Trials & tribulations - Great Free Survey Sites: Never pay to belong to one

I think it"s about time I mentioned survey sites where you can earn some money filling out market research surveys. In my experience, the higher paying sites require you to sign up for some sort of trial of a product or service - not a lot of good if you, like me are in no need for weight loss products for example. Often you"ll be offered a free trial of the product but you have to submit your credit card number. This is not so great if you have a memory like a siv because at the end of the trial, money gets deducted from your account This is perfectly legal of course but you would have to be vigilant
The paid survey lists are only really any good if you live in America but for the UK there"s plenty of free lists of the main sites. Good ones include Toluna [see add opposite] where you can earn points which you can redeem for vouchers from various stores. You just sign up for free & you"ll be sent surveys pretty regularly, although as in my case you won"t qualify for all of them. You can also participate in sponsored polls where you earn points and even create your own on any subject you want I personally created quite a few on music for instance & received thousands of votes.

Trials & tribulations - Went to Dudley

With Christmas & new year gone I still had my birthday to celebrate on the 8th Jan. which I don"t really look forward to as I"m not getting any younger & my friends always forget it with it being so near xmas. The good thing though is that I get two lots of presents.
Last Monday, I traveled down to Dudley, W Midlands by train for a course & it was so cold that the rivers in Birmingham [or canals] were frozen over - just hope no-one tried to walk across then. When I eventually arrived in Dudley by bus, it was dark & the pavements were like ice rinks. Also I didn"t know the town at all so I tried to use my mobile as I had a list for accommodation but there was hardly any signal & my battery was low. Anyway as I was on foot, I made my way towards the town centre - it was a case of picking any direction & following it. Luckily, I picked the right one & ended up in the nearest pub. It was great there as the people were very friendly & gave me a number of The Lamp Tavern pub which did B&B which I couldn"t ring as my battery had given up - maybe because of the cold. Anyway I made my way towards there & stopped of at another pub. They let me charge my battery up there so I rang The Lamp Tavern but they didn"t have a room so I rang some numbers on my list but they couldn"t help as It was too late by then. As I was facing the harrowing prospect of sleeping outside in the snow, someone gave me the name of a hotel & they had rooms for £50 a night - more than I wanted to pay but much better than the alternative. I got a cab to the hotel & the on-suite room was really good. - cont.later: