Customs Badges: HMCE Badges

Customs Badges: HMCE Badges: "HMCE BadgesSpecial offer for the next 10 days Purchase 1 badge and get a second badge for only £10.00 (I will send you a Paypal invoice for ..."

Customs Badges: Customs headwear (caps & Hats)

New blog with pictures of caps worn by Officers of HM Customs & Excise

Customs Badges: Customs headwear (caps & Hats): "HM Customs & Excise - Chief Preventive Officer Cap Have a read at http://www.hm-waterguard.org.uk/Uniform.htm which gives more informatio..."

Customs headwear (caps & Hats)

HM Customs & Excise - Chief Preventive Officer Cap

Have a read at http://www.hm-waterguard.org.uk/Uniform.htm which gives more information on the Uniforms and caps worn by Officers of HM Customs and Excise.

HM Customs & Excise - Preventive Officer Cap

This style of cap bearing the Queens Crown essentially stayed the same until the demise of HMC&E, when many staff transferred over to the newly formed United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA), and those that remained were merged with HM Inland Revenue to form HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)


Keeping watching this page as I intend to add more pictures of caps!

HMCE Badges

Special offer for the next 10 days

Purchase 1 badge and get a second badge for only £10.00 (I will send you a Paypal invoice for £10.00 for the second badge after you purchase badge # 1)

Visit www.hmce-badges.co.uk

Grandchildren

Hectic Day

Just got to the end of a hectic day looking after my 2 x 5 year olds G/c.

Due to unavoidable circumstances when G/c #3 was taken into hospital last night with breathing difficulties, and suspected Chicken Pox (CP), I got the job of amusing the twins.

It seems that a certain type of CP can cause chest infections as well as the usual spots. Anyway he and his Mum were discharged today, since the hospital didn't want them around with the possibility of spreading C/P to other kids.

So, back to today...

0905 - twins dropped off at our house by their Dad

0905 - 1100 - playing board game and a spelling game

1100 - 1300 - off to an old quarry (now a visitor centre) for games on the grass (hide the dinosaur), and a walk

1300 - 1500 - visited an old tramway museum, where we walked (in the rain at times) and had rides on an old Leeds Tram from the 1930's

1500 - 1600 - drove back home via the shop to buy food

1600 - 1630 - cooked dinner for the twins (plently of protein, fruit and milk)

1630 - my wife came home early from work. 

She said she could tell I was exhausted when she spoke to me on the 'phone. She took over and watched a video with the twins (Wall-E)

1830 - twins went home to see Mum and Dad

1900 - me feeling rung out + headache

Never mind

All good fun and what Grandparents do...eh?

Apple Cider Vinegar

Health Benefits - fact or Fiction?

Apple cider vinegar is a type of vinegar made by the fermentation of apple cider. During this process, sugar in the apple cider is broken down by bacteria and yeast into alcohol and then into vinegar. Apple cider vinegar contains acetic acid (like other types of vinegar) and some lactic, citric and malic acids.

Diabetes

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of apple cider vinegar’s possible health benefits is its effect on blood glucose levels. Several small studies suggest that vinegar (both apple cider vinegar and other types) may help to lower glucose levels.

Weight Loss

Apple cider vinegar has become popular as a “fat-burner” and as a natural appetite suppressant. In fact, there’s even an apple cider vinegar diet, which involves taking one to three teaspoons of apple cider vinegar or apple cider vinegar pills before each meal. 

The earliest proponent of apple cider vinegar for weight loss was Jarvis, who wrote that people who consumed apple cider vinegar regularly would burn fat instead of store it. Although some say that the pectin, enzymes, vitamins, or potassium may help with weight loss, there is no reliable research showing that either apple cider vinegar or the combination of apple cider vinegar, kelp, vitamin B6 and lecithin can influence metabolic rate or the help us “burn fat” faster than we normally would.

High Cholesterol
A 2006 study found that rats fed acetic acid (the main ingredient in vinegar) had significantly lower total cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Large, human trials are needed to see if the same results occur in humans.

Acid RefluxApple cider vinegar in water is a popular home remedy for acid reflux. It's based on a theory by some alternative medicine practitioners that heartburn and reflux are actually symptoms of insufficient stomach acid caused by aging, poor diet or overusing antacids or other medications. Alternative practitioners usually rely on laboratories that conduct alternative tests to assess stomach acidity prior to any treatment. Critics say that insufficient stomach acid, or hypochlorhydria, isn’t a common condition and that it isn’t a known cause of acid reflux or heartburn.

So let's have some comments from users of this product. I really would like to know what you think?

Challenge Coins

Quote from Wikepedia

A challenge coin is a small coin or medallion (usually military), bearing an organization’s insignia or emblem and carried by the organization’s members. They are given to prove membership when challenged and to enhance morale.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Challenge_coin 

So are these coins worth collecting - or just something pretty to line your shelf? 

Personally I have never been given one of these coins as the tradition does not appear to have spread to the UK (unfortunately). However, there appears to be thousands out there and available to collect.

Shown below are a two examples which tie in to some extent with my interests (collecting Customs memorabilia).

Send me your thoughts on this subject. Do you like them, do you own any, or have you been given one officially?