Thumbs Up/Watered down: The hugely inflated price of bottled water in Ireland frequently prompts readers to get in touch but today we find ourselves in the unusual position of highlighting the opposite. Nourish, the chain of health food stores, is currently selling 500ml bottles of Volvic mineral water for just 59 cent. We are told the promotion is going to last until the end of the month.
Thumbs Up/All hail snail mail
The death of snail mail may still be some time off, if the results of a survey by the Royal Mail in Britain is anything to go by. The volume of items sent annually through the post in Britain soared by five billion over the past decade.
Alcohol and food was one of the fastest growing sectors, with deliveries more than quadrupling between 1995 and 2005. An upturn in home shopping meant clothing and shoe deliveries more than trebled over the 10-year period. The data comes from "mail diaries" kept by 100,000 households over the course of a decade. While much of the increase can be attributed to junk mail, hand-written mail has also enjoyed a boost, driven by the popularity of birthday and other greeting cards, the survey found.
Thumbs Down/Bills or heels?
Some 25 per cent of women would quite happily spend money earmarked for bills on new shoes, according to a survey published in Harper's Bazaar last week, despite the fact that 50 per cent of them already own more than 30 pairs. The fashion and lifestyle magazine interviewed 1,000 men and women to find out how far women would go for their feet.
Thumbs Down/Yum, it's a Hummer
With oil prices going through the roof, Americans (at least some of them) appear to have finally seen a little sense and sales of Hummers - which can do about 11 miles to the gallon - are declining. However, McDonald's seems keen to buck this trend, and last week started the "Hummer of a Summer" promotion, putting toy Hummers in its Happy Meal boxes.
