopping trips, which is another reason for why you should shop online.

5. No walking. Movement is overrated. Going shopping in actual shops requires so much walking that there have been reported cases of legs literally turning to jelly. To avoid this unlikely scenario it’s best to play it safe and shop online.

6. No carrying. Keeping on the same topic of protecting your body, physical shopping often requires a lot of bag-carrying. For those looking to enter bodybuilding contests, this form of shopping is ideal but for the rest of us, the online method is more suitable. Shopping is supposed to be therapeutic and relaxing, if we all wanted to work out, we’d be better off going to the gym.

7. The internet is our master. You might not actually know this but the internet has slowly become our master and as such, we must obey it. If it asks us to browse on a daily basis, we must! If it asks us to post status updates every 5 seconds, we must! And if it asks us to shop online, who are we to disagree with the all-seeing, all-knowing, all-loving internet.

October 17, 2012
Guest Post: 7 Reasons You Should Sell Your House Online

Is it time to move on, move up and move out? Do you need to sell your property in a stress free and easy to manage process that will leave you with more moolah for home improvements? Then you need to sell your house online. Here’s why:

1. You Don’t Need To Leave The Sofa. Yes that’s right, you can sell your home without even leaving the sofa. That’s providing you have a laptop or a tablet and the internet at home. The beauty of using an internet estate agent is that they prefer to do business online, so from initial sign up to general communication you can use email, an online account on their website and even Skype for your calls.

2. You Don’t Have To Deal With Salesmen And Receptionists In Branch. If you live a quiet life you may well enjoy popping in to town on a rainy day to catch up with your estate agent on the progress of your house sale, waiting around in their shiny office and having to make small talk with the receptionist while the sales men gets off the phone. However, if like most of us you find salesmen trying on your patience, you will be please to know that online agents work differently by giving you a personal account manager at the end of the phone and on email.

3. You Can Save A Lot Of Money. By cutting out the high street sales man you will be saving hundreds, probably thousands of pounds in estate agent fees that would normally be wasted on fancy shop fronts, neon lighting and receptionists. Online agents tend to cap their fees or work on a fixed rate for all so there’s no need to worry when you achieve a good sale price that all of your profit will go on commission.

4. More Potential Buyers Will See Your Property For Sale. Internet estate agents have some special marketing boosters up their sleeves when it comes to selling your property. Because they are online, they are able to effectively capture massive lists of email address and to send out details of your property to those who may be interested as soon as it goes online. Add to that the ability to feature properties to have them sit at the top of the main pages of websites like RightMove, and you’ll be fighting off the viewing requests with a stick.

5. You’ll See Real Life Feedback. Having a customer account on the online estate agents website lets you see all sorts of reports and information that you may not get from a high street agent. You’ll be able to see statistics on how many people have clicked on your property details, how many people have asked for further information and whether there has been any useful feedback to take on board from previous viewings

6. You Can Work Out Of Hours. Because the online agents don’t have a branch, they don’t expect everyone to be able to work within their hours. No storming through rush hour traffic in your lunch break to steal a chat with these guys – you can email them at your leisure and log in to your account whenever you take fancy.

7. You Get All The Things You Would With A Non-Online Agent. Even though the cost of selling your house online is much cheaper, this doesn’t mean the service you will receive is not as good. You’ll have everything you need from a floor plan to a for sale sign and even someone to come and show people around and close the deal for you while you’re still sat on that sofa.

June 8, 2012
Guest Post: 7 Reasons Why Christmas Should Happen In June

We are sure many of you remember with great fondness our attempts at rebranding the 24th December as ‘The Day Of The Sausage’. Sadly – and wrongly – the idea never captured the imagine of the masses. As such we have long been looking for a new festive-based campaign to get behind. And we may have found it in today’s guest post. Over to Sam.

***

I’ve had enough of Christmas in December and reckon it’d be far more fun if it were to occur in June. Here are seven reasons why!

1. Christmas Shopping Would Be Fun. I don’t, as a rule, dislike buying my family and friends Christmas gifts. However, I do dislike turning out onto busy, dark, weather-battered streets in search of the perfect pressie. The ensuing festive scrum is just unpleasant. Admittedly moving the event to June wouldn’t lessen the crowds, but I have a theory. Defending oneself from the elements with sweaters, jumpers, coats, scarfs and the rest increases ones size. I, for a while, owned an anorak that was large enough to warrant its own seat on the underground. If Christmas happened in June this wouldn’t be an issue, t-shirts, vest tops, shorts and skirts would give us room to breathe. And it is also worth mentioning it would negate the instant sauna effect every time you enter a store that occurs with our current date arrangement. Imagine the possibilities. It’d be a merry stroll on sunny streets and, when you were done, an ice cream in the park.

2. Online Christmas Shopping Would Be Less Fraught With Potential Pitfalls. I’ve not finished with Christmas shopping yet. A counter to point one would be the suggestion that the modern Christmas shopper notices that it’s December 1st and promptly makes a cup of coffee and a cheese toasty, before sitting down at their computer and surfing straight to various gift themed websites. A click here and a click there and your Crimbo shopping is done quicker than you can say, “I am a gift giving god!” And you are – as long as there is no adverse weather forecast. It’s December though, and adverse weather is what December really likes to do. Cue impenetrable blizzards and M5 stranded delivery drivers eating that hamper of chocolates you ordered.

3. Santa Would Become A Positive Role Model. Currently Santa is a heart attack waiting to happen. In a world of health awareness holding this fellow aloft as the most important person in a young person’s life alongside Pikachu is surely a bad idea. Christmas in summer would see Santa trim in no time. He’d sweat off those extra 200 pounds he’s carrying in a couple of years, especially having to scoot around the world in half the usual time due to shorter nights.

4. Cold Weather Is Rubbish! Having already mentioned the weather in points 1 and 2 does not negate the requirement for an entry on its own merit. Cold weather is miserable. Plus it’s not just the cold; it’s the sideways rain and hip-breaking conditions underfoot. Historically, aside from the Jesus’ birthday deal, it is reckoned the celebration took place in sync with the winter solstice to lift spirits because everyone was miserable due to the short days, crappy weather and that there was little agricultural work to be done. Sensible? Maybe, but sensible never went hand-in-hand with a cracking celebration. Let’s go outside and party like it’s Christmas in June and pushing 100 Fahrenheit. Oh hang on, it is!

5. No More Mulled Wine. “Hot wine?! No thanks, you’re mad.” This is the correct response when someone offers you mulled wine, except if it is Christmas when you smile and swallow it down as if hot wine if the norm. It isn’t, but seemingly it is only brought out due to the fact it’s December and we’re all freezing. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather sit outside in June’s summer sun and celebrate my Christmas by reaching in to a bucket of ice for a chilled beer.

6. I Wouldn’t Get Combined Birthday And Christmas Presents. I’m not an ungrateful sort, but for the best part of quarter of a century I’ve been the receiver of combined Christmas and birthday presents due to my parents bad planning. Yes, I have an early January birthday. Switching to June would give all those suffering the same fate a taste of two awesome gift receiving occasions that are nicely spaced throughout the year.

7. Why Not? Why not indeed? I can’t think of a reason. And as they say, a change is as good as rest. Besides when we switch we’ll be getting two Christmas celebrations within 12 months, how cool is that?! It’ll boost the economy and raise public moral. I know I’ve criticised certain elements of the December-based festivity, but it is the most wonderful time of the year. In fact, are there any negatives to just adding another Christmas in June? If we do that every one’s happy. What could be more Christmas spirited than that?!

Sam C campaigns by night for the redistribution of national holidays, whilst by day contributing to the e-commerce site, Find Me A Gift.

March 13, 2012
Guest Post: 7 Reasons Why You Spent Last Valentine’s Day Alone

It’s nearly that time of year when happy couple swarm the streets and single people start to cry. Well, it’s not that bad but why not turn you’re luck around this year by realising why you spent last Valentine’s Day alone. Here are seven reasons why:

1. You Spent The Day In Tears. Okay, so you find the whole thing hard to take. It’s a day to celebrate love and you were alone. But looking glum about it isn’t going to make you attractive to others. There are plenty of single people out there and they all feel the same way as you. So smile and share the love!

2. You Hid Away At Home. Sitting indoors watching telly is not the way to meet someone. You might think restaurants and bars will be packed out with couples but you would be wrong! Do you know how many gangs of singles head out to celebrate St. Valentine’s? Put your glad rags on and head out in to the night.

3. Desperado. On the other hand, acting desperate is not the best way to go. You’re single now, but it probably won’t be forever. So don’t panic and start hitting on every person in the bar. Take your time and wait to meet someone really special. As soon as you do it will only be a short time to wait for St. Valentine’s Day bliss!

4. You’re Too Picky. It’s good to have standards, but some people are just too picky. Yes, you have a type, but ignoring potential singles that don’t fit an exact mould can be detrimental to dating happiness. Take a chance and get to know someone before you write him or her off.

5. You’re A Hermit. Do you spend all your time playing computer games or alone in a field taking photographs or birds? Having a hobby is part of what makes you you, but why not share it with others? Join a club and start meeting other people that share your interests. If you are dating Brisbane is a big city with lots to do. Who knows? You might just meet your soul mate.

6. You’re Never Without Your Mates. Having good friends is important and that should never change, but what if your bosom buddiness leaves no room for anyone else? Approaching someone you fancy in the middle of a group of his or her mates can be fairly daunting. Perhaps you are just so busy with your friends that you miss out on love. So make sure that you do things on your own sometimes. Take the dog for a walk, go swimming and notice other people around you. Being open to meeting people outside of your circle of friends could be the key to dating success.

7. You Have Your Eyes Shut. To meet someone new you have to have your eyes peeled. That doesn’t mean staring at everyone but just opening your eyes and looking around you is a good way to start. Single people just like you have to go shopping, commute to work, exercise and do all the daily things that you do. So take a look around you next time you’re down the laundrette and notice all the other single people waiting for you to meet them!

February 22, 2012
Guest Post: 7 Reasons Why The Internet Can Save You Money

1. At Your Fingertips. If you need car or house insurance, or even a credit card or a loan, there are now lots of comparison sites out there that can help you find the cheapest option for you. So instead of having to call or even visit these places, you can now find the best options at the click of a button. You’ll save immediately. And not just money. Think of the time you’ve just saved. That can be put to good use straight away. There’s bound to be something good on ITV 3.

2. Free Delivery. Before the internet age, if you wanted something to eat, you’d usually have to cook it yourself. And although that probably is the cheapest option, it’s incredibly tiresome. It also makes a mess out of those pans. Which is why ordering your chicken jalfrezzi online seems like the perfect solution. No petrol costs to get you to the takeaway and no eating it on the bus on the way home before it gets cold.

3. Smaller Is Better. Internet and mobile technology has advanced. And so have coupons. You no longer need to stuff your bag full of paper when you’re shopping for a bargain. You can just use an internet code. If you’re a big coupon hunter, just think of all the space you’ll save. Fewer coupons, smaller handbag*. Smaller handbag**, cheaper price.

4. Get Social. More and more businesses are starting to take notice of social media. And with so many of us using the likes of Twitter and Facebook, so they should. A simple click of the ‘follow’ or ‘like’ button will open your feed up to discount codes, exclusive sales and ‘behind-the-scenes’ videos that no one wants to see. Well worth it then for a freebie. And if you don’t want your friends to know you ‘Like’ Lidl, BHS and Kerry Katona, well, just open up a new account.

5. Keeping The Love Alive. If you’re someone who likes a date or two, or if you’re newly single and ready to mingle, you can have dinner (or even drink) dates over the internet. Get a webcam, get some food, and enjoy each other’s company over Skype. You don’t have to worry about getting a taxi home and the food will cost a lot less than in Pizza Hut. The kissing might be a bit disappointing, but shut the curtains anyway. Don’t want the milkman thinking you’re weird.

6. Thinking Ahead. If you do want to venture out for dinner or drinks, whip out your smartphone and check out the reviews for all the local bars and restaurants. Look for the cheapest place, and you’ve saved a bit of money already. Yes, everywhere will have the odd bad review, but generally the person who said, ‘Don’t visit! The soup was cold!!! :-(‘ actually ordered a bowl of gazpacho.

7. Bargain Hunt. You can find pretty much everything you can think of online. Except hoverboards. Well, hoverboards that work anyway. Old DVDs, electrical items and clothes are in abundance on eBay, but it’s also worth checking local recycling groups on Facebook and Google. In some cases, like Freecycle in London, you can pick up someone’s unwanted tat for nothing. And as they say, one man’s tat is another man’s hat. Something like that.

* Or manbag.

** Or manbag.

February 7, 2012
Guest Post: 7 Reasons Why Your Granny Will Always Prefer Offline Bingo

We all love our Grannies, it brightens up our day by just seeing them: well, most of the time they do. It is kind of a stereotypical view to say that only old people play bingo, but this is a misconception with online bingo; however, offline bingo is defiantly more popular amongst the older generation. Below are seven reasons why your Granny can be found chilling at her local bingo hall.

1. Technology. The latest technology/gadgets and the older generation simply do not mix. Usually if your grandma has a mobile phone it will look like the following:

As long as it makes and receives calls then that is all that is required. To play online bingo you will need not only an internet connect but a PC and knowing how to operate the PC and the online functionality of flash software. All of which is a pain unless you grew up with your eyeballs glued to a PC monitor.

2. Good Old Banter. Your Granny loves to talk…well, mine does. I can never shut her up, lol (bless her). What would be more fitting than a game that revolves around talking? Offline bingo is extremely social, so granny can chin wag to all her friends for a couple of hours. We tend to be at out lowest when we feel alone, a few hours of socialising is just what the doctor order to keep your grandma happy as Larry.

3. It Gets Her Out Of The House. As you get older you tend not to go out of the house as much, especially if your partner is no longer with you. Travelling to your local bingo club once a week is something you look forward to. Just logging on a computer in your home still makes you feel isolated.

4. It Makes Her Day. We all love to win, even if the price is nothing spectacular. Usually at bingo clubs the prizes are around the respectable £25 per house jackpot that are defiantly worth the 5p/25p a ticket. If she wins you grandchildren are the ones that usually benefit, so keep routing for her.

5. She Is Down With The Kids. Grannies are cool, end off. They love to do cool things and they love to be in with the trend. Millions of UK people and people from all around the world love to play offline and online bingo, the gambling sport is huge.

6. Not As It Once Was. As you get older your hearing and sight are not as good as they once were. This does not make it any better with a tiny monitor and speakers. At your local bingo club the bingo callers have voices that wish you had a remote control handy and the tickets are easy to see.

7. Using The Bus Pass. In the UK, when you get to a certain age you qualify for a free bus pass that entitles you to ride on bus for free (unsure if the US issue them). Visiting her local bingo hall gives her a reason to use her bus pass. Well, if it costs you nothing to get there…why not?

Next time you ask your Grandma: “Grandma, why do you play bingo all the time, you never win?” Think to yourself, it is not always about the winning.

December 28, 2011
7 Reasons To Personalise Your Own Christmas Cards

With just a matter of weeks to go before Christmas, why not do things differently this year? Why not get organised and avoid the mad mid-December rush? One way to avoid the inevitable queue is to use Hallmark Cards and their online personalised Christmas card service. Need convincing? Time to read on.

1. From Me, To You. Let’s begin with the obvious. A personalised card is just that. Unique in every way. Unless someone else also writes, “Dear Lucy, Merry Christmas, Love From Samuel. PS: I’ll try not to put your wooden leg on the fire this year!”. But let’s be honest, that’s highly unlikely. A personalised card means more. It means you have actually given it some thought. It means you haven’t just run down to the petrol station and bought the last copy of that magazine with free Christmas cards attached. That’s the true spirit of Christmas right there.

2. Technophobes. If your parents are from an era before technology took over the world, why not have some fun with them this Christmas? On opening a card and seeing it printed, “Dear Dad, Love From Charlotte,” your father will almost certainly ask you how your name is printed inside. You can either tell him that you went around the country in search of a card with the name Charlotte in it – which will impress him and make him feel loved no end – or you can explain that it’s an intellicard. Basically, that’s a card that uses remarkable technology to decipher the name of both sender and recipient simply by touch. And yes, an intelligence is particularly good if you’ve just bought your Dad socks. Again. He’ll ignore his present and be baffled by the card for hours.

3. Something For All. Finding suitable Christmas cards for different people gets harder and harder each year. Using Hallmark’s personalised service though, you can be sure that you are going to get the right card for the right person. There are traditional cards for those who celebrate Christmas as a religious festival, bright and colourful cards for those who use it as an excuse to party and an OK magazine card for the celebrity addict in the family. Who, incidentally, should be shut in a room by themselves for the day. Probably with Katie Price’s latest picture book.

4. Attention To Detail. This reason probably applies for the more haphazard sex, but we won’t discount women. For many people a card is the last thing they think about buying. Usually five minutes before the shops close on Christmas Eve. As a result they fly into the nearest retailer and pick up the first one they see. Then they get home and realise it says ‘sister’, ‘aunt’ or ‘my little fantasy’ instead of ‘wife’. Not good. Get online and use Hallmark’s personalised Christmas cards service. It’ll help you concentrate the mind and make sure you won’t spend most of Christmas morning trying to cover up the word ‘secretary’ with a felt tip pen.

5. Children. Toy manufacturers make a killing at Christmas. Not literally, obviously. As Herod demonstrated, that would be wrong. We mean they make a lot of money. Simply by making children want toys they don’t need. It’s genius. But very expensive for the parents. So this year don’t give them a present. Give them a card that’s better than a present. Thanks to Hallmark Cards your child can now star alongside Woody and Buzz on a Christmas card. Your children won’t want a present, they’ll want to know when Toy Story 4 is coming out. (It should be said this will only work with young children. By the time they’re 24 they’re fairly wise to that sort of thing).

6. Words and Pictures. Why is it that whenever you find a card with a half-decent design, the words inside always read, “Merry Christmas to the one I love, you keep me warm and snug on the sheepskin rug”? Similarly, you might find a verse that doesn’t make you vomit all over the card rack, but the front of the card says, “To my step-mum’s sister’s daughter’s boyfriend”. You can’t give that to your brother – unless he is your brother we suppose. It’s far better to get online, choose the design you want and write the wants you need to say.

7. This Is Us! You know those sickly yearly newsletters that you in get in Christmas cards from some families – the one that tells you Tarquin went Zambia on his gap year and set up a water buffalo sanctuary – well, a personalised card is perfect retribution. On many of the cards you can add a photo, and with so many photo editing packages out there it would seem rude not to show the smug ones exactly where you’ll be that Christmas. Nestled above an accompanying photo should be the words, “Merry Christmas From Sir Richard Branson’s Private Island!” That’ll shut them up. They’ll probably take you off their Christmas card list too. That’ll save a stamp.

October 30, 2011
Two Posts On A Friday?! What’s Going On?!

My Lords, Ladies, gentlemen and uncategorised people that aren’t covered in the first three, prepare to be astonished! Prepare to be amazed! Prepare to gaze upon something new in wonderment and with awe! We have something to announce and it’s big news. Here we go.

When we opened the 7 Reasons Emporium, we got all the products designed and ready and then we realised that we had nowhere to sell them and the shop got put together as a bit of an afterthought. We tried to make it work as a part of our website’s theme (and failed) so we had to build a new site for it and we modified an existing theme to make it work. Neither of the team were thrilled with the look or functionality of this theme and, as people that pride themselves on their eye(s) for design and general web savviness, that hurt.

We realised that we had to redesign the Emporium for the sake of our own self-respect. It got to the stage that we didn’t like to look at even. We weren’t sure when we were going to be able to fit a redesign in (we’ve only just redone the main website) but then one of the team (we won’t mention which one) had a brilliant idea. “Jon”, he said, “I’ve found the time to redesign our emporium. I’ve calculated that we waste at least six hours every day just lying in the dark*. Let’s use those wasted hours to set up a new site and build a new emporium.” So that’s what we’ve been doing for the last ten days or so.

Now, the 7 Reasons Emporium 2.0 is here. It’s new, it’s shiny, it’s got stuff that moves, it looks absolutely bloody lovely and it’s got giant lemons. We’re so happy with it that we grin like idiots whenever we look at it and feel dizzy whenever we stand up**. We’d like to encourage you to visit it, to click on things and to generally gaze at it (and buy stuff). We’re even offering 10% off the price of all t-shirts this weekend to celebrate the relaunch. We’d love to hear your feedback and product ideas, which can be directed to this email address. We hope you enjoy the new emporium,

Marc and Jon.

*Separately.

**That may be fatigue.***

***Or gin.

June 3, 2011
7 Reasons to Shop With 7 Reasons

You’ve laughed with us, you’ve cried with us, you’ve watched us, you’ve read us, you’ve heard us, you’ve written for us, you’ve tweeted with us, you’ve got engaged with us, you’ve had a baby with us and probably other stuff too. And now, in a new and exciting development, you can shop with 7 Reasons. And here are seven reasons that you should.

1. Be Unique. Everyone wants to feel distinctive, unique and a bit special. And, if you purchase a 7 Reasons t-shirt, the chances are very high that it will actually be unique. After all, how many people are you likely to bump into in your local pub wearing the same Haystack Poking Patrol t-shirt as you? And even in the unlikely event that you did meet someone else in a pub wearing that same t-shirt, you could just say, “Hello Marc” and I’d probably buy you a beer. You’ll be unique or you’ll get beer. That sounds like a good deal.

2. To Marvel At The Emporium. The 7 Reasons team have (amongst other things) expertise in web design and the retail sector. You might think that this would make putting together an online shop easy. But you’d be wrong. Because in typical 7 Reasons style, the one with the retail background did the web design and the one with the web design background is in charge of the retail side of things (and did everything else). So if it does crash or start randomly giving away free merchandise you’ll be there to witness/benefit.

3. Because Our Wares Are Really Jolly Good. I didn’t have anything to do with the design of the lemon t-shirt (God or Darwin, depending on your viewpoint, designed the lemon and Jonathan Lee did the rest), so I can say this. It’s bloody brilliant. Look at it! Just look at it! It’s really a beautiful piece of design. It’s a pop-art pie-chart in lemon. Who wouldn’t want to wear that, other than the abjectly wrong and gits? No one.

4. Innovation. Because the product range will grow as we think of more things to add. We’re already looking into producing 7 Reasons Inspirational Beer-Mats, calendars and fridge-magnets, so you’ll never know what you might find there: A 7 Reasons horse; a 7 Reasons handbag; a 7 Reasons his and his voodoo doll set; a replica 7 Reasons sofa. Anything. Or if you don’t find what you want, you might eventually, because…

5. We’re interactive. We can’t think of everything. We’ve tried and have gotten distracted by girls and tiramisu and things. But we love great ideas and, if you’ve thought of something you’d like to see in the 7 Reasons shop that isn’t there, you can email us and, if we think it’s a good idea, we’ll look into making it. And we’ll probably put your name on it too, unless it’s something really small – or embarrassing – in which case we won’t. Or if you have a really long name like Bartholomew Constantine Washington Penderghast the third, we might not. But if you’re called Jennifer Aniston we definitely will, and that’s a promise.

6. Incentive. Has any other website ever encouraged you to invade a country? Yes, probably, but only evil ones. We’re nice chaps though, and we’d like to encourage a more benign, civilised, conquest: So the first five readers that are photographed standing atop the Eiffel Tower waving a Union Flag and wearing one of our France Invasion t-shirts will get the money they spent on the t-shirt refunded.*

7. Because We’re Very Excited. So excited, in fact, that we spent a couple of hours putting this post together about our shop and forgot to include a link to it. So here it is (this is the link). Now go and shop till you drop! Or at least until your arms are very full and you feel a little faint.**

*We can sometimes tell the difference between the Blackpool and Eiffel towers and we’re also quite good at spotting things that have been photoshopped so no tomfoolery, please.

**I – Marc – would like to thank my colleague Jonathan Lee for all of the effort that he put into the shop and the merchandise (and for fielding slightly ranty emails about World War Two font styles and spacing without ever losing his cool). Never let it be said that he doesn’t work very, very hard indeed.

April 8, 2011
Guest Post: 7 Reasons Why Eating Out Is Better Than Cooking At Home

Welcome to another Saturday. We can’t take credit for the weekend, but we can take credit for the sensational Guest Post slot. Over the last year we have had a diverse mix of guest post, but the one thing we haven’t had is someone telling us why we should go out to eat. Today that changes as we are joined on the 7 Reasons sofa by Sophie Jenkins. I say we are ‘joined’, that’s not exactly true. The 7 Reasons sofa has been abandoned somewhere between York and Kent due to snow. So Sophie is actually alone. But that’s good because she can put her feet up. Which is not something you can do if you eat out. But that’s the only disadvantage there is, as Sophie now explains. And if you like what you read you may well want to check out Bookatable. Maybe on the Bookatable website, the Bookatable facebook page or the Bookatable twitter page. They’ve got it covered.

Dirty Dinner by Cinnamon Cooper

1. Laziness. The first obvious reason is ease. Just go out to eat! No cooking, no washing up all those pans (pans are the worst, cutlery is easy), no cleaning the mess you made in the kitchen. Just book a table, turn up at the restaurant, order, eat, pay and leave. Preferably in that order. In the words of Aleksandr the meerkat – Simples!

2. Shopping. No food shopping, trudging around busy and noisy (and often freezing cold) supermarkets trying to decide what on earth to buy. Even if you have a recipe in mind, the supermarket will no doubt have run out of the ingredients you need, or they will be too bizarre to ever feature on the shelves anyway. If you do find the necessary ingredients after hours of hunting, you then have the fun of lugging heavy bags home too! None of this at a restaurant, because of…..

3. Service. These are perhaps all following the ‘lazy’ thread, but at a restaurant you are not only allowed to be lazy, you are meant to be lazy. People are there to wait on you hand and foot! Plus it’s not like at home, where your parents/partner/younger sibling/flatmate have a moan about being subjected to your orders – in a restaurant people are paid to serve you and not complain about it! Dream come true?

4. Taste. What are you going to cook at home? Spaghetti bolognaise again?! Boring. Maybe you will try to branch out and cook something new. Erm, this doesn’t taste right…Just eat out! You can eat food you would never in a million years be able to cook, try food you have never seen or heard of before! Even if you do order the usual spag bol, it’s going to taste better than what you would have thrown together at home. Do you have a Michelin star? No. Does the chef at the restaurant? Well, that depends on the restaurant I suppose.

5. Safety. Oops, is the microwave meant to be flaming? You can eat pork medium-rare, right? What happened to the hamster…? No risk of fire, flooding, and much less risk of food poisoning. It is much safer to ditch the oven and eat out every night instead. Let a professional take care of the difficult and dangerous bits, while you sit in comfort and stress-free safety.

6. Convenience. A friend/grandparent/in-law wants to see you for lunch. The house looks like a bomb has hit it from the party you had the night before. You woke up late, hungover, and definitely don’t have time to tidy the mess AND cook an impressive meal! Meet at a restaurant instead! There is no need for anyone to set foot in the nightmare that is your house, or any chance of that impressive meal becoming an inedible disaster. Eating out makes life so much easier (and if you foot the bill it still looks like you made a huge effort).

7. Surprise. When you pop into a restaurant, you never know who you will meet – Johnny Depp might be sat at the table next to you (fingers and toes crossed)! He is, however, less likely to turn up at your house for your spicy chilli, no matter how infamous it may be (have to cross your toes as well as fingers for that one).

You can make online table bookings for free through sites like Bookatable.com, from chains like Prezzo to high-end restaurants such as The Ivy. It couldn’t be easier if it tried!

December 4, 2010