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It snowed a bit the other week, and it caused a fair bit of trouble. That was literally as nothing compared to what it is like round here today. Proper snow drifts and everything. A ghostly quiet covers everything as everyone has decided to stay at home.

A few brave souls have been chugging about in vans and 4x4s, but you don’t have to go far to see people in smaller vehicles in trouble. Quite a few obviously abandoned hatchbacks around – some of them showing the signs of collisions. There are sure to be a few anguished screams from the owners when the snow melts and they see what careless snow blind drivers have done to their pride and joys.

Amateurs! What they need is something like this:

It does certainly look as through vans do better in this kind of condition anyway – but it would be super cool to see more used vans with these kind of modifications available.

The leather sofa has been for many years a sure sign of affluent living. Cast aside from your memory those awful DFS adverts of perfect models with permanent grins, diving onto leather upholstery in slow-motion. Disregard too the music videos of ridiculous rappers with their shell-suits, prison whites, bikini clad girls and bottles of Krystal partying on huge leather couches; they probably couldn’t afford the drink let alone the sofa . Plus, those beauties aren’t their girlfriends…

In fact, leather sofas are  a real quality piece of your living room jigsaw, complementing and often completing that main area in the house where you can relax with your nearest and dearest. At no point will you need a hip-hop soundtrack or the ability to put things in slow motion and grin for England.

What to look for

When choosing a leather sofa, you should aware of a few things:

Sizing It Up

Make sure that you measure up your room beforehand and workout if your desired sofa will fit in the space that you have. Remember that you shouldn’t just account for width, as depth and height is also very important. For example, check that you have enough distance between the radiator and the sofa to prevent the leather from cracking. Move your hand away from the radiator until you cannot feel the heat; this will be the minimum position. Is it possible to provide this space in your living room?

High backed sofa’s look best in rooms with high ceilings, whereas low backed sofas look good in rooms with low ceilings.  The low back gives the illusion of space to the viewer. Also remember that the arms of a sofa can take up both space and hinder seating capacity.

Leather Type

All leather is different; however there are two main types that are used for upholstery: full-aniline and semi-aniline. The former is the most expensive and has that quality, soft-to-touch feel. However due to the fact that it does not have a top coating which means that it will stain more easily due to the extra ease of absorbing liquid. Semi-aniline does have such a coating, making it more practical.

Faux leather, although popular and cost-effective, will react differently to the real thing. It may look similar, yet it will react very differently to differing temperatures and its thinner fabric will damage easier.

Leather Care

Remember that using a leather polish or wax that you would use for shoes or handbags can’t be used on furniture. Use a softening cream to keep your leather supple and then, after about half an hour, buff with a cloth to get the best results. Also remember to keep your sofa away from direct sunlight and heat (for example, don’t place it against a radiator).

Search giant Google is never far from the headlines, with privacy concerns making up the bulk of them. By far the most controversial of Google’s ventures has been Google Street View. The subject of multiple lawsuits worldwide focusing on everything from the camera toting cars recording data about people’s wireless networks to invasion of privacy from the photos themselves.

Google chief executive Eric Schmidt was widely reported as saying that if people didn’t like having their house photographed by Google they should move. He was joking, but he has had to backtrack and explain himself over the supposed ‘gaffe’.

Streetview is great though – it is really useful, and as a plus you get to see some awesome sights…

Did you know there is a woman walking around somewhere with only half a head? Probably not, seeing as she clearly has enough dignity not to share her affliction on those freak show type programs they like to show on Channel 5 and BBC3. Thanks to Google though you can witness this medical miracle with your own two eyes:

Quite something. One of the worries about Streetview as that it might make life a little to easy on burglars – but this time it looks like they got there before the Google car:

Good job this guy is in Canada because smoking in work vans is illegal here now…

At least that tradesman will be able to use his (ironically fire-engine looking) truck to help him check out replacement used vans! He should keep his eyes on the skies however because, as Google’s spy planes reveal, there is some weird stuff going on up there: