eCards Blog

I have just had a very excited little sister on the phone delighted, as she should be, with her GCSE results; ‘Oh my god Sarah, I can’t believe it; 5 A*’s, 4 A’s, 2 B’s and 1 C. I am so relived…….’ In fact, we have had record results again.  Figures published by examination boards showed that 22.6 per cent of papers were graded A* or A – a rise of one percentage point in the last 12 months.   Almost three times as many pupils now gain the top grades compared with 1988 when the exams were first introduced.  Some 69.1 per cent of entries were awarded at least a C – the 22nd straight increase and up two percentage points on last year. Results for 750,000 schoolchildren in England, Wales and Northern Ireland showed that girls continued to out-perform boys, as the education gender gap widened over the last twelve months. Figures suggest that students are starting to return to tough subjects favored by employers and leading universities - mirroring a trend in last week’s A-level results. Entries in the three sciences all improved by a record margin this year, with 129,464 pupils taking a GCSE in Biology, up by 28.3 per cent.  Chemistry and physics entries both increased by almost a third to 121,988 and 120,455 respectively. But figures published by the Joint Council for Qualifications showed that pupils were continuing to desert GCSEs in foreign languages. The number of students studying French in the last two years of secondary school plummeted by almost 6 per cent to 177,618. Dr Jim Sinclair, director of the JCQ, said: “Students and their teachers can be proud of their achievements. The increased entries in biology, chemistry and physics, coupled with improved performance in English and mathematics, is very good news indeed.” But another round of record results will provoke further debate over grade inflation and claims that GCSEs now fail to stretch the brightest pupils. According to the figures 7.5 per cent of entries were graded an A* compared with 7.1 per cent last year. Today, one leading private school headmaster called for set quotas of each grade to be awarded every year to prevent results being “inflated”. Richard Cairns, the head of Brighton College, where 82 per cent of entries were A* or A, said: “I would very much like to see a situation where a certain percentage of grades each year were awarded at each grade; the top 10 per cent could be at A*, the next 20 per cent at A and so on. If you know anyone who has just has their results, why not sent them a free eCard to offer your congratulations.  Visit www.eCards.co.uk 

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Fox attacks on humans are not common but have been reported.

In July 2002, a fourteen week old baby was attacked in a house in Dartford, Kent. In November 2008 an incident in the USA was reported, in which a jogger was attacked and bitten by a crazed fox.  In June 2010, Nine month old twin girls were bitten on the arms and face when a fox entered their upstairs room in east London.

Yesterday, a girl of 13 told how she was attacked by a snarling fox as she camped in her back garden with a group of friends.  The animal circled the young girl’s tent for two hours before ripping a foot-long hole in the canvas and sinking its teeth into her left foot.It was reported that the schoolgirl said: “It clamped its jaws down and bit through my sock into my heel and the top of my foot. It was so painful and I was shaking with fear. “There was blood everywhere. We didn’t know what to do.”

The young girl was taken to hospital, bloody and shaken up. The wound was dressed and she was given antibiotics.

If you know someone in hospital why not send an ecard?  It is the perfect way to let them know that you are thinking of them, and is completely FREE! Bonus.  Visit http://www.ecards.co.uk

Are fox attacks becoming more common?  Should there be controls put into place?  Write your comments……..

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A British student on a field trip to the Alps found a mail bag from the Malabar Princess, an Air India Lockheed Constellation which crashed killing 40 passengers and eight crew members 60 years ago.

The third year geography student was on a three day trip to examine global warming and added to the legend of the popular French film Amelie, which say Audrey Tautou’s character create a fictional letter from a lover who died in the crash, for a lonely female concierge after hearing about mountaineers finding similar letters.

And some of the letters contained have survived leading student Freya Cowan to embark on a project to reunite about 75 letters and birthday cards to senders or intended recipients.

Miss Cowan, 22, discovered the mail bag which has descended about 8,000 ft due to falling rocks and melting snow.

Inside she found four bundles and the postmark on the letter which read, “Bombay 1950.”

“I thought it was a joke, given that only moments before I had been talking about the crash,” she said.

Over the past years a few letters from the Malabar Princess had been recovered but nothing on this scale. None of the mail was written by passengers on the plane who were seamen bound for a new ship in Sunderland. The mail bag was heading for the US and the Dundee team has already succeeded in finding the owners of some of the correspondence.

Tim Reid, a glaciologist who was also on the trip will be forwarding a letter to the daughter of Captain Hank Smith, a US pilot who died in 1999 but wrote a colourful account of his time working in India. “Hank’s letter tells a fantastic story about how he was working in Bombay and the Middle East,” said Mr Reid. 

“He had a charter to Basra but had trouble with the aircraft and came down near a British Army encampment. They didn’t have much fresh water so he drank a lot of beer.

“He was there for three or four weeks while the plane was fixed, but needed the help of the Army to fend off Bedouin tribes looking to steal the plane’s equipment.”

It is not known to whom the letter was sent, but Mr Reid traced Mr Smith’s daughter in Texas. “She was absolutely astonished,” he said.

He aims to send her the letter after work to preserve it.

Another student, David Barratt, traced the intended recipient of a letter sent by D Jones, a Salvation Army officer, to her bother, Harlan Cleveland. He is now in his 90s and lives in a Salvation Army retirement home in St Petersburg, Florida.

Just five days before the crash on the night of October 30th 1950, the letter describes her missionary work in India and asks her brother for money for a camera.

Two other typewritten letters and two handwritten ones, all in the same envelope from ‘Myra’ who also appeared to be a missionary is one of the letters that Miss Cowan is keen to deliver. They were sent to a Mrs Georgianna Roadaswell in Ohio, possibly within the village of Haskins. 

A letter dated on October 30th 1950 addressed for a Lady Moore, ironically - considering the letter never arrived - says, “I do not often take the time to answer a letter in less than an hour after it arrives but there are some things in yours that I want to talk about with you.” 

Her problems in India were discussed in the letter saying, “There is a growing anti-missionary feeling among some of the folks.

“I feel it is all from one source entirely and I have prayed so often that she might be led into the Light.”

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Superstar rapper P.Diddy promised to hand over the £131,000 car when young popstar Justin Bieber was old enough to drive. And true to his word he was spotted on Tuesday behind the wheel of Diddy’s white Gallardo Spyder with his pal Sean Kingston heading off to buy frozen yoghurt.

It isn’t sure whether he had promised to hand over the £131,000 permanently or whether it was just a loan to the teenager who turned 16 on March 1st.

Speaking to People Magazine Bieber said, “He said when I turn 16 he will give me his Lamborghini. But we all know Diddy’s not going to give me his Lamborghini, he is all talk.”

Bieber already received a Range Rover for his 16th birthday from Usher.

Justin Bieber, was named as the most searched name on the Internet this month. He was discovered after posted videos of himself singing on YouTube in 2006 when he was just 12 years old.

The Canadian star has more than 40 million online followers before he had even released a record.

He has been top 10 in 10 countries, has seven singles in the Billboard Top 100 ( a record for a debut album) as is also the youngest artist to top the American album charts since Little Stevie Wonder in 1963.

Quite frankly we would’ve been happy with a birthday card from ecards.co.uk. I mean we would love a Range Rover, however we aren’t really close with Usher so just a birthday card will do.

Bieber has been top 10 in 10 countries, had seven singles in the Billboard Top 100 (a record for a debut album) and is the youngest artist to top the American album charts since Little Stevie Wonder in 1963.

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A Royal Mail Postman has been sentenced to 240 hours of community service after being caught opening children’s birthday cards in the hope of finding money.

The Londonderry Postman, Brendan Taggart, from Sevenoaks in the Waterside, kept undelivered mail in the back of his car for more than two months.

Taggart admitted to the charges for interfacing with and delaying the delivery of post at the city magistrates court on Thursday 8th July.

He also pleaded guilty to two charges of opening children’s birthday cards.

The offences were committed between May and August 2006 after Taggart’s (24) car was set on fire in an arson attack at Norburgh Park Foyle Springs in the city. The car was found to contain bundles of undelivered mail.

The police found the mail bags and reported the situation to the Royal Mail management at the sorting office in Derry.

Taggart made admissions when he was questioned by his superior officers.

The Royal Mail fired Taggart as a result of his actions. The District Judge sentenced him to a four-months in jail and suspended for three years, saying that no one would ever know the disruption Taggart had caused to people’s lives.

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Royal Mail’s income from customer penalty fees rocketed to 50 per cent after it created mass confusion by changing the way it charges for letters.

In August 2006 the organisation moved to a system of charging based on the size rather than the simple system of sticking on a first or second class stamp.

Many customers were finding that their Christmas and Birthday Cards weren’t being delivered as expected.

In response people received unexpected warning notices telling them that letter with underpaid postage would have to be collected from a sorting office.

These customers not only had to cover the underpaid postage - which was often just a few pence - but were also hit with a £1 administration charge.  

Concerns were raised by consumer groups who suspected that the charge was far too high and amounted to blatant profiteering.

The figures obtained by the Daily Mail using a Freedom of Information request confirmed that the organisation did cash in on the confusion created in charging.

And the total income from this source rose by 49 per cent in the year after the change came into effect - taking it up too £14.8 million in 2007/08 and then £16.5 million in 2008/09.

A break down of how many letters were surcharged was not provided by the Post Office but it is believed that at least 20 million were involved.

The new system has caused particular disruption around Christmas because a huge number of festive cards - as well as birthday cards - fell foul of the sizing rules.

Long queues formed outside the sorting offices as people lined up to pay penalty fees and underpaid postage in order to get a card from their loved ones.

Details about the income from the charges is being kept a secret.

The figures were first asked for in the run-up to Christmas 2008 by The Daily Mail. The Royal Mail repeatedly refused so the Daily Mail made a request under the Freedom of Information Act. The appeal was again refused claiming the information was commercially confidential.

19 months later and following a successful appeal to the Office of the Information Commissioner Royal Mail has been forced to hand over the details.

The official customer body, Consumer-Focus, has questioned the £1 fee is a fair reflection of the actual costs suffered by Royal Mail when it expects the customer to come and collect their letter.

A spokesman said, “We have questioned Royal Mail on how they arrive at the £1 cost and also on the volume of mail that this applies to.

“Unfortunately only Royal Mail will be able to give you answers to these questions as we are not allowed to go public with this information.”

The official customer body, Consumer-Focus, has questioned whether the £1 fee is a fair reflection of the actual costs suffered by Royal Mail when it expects a customer to come and collect a letter.

Royal Mail said, “Royal Mail does not make a profit from the administration fee involved in the collection of underpaid mail as the fee simply reflects the extra work involved.

“If there was no system to collect unpaid postage, it is very likely tat the current tiny fraction of mail with no or underpaid postage on it would increase significantly - at a cost to all other customers who pay the correct postage.”

Royal Mail did admit that the administration fee charged to businesses which underpay on outgoing mail amounts to 20p an item. However they charge customers five times more.

It said that this was justified because of the extra work involved. “The extra work includes sorting underpaid letters and separating them form the rest of the post, informing customers through a card delivered to their address about the underpaid item, storing the item for up to three weeks until it is collected, and then returning the item to the sender free of charge…if it is not collected,” it said.

So to save yourself the worry why not send all your birthday cards and Christmas cards with ecards.co.uk. The free to use website allows you to personalise birthday cards for your friends and loved ones then send them over via email.

For more information visit ecards.co.uk.

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 For 37 years, Barbara Paterson sold handmade cards at St Kilda’s Esplanade Market in Melbourne Australia.

In fact, Barbara was an icon in St Kilda, renowned for her lovely handmade cards she sold for almost four decades.

However, the talented grandmother has sent out her farewell invite selling her very last card on Sunday June 27th 2010.

Mrs Paterson said the significance of her decisions had yet to sink in.

The Camberwell artist first set up her stall in a bit to top-uo the household budget.

In 1973 there was no Sunday trading or reserving market spots and stall permits cost just $1.

Set up by Luna Park and the foreshore, the market was packed with energised curious crowds, buzzing to see what the excitement was all about.

And over the years, Mrs Paterson said that her fondest memories have been shaped by all the people who passed by.

She said she got a ‘thrill’ when a celebrity bought one of her cards.

Now a new age has appeared in the world of birthday cards. The personal and sentimental power a handmade card has, has now been merged into the new crazy idea of ecards, an electronic way to say Happy Birthday! Well Done! or Thank you!

ecards.co.uk have some fantastic personalised birthday cards on their website for customers to send to their friends and loved ones for free!

For more information visit www.ecards.co.uk today.

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Making changes in your life can sometimes have a positive effect in the long term, and that’s why ecards.co.uk are with you all the way when it comes to changing from traditional greetings cards to ecards.

We understand the habits and withdrawal symptoms that occur when you don’t receive a birthday card from a friend or loved one on your birthday because they have forgotten or simply didn’t care.

And we also realise how hard it can be walking past a greeting cards store knowing it’s Susan’s birthday on Saturday and you still haven’t got her a card and you are panicking that the ecard you plan to send her she won’t receive.

Well don’t fret no more because ecards.co.uk are here for you to help you make that change.

They have designed some fantastic free personalised birthday cards for you to send to your friends and loved ones so you don’t have to worry about visiting a card shop again.

Simply choose the ecard you love, personalise the message and ping it over to their email! What a surprise they will get!

And it really will make your like better, you will be in pocket because the site is free, you will be saving the environment as you won’t be using paper, and you won’t have to worry about missing the post as an email can be sent and delivered in seconds.

For all the ecards collection visit ecards.co.uk today.

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Yesterday, Marty McFly from Back to the Future, arrived into 2010 after hitting at 88mph in a pimped out Delorean in 1985!

However, true Back to the Future fans always knew someone was meddling with the space time continuum.

This week a photoshop image began circulating the Internet claiming 5th July 2010 was ‘Future Day’ the date Marty McFly and Doctor Emmett Brown visit in their time travelling- De Lorean in the 1980s blockbuster.

The rumour ran wild on the Internet yesterday and generated a flurry on social networking sites, with Back to the Future becoming a trend topic on Twitter and one of the most searched for phrases on Google.

But Great Scott! The date was completely wrong!

Any REAL Back to the Future fan would know that the day Doc and Marty visit in the second film of the trilogy is October 21st, 2015.

But we reckon whatever year they visit the results will be a little disappointing and a far cry from the hoverboard and futuristic shoes with automated laces.

And while Doc does express a wish to travel 25 years ahead in time of 1985, the date is never entered into DeLorean’s dashboard!

So who is responsible for such a chronological cock up!?

The big hoax has been claimed by UK-based film website Total Film, explaining it like this, “A casual office conversation brought up the fact that 5th July 2010 is referenced in Back To The Future (though Doc and Marty never actually go there), so sensing a bit of fun for our Twitter feed (and without checking) we posted the Tweet. Then things got interesting,” they website reported.

The original tweet read, “Great Scott! It’s Future Day! In Back to the Future, Doc Brown sets the time circuits for 25 years in the future…that day is today!”

The post soon took Twitter by storm with the website’s 30,000 followers eagerly re-tweeting the message.

Film buffs began questioning their claim, so in response ‘for a bit of fun’ they Photoshopped an image of the digital time display from the dashboard of the DeLorean to say ‘o5 07 2010′ and loaded it onto the twitpic.

Underneath the photograph, a caption read, “We got it wrong. Apparently 5th July isn’t mentioned in Back to the Future. So we went back and changed it.”

However, what was meant as a little joke between Twitter friends, ended up as a viral blog post with the image forwarded as proof that July 5th 2010 was the real date.

And now a second Photoshopped image is now circulating in cyberspace, with the date changed to July 6th.

“So apologies, film fans. We were wrong,” Total Film says.

“It seems some lax research and average Photoshop skills go a long way on Twitter these days.”

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If you have ever had gifts which have been sent for a special occasion come late, It’s actually quite a nice surprise, especially when you weren’t expecting them because you thought that the person had forgotten all about your special occasion!

Getting a card out of the blue is a little different, such as personalised birthday cards or personalised greeting cards.

These kinds of cards which are for a special occasion are often designed to go alongside a gift, and getting a gift-related card too late can be confusing and more than a little weird.

If you’re posting your card to a different country, it can take weeks to get there, thanks to annoying postal customs and ultra-clogged postal routes, if you’re worried about postal times and your special occasion card beign received by the person it is intended for on time, forget sending cards in the post or using websites like Moonpig.com and send an eCard instead with ecards.co.uk.

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