Here’s my tip for the weekend: If you have a car, then check your car insurance quote and make sure you’re not overpaying.

A few weeks ago, I suddenly clicked that my car insurance amount hadn’t come down for years. Because I drive a convertible, I pay a lot for car insurance, and I thought “my car is now a couple years older, and worth considerably less than when I bought it, so why isn’t my insurance premiums cheaper?”

I wish I had thought of that simple question earlier!

When I called up my car insurance company, they said to me:

1. yes, you should be paying a LOT less, now that the book value of your car is less AND

2. It’s up to you to call us each year to ask us to revalue your car

I said to them that since THEY were the ones telling me each year what my new value of my car was, surely they can work out my new insurance rate each year.

“ummmmm. Nope. that’s not the way it works” they replied.

I worked out the amount of additional car insurance i’ve paid over the last few years, by not calling them regularly to revalue my car.

So my tip to you is: “Call your car insurance company TODAY to ask them what the new book value on your car is, and whether your insurance premiums can be reduced on the lower book value!”.

From now on, my NEW YEARS present to myself will be to call up my car insurance company!

(and perhaps at the same time I’ll make it a habit to get some competitive car insurance quotes to see i’m getting the best deal)

Now GO CALL your car insurance company!

I remember living in the UK a few years back, there was a price war going on between the budget airlines.

Easyjet and Ryanair were both trying to build marketshare, and they were offering ridiculous prices. You could fly to a number of countries around Europe for 5 pounds. But whenever I actually wanted to go somewhere, the flights were either fully booked, or the prices weren’t so budget! So much for cheap domestic flights!

In South Africa lately it’s become kinda similar, but we’re not at the crazy price level yet. A few weeks ago when I was in JHB my flights on mango cost around R800 each. That’s pretty cheap! And while we were in JHB, 1Time offered a special where you could fly from JHB to Cape Town for R300 each way including taxes! That’s the cheapest domestic flight i’ve seen!

But of course when you actually do want to fly somewhere, the cheap flights are no where to be seen. In a few weeks, we need to head back to JHB for Sanlam Fashion Week (I think it’s still called Sanlam Fashion Week! The fashion weeks are changing names pretty fast these days. The one in Cape Town today was called the Alive Cape Town Fashion Week - I think!) and there’s not a cheap ticket in sight! Thanks Mango! Thanks Kulula! Thanks 1Time!

For the same price as a ticket from Cape Town to JHB at the moment, I can find some cheap flights to madagascar - well, not as cheap, but almost! And Madagascar sounds a lot more fun than JHB! We need EasyJet & Ryanair entering the South African marketplace, and then we’ll find some real cheap domestic flights!

It’s only when you are affected by something that you can relate to it. I’ve read plenty in the paper about the H1N1 Flu Virus, with 2000 people officially catching the pandemic in South Africa, and thousands more not knowing that they had it.

But yesterday I had flu, and the symtoms were very similar to the Swine Flu. Straight away your mind starts playing tricks on you - should I go for testing, how severe is this H1N1 virus, is the whole world at risk.

Luckily today i’m feeling much better, and it was probably a mild case of flu, and not the Swine Flu virus.

But it make me realise ONCE AGAIN how one day I’m focussed and goal orientated and determined, and the next, all i’m wishing for is for the pain in my head to stop. Frank Furness speaks about “stopping to smell the roses” in the brilliant book i’m reading of his “Walking with Tigers: Success secrets from the world’s top business leaders” (which i’ll speak more about in the future). Yesterday made me realise about how important BALANCE is in life. The work hard, play hard method!

Apparently the South African clinics are telling people to only get tested for the Swine Flu if they are pregnant or diabetic as the queues are growing daily. However, when I had a mild flu yesterday, I didn’t consider getting tested - in fact, I couldn’t get out of bed to get tested even if I wanted. So the numbers of people that have been affected are probably far higher than reported.

And it’s a scary thought how quickly a virus can travel round the world affecting millions of people.

I spent a lot of time investigating the boutique hotels and guest hotels in Cape Town a few weeks ago, as I needed a special place for a special time.

I have to admit I was amazed at what beautiful venues Cape Town has to offer.

I’m used to the traditional hotels in Cape Town such as the Grand Westin (previously known as the Grand Westin), the 12 apostles, the Mount Nelson, and the Radisson (with those unbelievably beautiful views).

But I didn’t realise until recently what incredible boutique hotels there are in Cape Town.

The Alta Bay & the Ocean View both looked incredible, but I finally settled on a place slightly out of Cape Town.

For the out of towners who are coming to grace our shores, do yourself a favour, and spend some time researching on the net - you’ll be amazed at the places!

I’ve thought about writing plenty, but my life is pretty much routine at the moment - work, a few movies, a few restaurants. routine!

no interesting new events, no networking with rockstars, no A list movie stars.

just building up an internet startup from concept to implementation - and it’s taken hard work and lots of time.

but i’ve decided that if i don’t write something, anything, then blogging will become a historical event in my life - so i’m going to try write a few words a few times a week, even if nothing momentous has happened!

We did have the elections in SA - that’s pretty major. The ANC won convincingly again, and the DA was victorious in the Western Cape (including Cape Town where I live).

And I’ve watched 2 Monty Python movies over the long weekend while recovering from flu - And now for something completely different and the Life of Brian - i’ve never appreciated Monty Python till now, but it is truly different, funny and genius.

And now for something completely different - back to work!