10lives.co.uk

My parents are coming to visit and stay for the weekend. This provokes two reactions in me. The first is joy at seeing them for the weekend and showing them around where I live now. The second is dread, at the state of my house, and the work I'm going to have to do to get it in order by Friday.

I guess I'll be spending all my evenings this week cleaning! My place isn't a state, but my parents are pretty house proud and love entertaining so the house is always in top condition!

My garden's in pretty good condition though, I have friends around for barbecues quite a lot, so I've got nice decked patio with a sturdy set of metal garden furniture, a parasol and even some solar powered lights that my Dad'll be impressed with!

I've been talking a lot recently about the cervical cancer jab that everyone was talking about so much a few months back. I have a younger sister who'll soon be at the age she can get it, and I think that she should, though my parents are still thinking about it.

You can get the Cervarix jab free on the NHS and protects against two HPV strains (numbers 16 and 18) that cause 70 per cent of cervical cancer cases, or you can pay £450 and get Gardasil, which protects against two more (numbers six and 11) that cause genital warts.

It's a hefty price, but it can protect girls against both cervical cancer and an STI that is still rife in the UK. With Gardasil, girls will never have to have genital warts treatment, though obviously they'll still need to protect themselves against all other STIs.

I think it's great that we can get Cervarix on the NHS, and it's an opportunity every young girl should take to protect themselves.

I love my iPhone and I LOVE getting new apps and looking at something new. Of course my favourite app is Angry Birds. Everyone loves Angry Birds - I don’t know who doesn’t.

I am also not ashamed to admit I check my updates most days to see if there is one for Angry Birds so I can have a go at some new levels. Although I am not sad enough yet to complete all levels with three stars.

But that is beside the point! This week I went all a little ‘app spree’ and downloaded quite a few! One of my favourites this week is the Daily Mail app. Now the Daily Mail online is the second biggest online paper after the New York Times and their app is all the content online. It almost rivals the Guardian App which is amazing!

Another one this week which is good is the G STAR Raw app which shows their collections and also runway videos too. It includes men’s and women’s fashions and also a store locator! I recommend this one too!

As you know, I've been thinking about getting a bike for a number of reasons. But today has just made my decision even more firm.

I left my car on a meter and went over by about 4 minutes and got given a parking ticket! I didn't see the parking warden who left it so they must've scarpered quick or left the ticket before the time even ran out.

I'm so annoyed, I was literally a mere matter of minutes late and now I have to pay a £60 fine. It's so unfair. I don't even have the money, I'm filling out a Wonga.com loan application to pay it before it doubles.

So I'm going to bite the bullet and get myself a bike when I next get paid - I can park where I want to for free then! And no worrying about petrol, train fares, bus passes, oyster top-ups, none of it. I can't wait!

... on those skinny single speed bikes these days.

I used to scoff at them like a lot of people still do, with the usual: "Bikes need gears, how do they go up hills?" and "You kind of need breaks on a bike dude!"

But they've certainly grown on me, and looking into them more they seem to be really great bikes, now I'm thinking about getting one for myself.

I'd definitely save on travel costs to and from work, and it'd be great to get fit by cycling every day. Would be great in summer too - no stinking hot buses and trains!

They range in cost but I'd want to get a decent one, I saw a lovely Cannondale in the window of a local shop, but it was a couple of thousand so I'll be setting my budget a bit lower than that!

Just as well I saved by using a website to compare electricity prices, as well as insurance and other bills, so I've been saving a bit. And the long term benefits and savings should be well worth it. Now to recap on my cycling proficiency...