The point is that these guys are taking wild guesses and that’s fine so long as they don’t upset the markets after thinking something up over a long liquid lunch, but right now the only thing you can bank on is what you see and know; like the tourist pound is worth €1.21 at the time of writing, which is all well and good but this is because the € Euro has slid rather than the £ pound gaining value.

We already know that the better exchange rate is encouraging holidaymakers to take holidays in Europe as opposed to those “Staycations” (a ghastly word) which we are all supposed to be taking at home in the UK, but there is probably a damn good reason for us going abroad instead of having a holiday at home and it has precious little to do with the weather.

The main reason we go abroad for, just for instance, camping in France or elsewhere in Europe is because we don’t get ripped off there like we do at home. There’s no way our family is going to pay good money to stop in some miserable hotel or B&B in England when we can drive into France and have a better holiday for less money! Hoteliers take note next time you’re bitching about lack of custom!

It stands to reason when you think about it because the pound is now at its highest against the Euro in 18 months and this is due to get better as time goes on. That’s the thinking of the financial gurus and in this instance we believe them.

This year we know that there are some incredibly good holidays on offer throughout Europe from Select Camp. They are selling really good holidays luxury camping in France and the rest of Europe and not only do their tents have proper beds, some have fully fitted kitchens too.

But the luxury doesn’t end there because Select Camp also offer a range of tents which include complete bathrooms too! That means they have everything in them that a bathroom should have, including a shower. Now if that isn’t luxury camping then we don’t know what is!

Family camping in France is being pushed by all the tour operators as usual, but it is a shame that the camping season is so short in France – not their fault at all – but this means that families with children at school are pretty much bound to take their holidays in the high season, and the prices rocket at that time which means again that families suffer when buying holidays.

That is slowly changing though and right now the tourist pound is as high as its been for 18 months, so we reckon it is time to buy half your Euros now if you are having a holiday in Europe this year, and the other half just before you go.

These things are always a gamble but the signs are that the Euro will dip more against the pound later this year though we do not know when, so that is why we advise getting half now and gambling on the pound getting stronger later when you can buy the other half.

If you are driving in Europe may we suggest you get a cheap ferry as we can supply cheap ferry deals to France at the moment, and the best deals are on the Dover to Dunkerque route.

OK, we appreciate that Dunkerque is a little further north than Calais, but only a little, and the Norfolk Lines ferry to that port is far cheaper than the Dover to Calais route which must be about the most expensive stretch of water in the world!

Camping in France is one of the favourite holidays for people driving in Europe, or probably Italy or Spain but France is by far the most popular. Take care and don’t forget to get a cheap ferry ticket to France!

The signs are though that the exchange rate will get better later in the summer, so what we think is a good idea is to buy some Euros now – probably half of your total purchase – and get the rest immediately before you go. There is no way to second guess this as it is a complete gamble but one which the financial pundits have come up with.

You can also get a cheap ferry to France this summer by taking the Norfolk Line ferry crossing from Dover to Dunkerque. OK, it takes a little longer and it drops you off a tad further up the coast from Calais, but it is far, far cheaper than the Dover – Calais route, and if you are driving down to the south it is the perfect crossing for you.

On the other hand, if you are thinking of driving down the west coast of France then the best ferries are either to Caen or St Malo without a doubt, and you can camping in the Vendee within 3 hours from the port of St Malo.

People like this always have a good reason for what they do or are about to do thought out long before they announce drastic action such as this because they know full well that it will mean hardship for many couples and families who are pretty near the breadline already.

In the Co-Op’s case they are blaming some upcoming rule changes for this imminent decision, but the general consensus of thought on this is that if other banks and lenders follow suit there will be a whole lot of people unable to repay what they owe and this could lead to a mass of property remortgages here in the UK.

All this would be bad enough in itself but when we know that lots and lots of bankers at the top are still getting millions in bonus packages it goes against the grain somewhat.

Simply put, our banking system regards us peasants in the real world just the same as the government does; with no respect whatsoever. If this were France there would have been a national strike by now and this disgusting decision would have been reversed.

But this is not like France in that respect, or in many other respects for that matter, which is good in a way because when we take our annual camping holidays in France there would be no difference between there and here – apart from the weather, the food, wine in abundance, surfing….I could go on but will spare you the agony!

That last search string is now No 1 in the UK pages of the major search engines but as it is only a very minor category we had hopes that it would do well.

It seems that the wine trade is about as cut throat as any other Internet sector but we shall see where we can get to in the next few months.

We have been told that there is a good trade in having wine delivered to your door, something we are working on with Chateau Select, our advisors in this area, so to that effect we have generated a page for that term on Bill’s site.

We also have to get to grips with generating an extra 13 pages for his French wine regions section and we see this as rather a challenge because neither of us knows the first thing about them and so most of it will have to be bull sh*t. Not good I know but that’s the best we can manage at short notice.

It is now, when I recall the words of a friend who told me on no account to get into the mortgage website business when I mentioned buying this site and starting it up again.

His words of dissuasion ring in my ears as I write, and he was spot on with his prophesy that mortgages per se were stuffed so far as this country is concerned. I believe you now Mike!

So that is why we are diversifying into other business sectors such as wine for investment for a start, which is a fairly hefty nut to crack for a finance site, and totally out of our category as well.

We are casting around for other types of business categories to add to our site and the subject of golf was raised because nearly everyone involved in any sort of finance plays golf – for the contacts presumably.

Other than that we have already taken the first step into the ferry to France business which again is very competitive, but what isn’t these days?

Now Bill is helping us to put these pages together because compared to him we are but fledglings whilst he is the master of near enough all the wine types there are out there. It must be a wonderful feeling to have such knowledge about the products which make up your business, but wine was ever Bill’s thing and was his hobby well before it became his business.

Our aim is really to build up our website with certain upmarket products which go with finance, and the next possibility is golf kit because most people in any sector of finance are often keen golfers, so we want all these things to be brought together under one banner.

Back to wine though, and we know that Bill and Chateau Select have some great bargains in terms of wine case deals which is important to his business as selling a case of wine online, or even offline for that matter, is a better bet than just selling singles.

First time buyers are more often than not at the younger end of all applications and very often you can see the trepidation bouncing off them in waves where, years ago that trepidation had been enthusiasm for getting themselves onto the first rung of the property ladder.

But then as now, anyone thinking of buying property is looking out for the best mortgage deals on offer, and there are some of those out there but like many things worth having, you have to root them out.

Our advice, such as it is on this subject, is to trawl round the Internet and see which of the big companies are promising deals, and then compare like for like. We’ll repeat that last bit: Compare like for like when you are inviting mortgage quotes or else you will end up with a whole mish mash of different figures and you will have to start the whole process over again.

Though I’m sure both these chaps have 1st class degrees from Oxbridge it is patently obvious that they don’t have that basic ingredient needed for running anything; commonsense.

So instead of piddling about taxing pasties and static caravans which will bring in a few pounds, why haven’t they gone for the financial jugular and saved £20 billion by re-negotiating our trading position with Brussels and dumping the virtually useless Foreign Aid programme and the extremely wasteful government department behind it?

Charity begins at home, not in Somalia where only the corrupt benefit from our largesse, not in China which doesn’t need our money, and certainly not in India for the same reason. Nor should we be donating a massive amount to the corrupt government of Pakistan which we regard as dodgy on a good day and potentially a huge threat to the west at any time.

OK then, we have just saved the nation £20 billion which can be returned to the UK coffers and used for the benefit of us poor sods here in the UK who donated it in the first place. That will force the banks and money lenders to offer better mortgage deals for our first time buyers – but don’t hold your breath!