Choconchoc, another way to say: "Merry Christmas!" to that special someone!

But especially if that special someone is a chocolate lover!

Visit their website, www.choconchoc.co.uk and be reay for a bewildering but deeply fantastic choice of chocolate and chocolate items.

The chocolates are guaranteed to have been handmade in Great Britain, so there's none of that disappointment when you think you are buying a special chocolate Christmas gift that has been made in Great Britain only to find that it is now made in a far cheaper country in some far-flung part of the European Empire. (EDITOR: Even though the production costs would then be perhaps one third of the previous UK production facility, the price to the consumer remains just as high. Funny, that!)

But with Choconchoc when it says Made in Great Britain, that's what it means!

Some of the gifts not only taste good, they will also raise a smile, too.

For example, you can buy a presentation box of sprouts. But don't worry! Even though they are exquisitely made, perfect representations of this plucky, yet somewhat bitter, brassica, they are created out of delicious white chocolate. A box of 8 costs £8.99.

Other stunning items include a Christmas Celebration Cake (made of a kilo of chocolate!) for £30, chocolate doughnuts, chocolate elf boots, Chocolate Mince Pies and Prosecco (even the bottle is made of chocolate!) and so much more, including special chocolate hampers.

Want cheese and crackers after your meal? As you might expect, even though it looks like real cheese, it's actually cleverly made from chocolate!

Choconchoc brings the fun and frivolity back to the festive season!

Lord's Cricketing gifts, ideal for the cricket lover in your life

Sometimes buying Christmas gifts for your nearest and dearest or for someone at the office Secret Santa can be hard.

If you have been buying gifts for family members for more Christmases than you might care to remember it can be difficult to find something unique and different every year.

And as for your colleague at work, what about them?

How do you find the ideal gift for either or both of them?

It's actually not as hard as you might think. If they are followers of the great English game of Cricket, then your problem is as good as solved, for Lord's, which is justifiably known as "The Home of Cricket", has a fanastic range of cricket and cricketing memorabilia and gifts for sale.

You can buy them at Lord's itself, at the main shop, which is for dedicated merchandise, clothing, gifts and souvenirs.

There's something for everyone as a memento of their visit to the Home of Cricket.

But there's also The Lord’s Cricket Store in central London, London’s only dedicated cricket equipment retailer offering a huge range of brands for all levels and all ages.

You can also buy gifts online at https://shop.lords.org/.

You can buy replica teamwear, a stunning range of Lord's dedicated clothing, special Lord's souvenir gifts, books on cricket, cricket equipment, special Lord's Experiences and also some rather nifty dedicated Middlesex Cricket Club memorabilia, too!

In fact, there's even stuff that non-cricket followers will be proud to own, too!

There's everything from a zipable individual Lord's bottle cooler (£5.00) right through to some of the most exquisite sets of perfectly designed and made Lord's cufflinks (£15.00) that come in a truly stunning magnetised triangular presentation box.

Other items include portable phone chargers, umbrellas, plus an amazing range of homeware including a glass paperweight (containing genuine Lord's turf!) plus mugs and even a very special teatowel that explains the many and varied rules of the game of cricket!


 

Gillette Fusion Proshield razor, an ideal Christmas gift

The Gillette Fusion Proshield razor is an ideal Christmas gift for the person who does not like using electric razors.

There are a variety of reasons as to why this might be. They like the whole process of washing their face, applying the shaving foam or the shaving oil and then applying the wet razor to their skin.

Or perhaps they feel that a wet bladed shave is better than a dry, electric shave?

Whatever their reasoning, you can be sure that the Gillette Fusion Proshield razor will be an ideal Christmas gift for them.

How so? There is lubrication twice, both before and after the blades, and because Gillette know that not every face is exactly the same, they have designed a stunningly effective flex ball to make certain that the Gillette Fusion Proshield razor follows every one of the unique contours of the shaver's face.

And it has cooling technology during the shave to help the shaver get exactly the kind of sophisticated, cool shave that they will e thrilled to receive.

And not only that, there's a special precision trimmer on the back to make certain that the edging is perfect.

They are available from chemists and supermarkets all over the country and cost £15.00 from Ocado and £12.00 from Morrisons.

Add some other Gillette shaving after aftershave products and you will have a Christmas gift that you can be proud to give the shaver in your life!

Merchant Seafaring Through Word War 1 1914-1918

Merchant Seafaring Through Word War 1 1914-1918 is a new book by Peter Lyon,

Peter Lyon is an acknowledged expert on maritime matters and the Merchant Marine. He is a Master Mariner and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of Navigation and the Nautical Institute, beginning his maritime career with the Blue Funnel Line of the city of Liverpool.

After spending time at sea he worked ashore with the Port of London Authority, the UK National Ports Council, serving as their Nautical Adviser.

He then went into the word of consultancy, co-founding and serving as managing partner of a highly specialist international maritime research and consultancy, based in London.

Thus he is eminently qualified to write his very impressive and highly informative book.

It commences matters by discussing the unfair lowly status of the merchant marine and the seafarers who compromised it at the beginning of the 20th century.  

He examines, in considerable depth, the relationships that then existed between the seafarers themselves, the owners of the ships, the British Admiralty and the other organs of government im as much as they touched upon maritime matters.

During World War 1 there was a horrendous loss of lives of many seafarers on both British ships, Allied ships and neutral merchant ships at the hands of the U-Boats of the Imperial German Navy.

Peter Lyon then takes time to explore how this impacted upon Britain and the strain that was put on the British participation in the war.

His wide-ranging research took in a number of resources and archives including official reports, ships' logs, individual accounts of seafarers, consular reports, press cuttings and the like.

He provides an absolutely compelling account of this area of history, which has sadly been neglected by many war historians of that period.

The book although extremely well researched is not by any means a dry academic work. It brings to life the terrible depredations of sailors and passengers during what was then called The Great War, latterly known as World War 1.

The book is published by The Book Guild at £9.99 and makes a first rate Christmas gift for those with an interest in the period of history of that war.

There is a comment on the book from Lord John Prescott the former Deputy Prime Minister who served as a merchant seafarer himself.

"Amma Tell Me" a fantastic Christmas gift for your children

Amma, Tell Me About Holi is a remarkable book for children parents and grandparents alike.

It is written by Bhakti Mathur and stunningly illustrated in vivid, vibrant colours by Maulshree Somani.

It's part of a series of books that charmingly introduces children to the major festivals that play an important part in the Hindu religion.

Although it is aimed, primarily, at Hindu children and their parents it will be widely welcomes by all parents, grandparents and children who like to learn about the world that surrounds them.

The reason why Bhakti began writing the books is interesting. She wanted to buy some books on Hindu festivals for her young children but faced a major struggle in sourcing any. So like a good mum, she decided to start writing her own books.

The books in the series are aimed at children from ages 3 to 9, and are perfect for families and for educators needing material for pupils or students.

This book tells the story of Klaka, his many, many friends, his brother Kiki and his golden-coloured dog, Frodo.

 Every night their Amma tucks Klaka, Kiki and Frodo into bed and she reads them a story.

This time Amma tells them about Holi, the Hindu festival of colours.

The book is published by Anjana Publishing at £9.50 each.

(Happy Diwali to all our readers.)

The book is available from our online shop, which you will find here here https://goo.gl/01Utnw.

Schiek Cross Training and Fitness Gloves, the ideal gift

If you have someone in your life who is into cross training and fitness, then Schiek Cross Training and Fitness Gloves are the ideal Christmas gift for them.

They are sturdy and very strongly made and will give years of good, hard work for their proud wearer.

They have special "Easy Off" fins, which are patent protected. There is high comfortable gel padding and they are totally washable, too.

They offer a handy "non-bleeding promise and have a funky and cool mesh back.

There's a reinforced  thumb (EDITOR: More on that, later!) plus the thumb and index finger are both made out of highly useful terry cloth.

Schiek promise that their special Keystone Thumb feature offers the wearer a much better fit around the thumb area.

About this reinforced thumb area. My wife suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and she has had special devices designed and sourced by her specialist.

My wife, out of curiosity, decided to try on the Schiek Model 510 gloves and was immediately absolutely stunned by what happened to her hand.

The pain in her thumb and her wrist vanished within seconds and she said: "Wow! These gloves are giving me much greater support than that special support the hospital provided me with! And that's supposed to be made to my exact measurements!"

(EDITORIAL DISCLAIMER: Obviously neither myself, That's Christmas or Schiek is making any promises as to the efficacy of this product in regards to alleviating the symptoms of conditions like rheumatoid arthritis,  but my wife knows her condition well enough to identify the positive result that had occurred! Schiek do offer a range of medical products, so do, please, check them out.)

The gloves are also made out of a unique synthetic leather material called Amara. It's light, it's breathable and although it has the look of leather and its durability, it's also machine washable and is guaranteed not to stretch upon washing.

And even if you are out and about -the gloves are ideal for weight training, general fitness training and cycling- and you and your gloves get a little wet, then there's no reason to worry, as the unique rubberised Amara pad offers a unique level of grip even in the wet.

The gloves come in a variety of sizes from XS to XXL, so there should be a size for everyone.

To learn more please visit www.schiek.com.

USA price is $26.00.

To buy a range of Schiek gloves and other great, but unusual gifts from Schiek, you can visit our shop at this link here https://goo.gl/01Utnw.

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