Hey guys!

So today was the hottest day of the year so far…Which will probably mean the hottest day of the year full stop 😛

I decided to make the most of it and headed down to the beach…The good thing about living in Newcastle is that it’s really close to the coast, so I went to all of our coastal places; Tynemouth, Cullercoats and Whitley Bay which are all next door to each other. There’s a few beaches such as Longsands and King Edwards Bay, which I think is the best one.

It looks like everyone else had the same idea, I was there quite early but the beaches were starting to fill up pretty quickly. I then headed into Newcastle where we have Seaside at the Quayside…A really cool idea which has been going for a couple of years now. We have a little beach right on the quayside, which comes complete with sand, chairs and of course beach huts. What other place has this in the middle of their city?! 😀

I hope you had a great day today, hopefully it will be one of many, and we’ll get more over the weekends rather than a “work” day 😉

Check out all the pics below…

Read More

My collection of Hard Rock Café T Shirts keeps on growing, I recently got one from Mallorca as a present.

I’ve got so many now, most from places I’ve been to, and others as presents because I sort of collect them…Well, I buy one from whatever city I go to if they have a Hard Rock Café 😉

This one is navy blue and has a distressed Hard Rock graphic on the front.

Where will my next one be from…Who knows 😉

I cannot imagine not having the radio in my life. It’s something which I wake up to, and have done for so many years, from school days right up to today, I still love the radio in the days of online which I obviously love too.

VQ got in touch with me to feature one of their cool radios and put it through it’s paces, so I naturally said I would. If you’ve not heard of VQ you can sum them up in a few words; Stylish, British and colourful. With that in mind you’ll understand the naming of the models of their products, this pocket radio has been named Blighty, and comes in traditional colours of dark grey, and red and cream. Style and colour are two important key factors to the design, which has a high quality anodised aluminium finish and plastic chrome style buttons.

DAB+ Radio

I am new to DAB, very new. I have always wanted a DAB radio, but I’ve never actually went out and got myself one. If you’re unfamiliar with DAB, it’s Digital Audio Broadcasting, which basically means digital quality, and there’s more stations than what’s on the standard FM dial. There’s lots of stations which I listen to on TV via Freeview or SKY because they’re not on FM, which is kind of odd listening to the radio through your TV, but it’s the only way. I was a fan of the Chris Moyles Breakfast Show, and was sad when it left Radio 1, but now he’s back on Radio X. This is a DAB only station, so it’s not on FM and so I’ve had to listen to it via SKY. Now I will be able to listen to it on a morning once again but through the Blighty radio.

Other stations on there which I love is 1Xtra, my favourite show being Charlie Sloth (the best looking fat guy in the universe) on weekdays. It has traditional FM stations too, so you can listen to Radio 1 or 2, or any of the other stations on there.

As for the Blighty itself the build quality is pretty good, it’s fairly small and is easily pocketable in jeans or a jacket, and the battery is said to last 10 hours, so if you’re using this on your morning commute to work it should last for a good few days if not all week. It comes with a USB charger cable and pair of ear bud style headphones and has a small 1.6″ screen which is big enough to tell you details including the station, battery life, time and signal quality, as well as the digital read out which the station is using…Usually for the artist and song title; I find this so cool since I’ve never had that feature before, there’s no more wondering what the song is which I love 😉

You can get this from the VQ shop online here for £49 in either the red or grey colours.

Written in collaboration with VQ

I finally got myself a new pair of headphones!

When I am using my PC or listening to music indoors, I always use headphones, so I can listen to my music as loud as I like. I’ve done this for over 10 years now, and in those 10 years I have pretty much only used my Sony MDR-V700 headphones. In fact, I’ve had at least 2 pair (maybe it was 3?) but they’ve always broke after so many years, which is what you may expect, so it’s not so bad. The problem is that Sony stopped making these headphones a few years ago, so I have not been able to buy any. They’ve never really replaced them, there’s a few pair out there, but none as good as the V700.

As you can see in the pic below mine need replacing, they actually needed replacing a long time ago. So many parts have snapped and they’re literally falling apart. Finding a replacement has been tough, I basically wanted exactly the same ones, with the same quality and the same everything. they’re actually DJ headphones, and have closed back, a coiled cable on one side, and large 50mm drivers.

When I was looking around most the headphones come with 40mm drivers, lots are either Bluetooth or have a straight cable, or just don’t seem to have the same power. I almost went with the Sony MDR-1A headphones, I was looking at these for a while and seemed to fit my needs, other than the fact I’d have to buy a coiled cable separately.

Then I came across the Audio Technica ATH-M50x. They’re really popular, have great reviews, and look almost the same as my old Sony’s I loved so much. They have everything I want, so I went for them, and they’re great!

The sound quality is good, good enough for me, they come with different cables including the coiled cable which I want, and are really comfortable to wear. They come in at around £100, which is around the price-point I want to pay, they’re all black and look sleek, and the build quality seems to be good. They come with various different cables which are interchangeable depending on what you like, and a carry pouch too.

I am so happy I have found the pair of headphones I wanted! I hate looking around for replacements for things because they’re usually never as good as what you’re used to and love, but I am happy to say that these make a good replacement for the old Sony MDR-V700.