When Mrs Facer and myself go out, we tend to enjoy the more obscure days out. Don’t get me wrong, alton towers and Lyme Park are both fun (in their own ways!), but how about visiting a tractor theme park or a crypt with hundreds of human skulls…. it’s all out there! Trouble is, there isn’t really anywhere to list them all!!

Hence the reason we created offbeat attractions, a directory for listing unusual days out in the UK.

We’re slowly building the directory as we come across places we’ve visited or have been recommended by visitors to the site.

Do you have an unusual attraction or place to visit? If so get in touch through the website and we’ll add it. The weirder the better!!

Visit: Offbeat Attractions – Unusual days out in the UK

Lounge

The lounge has changed probably the most. There’s been at least 4 paint changes and countless furniture changes and move-arounds. I was obviously most sorry to see the carpet go…. honestly. I also built a cupboard under the stairs.

Kitchen

The kitchen was the first room to be completed and hasn’t really changed much… other than a paint job and removing the “pantry” cupboard.

Nursery (nee Spare room / office / games room!)

So the spare room became the games room which in turn was my office. Now with the baby due in September, it’s become the Nursery. We’ve decorated it and now it’s all furnished ready for the little one. I’ll update these photos once it’s 100% finished (just waiting for some paint to dry on the custom shelves!)

Garden

This has changed a lot. It was a mass of bushes and pot plants when I moved in. Now it’s a nice sleek (ish) back yard which the wife and I created last summer (2009).

• Cat5 network around the house
• Wireless available around the house
• NAS drive with music (UPNP enabled)

So – how to be in any room and listen to the music. I’ve looked at several options, but all require fairly significant investment. The response to all these is, “for the next house…”. So for this house, we need a temporary / cheapish solution.

Netgear MP101

I had one of these for a while and it worked nicely. It’s wireless, but way too slow for my liking and (as I remember) you had to have some media server running on a PC for it to work. Even when on the wired network it wasn’t terribly fast.

Browsing for artists and albums wasn’t great either. It was clunky and the response time from the remote was too slow.

So it was ebayed. Pretty sure I got a good price for it!

The current solution

I bought a few Veho wireless speakers. These are truly brilliant and are reasonably cheap (around £45 for a speaker with transmitter and £30 per speaker thereafter).

You plug the USB transmitter in to the PC/Mac you want to broadcast the music from (in my case it’s running my jukebox), then simply turn on as many speakers as you want. They connect and play the music. Each speaker has it’s own power source (rechargeable batter) and volume control.

The only downside is the actual quality of the sound. They are fine for background sound, but they have no life when turned right up, producing a rather tinny sound.

It got me thinking…. surely the internal parts can be ripped out and I can hook up to bigger speakers? The simple answer is YES. It does work. I wrote it up on my other site: http://www.touchscreenjukeboxes.co.uk/modified-veho-wireless-speakers

The future

I’d love to have speakers wired to the Cat5 sockets which can be controlled BY room. Ideally controlled by iPhone or iPad. I’d like click on a room then select which music I want to listen to in that room. I know there are solutions out there which do this…. I just need to save the cash!!

The actual product which I wrote (TextArea Rich) hasn’t been updated since 2004 or 2005 (it’s that long ago)… yet the website lived on and thousands of people downloaded it.

I’ve now closed the site and am offering the domain name for sale. It’s got a good monthly hit rate – so if you are developing a web based WYSIWYG editor (or just want to increase your hits), take a look and make me an offer.

http://www.textarearich.com/index.php

A full list of available symbols, pictures, emoticons which can be used for myspace, facebook, bebo, MSN, google chat and any other plain text field. Use them in your status or posting on someone’s wall!

(note: they will more than likely not be as big as the ones below – this is probably due to the site where you paste them having a smaller font size)

Punctuation

¡!¿?‽‼⁇⁈⁉❢❣¶⁋❡⁊⁌⁍<>«»❮❯【】〚〛〖〗

｟｠❴❵{}@%‰‱&#§†⁁‡〃々仝〻〆〼〓〾

❝❞°^※*⁎⁑⁂⸪⸫⸬⸭⸮ⸯ⸰︔︕︖︗︘︙︐︑︓︒

Miscellaneous Symbols
(suns, stars, clouds, umbrella, snowman, hearts, chess pieces, peace, crosses, ticks, snow flakes, smiley faces, dice)

☼☀☉☽☾☁☂☔☃☇☈☄☊☋☌☍★☆✦✧✩✪

✫✬✭✮✯✰❍❏❐❑❒☖☗❖♀♁♂☿♃♄♅♆♇

♈♉♊♋♍♎♏♐♑♒♓♔♕♖♗♘♙♚♛♜

♝♞♟☦☧☨☩☪☫☬☭☮☯☸☤☥♰♱✙✚✛✜✝✞✟✠

♤♠♢♦♣♡♥❤❥☙❧❦✌✍☜☝☞☟☚☛⚐⚑☐

☑☒☓✓✔✕✖✗✘✁✂✃✄✎✏✐✑✒☹☺☻〄

〶〒〠✉☏☎✆✇♨〷⚀⚁⚂⚃⚄⚅☠☡☢☣⚠⚡♳♴
♵♶♷♸♹♺♻♲♼♽✡✢✣✤✥✱✲✳✴✵✶✷

✸✹✺✻✼✽✾✿❀❁❂❃❄❅❆❇❈❉❊❋❘❙♩♪♫♬♭

♮♯〽⚆⚇⚈⚉☕⌚⌛〪〭〮〯〫〬

Currency Symbols

$¢₥₠€₣₤£₧₱¥৲৳௹฿៛﷼ƒℳ;

₡₢₦₨₩₪₫₭₮₯₰¤

Geometrical Shapes

■□▢▣▤▥▦▧▩▪▫▬▭▮▯▰▱◆◇▲△▴▶

▷▸▹►▻▼▽▾▿◀◁◂◃◄◅◈◉◊○◌◍◎◯

◦●◐◑◒◓◓◔◕◴◵◶◷◘◖◙◚◠◜◝◢◣◤◥◛

◡◟◞◧◨◩◪◫◰◱◲◳◬◭◮◸◹◺◿◻◼◽◾▖▗▘▙▚▛▜

▝▞▟▀▔▁▂▃▄▅▆▇█▉▊▋▌▍▎▏

▕▐░▒▓

Arrows
(arrows, pointing hands etc)

➔➘➙➚➛➜➝➞➟➡➩➪➫➬➭➮➯➱➢➣➤

➳➴➵➶➷➸➹➺➻➼➽☚☛☜☝☞☟➥➦

➧➨➲↩↪⟳⇧⇪⇰⬅⬅⬆⬇⬈⬉⬊⬋⬌⬍⤴⤵

⤶⤷⤹⥢⥣⥤⥥

Maths Symbols
(times, divide, subtract, triangles)

+-×÷±=¬∀∁∂∃∄∅∆∇∈∉∊∋∌∍∎∏∐∑−

∓∔∕∖∗∘∙√∛∝∞∟∠∡∢∣∤∥∦∧∨∩∪∫∬∭∮∯

∰∱∲∳∴∵∶∷∸∹∺∼∽∾∿≀≁≂≃≅≆≇≈≉≊≋≌≍≎≏

≟≤≥≦≧≪≫⊂⊃⊌⊍⊎⊏⊐⊑⊒⊓⊔⊕⊖⊗⊘⊙⊚⊛⊜⊝

⊞⊟⊠⊡⊢⊣⊤⊥⊦⊧⊨⊩⊪⊫⊬⊷⊸⊹⊺⊼⊾⊿⋁⋃⋇⋈⋉

⋌⋎⋏⋐⋑⋒⋓⋔⋕⋖⋗⋘⋙⋚⋛⋜⋝⋞⋮⋯⋰⋱⋳⋴⋵⋶⋷⋸

⨇⨈⨉⨊⨀⨁⨂⨌⨍⨎⨏⨑⨖⨗⨘⨙⨚⨛⨜⨝⨞⨟⨡⨠⨢⨣⨤

⨥⨦⨧⨨⨩⨪⨫⨬⨭⨮⨯⨱⨲⨳⨴⨵⨶⨷⨸⨹⨺⨽⨾⨿⩀⩁⩂⩃⩄⩅⩆

⩐⩏⩎⩍⩐⩑⩒⩖⩦⩵⩶⩷⩳⩴⫷⫸⫹⫺⟕⟥⟨⟩⟪⟫⦀⦁⦂⦃⦄⦅⦇⦈

⦓⦔⦕⦖⦗⦛⦚⦜⦝⦞⦯⦹⦺⦻⦼⦾⦿⧂⧃⧄⧅⧆⧇⧈⧓⧕⧖⧙⧚⧛⧜

⧬⧭⧮⧯⧩⧨⧳⧲⧱⧻⁺⁻⁼⁽⁾ⁿ₊₋₌₍₎

Numbers and Number Symbols

①②③④⑤⑥⑦⑧⑨⑩⓪⑪⑫⑬⑭⑮⑯⑰

⑱⑲⑳㉑㉒㉓㉔㉕㉖㉗㉘㉙㉚㉛㉜㉝㉞㉟

㊱㊲㊳㊴㊵㊶㊷㊸㊹㊺㊻㊼㊽㊾㊿

❶❷❸❹❺❻❼❽❾❿⓿⓫⓬⓭⓮⓯⓰⓱⓲⓳⓴

½⅓⅔¼¾⅖⅕⅗⅘⅙⅚⅜⅝⅞⅟⁰¹²³⁴⁵⁶⁷⁸⁹

ↀↁↂↃ㋀㋁㋂㋃㋄㋅㋆㋇㋈㋉㋊㋋㏠㏡㏢㏣㏤㏥㏦㏧㏨㏩

㍙㍚㍛㍜㍝㍞㍟㍠㍡㍢㍘㍣㍤㍦㍥㍧㍨㍩㍪㍫㍬

一二三四五六七八九十〇㈠㈡㈢㈣㈤㈥㈦㈧㈨㈩

㊀㊂㊁㊃㊄㊅㊆㊇㊈㊉〡〢〣〤〥〦〧〨〩〸〹〺

𐄫𐄬𐄭𐄮𐄯𐄰𐄱𐄲𐄳

Letter like symbols (trademark, copyright etc)

ª℀℁ℂ℃©℄℅℆ℇ℈℉ℊℋℌℍℎℏℐℑℒ℔ℕ

№℗℘ℙℚℛℜℝ℞℟®℠℡™℣ℤ℥Ω℧ℨ℩K

Åℬ℮ℭℯℰℱℲℳºℴℵℶℷℸℹ℻ℽℾℿ⅀⅁⅂⅃⅄ⅅⅆ

ⅇⅈⅉ⅊⅋µⅬⅭⅮⅯⅼⅽⅿↀↁ

㌀㍇㌪㌞㌱㍆㌡㌳㌋㍈㍏㌙㌧㌂㌎㍊㌒㍖

The first thing now was to update the bloody wordpress software. It was ancient and as a result, constantly being hacked. Now it’s brand spanking new and looking pretty sexy. Gone is the pink/red colour scheme of the old.

Not going to write loads now as it’s late and I need to crack on with getting an iPhone app moving. Keep an eye out for it – it’s an app version of the [very] popular dress up Lucy!

If you’ve got a minute, be sure to check out the current cooking timer application I have created, CookIt. Only 59p and it *could* save your dinner!

Nice and cheesy valentines day message. Special thanks to Dave Jennings for creating the music.

Send your own Valentine’s Day message

Enter a message and press “Save Message”. The page will then reload and you will be given a unique web address to give to your friends/loved ones. Your message will appear at the end of the video.

Update Unfortunately a lot of the videos are now unavailable as the copyright disables embedding. In these cases, I’ve tried to put a link

Fraggle rock

Main Marian and Her Merry Men (End titles)

Captain Planet

He-Man (and the masters of the universe)

Gummi Bears

Inspector Gadget

Trapdoor

Funnybones

Jimbo and the Jet-Set

James the cat

Thundercats

Heathcliff

Danger Mouse

Duck Tales

Centurions

Family ness

Penny Crayon

Bodger and Badger

Chucklevision

Chip n Dale

Wizadora

Transformers

The Raccoons

Count Duckula

Fun House (not great quality so if anyone has a better link pls send!)

Whack a day

Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles

Fireman Sam

Bananaman

Clarissa (explains it all!)

Jonny Briggs

Sharky and George

Saved by the bell

Crystal Maze

Fresh Prince

Stop it and tidy up (cheers Tash!)

Grange Hill (80′s)

Grange Hill (90′s)

Byker Grove

Rude dog and the dweebs

Rentaghost

(not seeing anything, or it’s not loading? You’ll need to upgrade to flash 8 player (or higher) from here

…pritt stick, pritt stick, pritt stick… la la la la. etc.