My mail was tampered with today. I am sure it wasn’t the regular postie that did it because he is a real sweetie so I can only guess it was some back office sorting-elf (or duende) that did it.

I am more annoyed with the sender of the letter than the desperate soul who fiddled with it. A large corporation which is obviously in the throes of a spend-more-money campaign sent me a voucher offer in a window-fronted envelope. Though the voucher is obviously not real money, somebody must have been desperate enough to steam the envelope open with the  canteen kettle to get a closer look.

Hellloooo-oh! There’s a recession on numskulls! If you want your stupid junk mail to arrive unmolested don’t make it look like easy pickings.

Something John Beckley of Sorted Sites said about ‘tribes’ (he was channelling Seth Godin at the time) came to mind the other day as I was wandering about the web.

I’ve never been afraid to get lost and think doing so is about the best way to get to know a new city. Well the internet is like that too. You can follow your usual treaded path or step out of your comfort zone and just see what tribes you discover.

It is amazing how many interest groups you may stumble over unintentionally as you just follow your nose through the mass of links that helpfully litter the web like shiny pebbles waiting to be picked up.

Just this morning I found a report on the Derby Arona Tenerife One Loft Race. Now if you were a pigeon fancier you maybe knew about that already. I know about pigeon hobbyists. I have one behind me who coos and calls his birds in every night and there use to be a man a few houses down that had a pair of tumblers. But I had no idea that there was an annual pigeon race in Tenerife with a purse of €60,000, did you?

I also came across the website for the beautiful Hacienda Cristoforo in Costa Adeje, an ecological centre and retreat in Costa Adeje and found out all about the various courses and seminars available there. If you are looking for seminars or classes in Reiki, Rebirthing, Art, Hatha Yoga in Tenerife or would like to learn more about ‘The Sacred Clown as Healer‘ then the Haciendo Cristoforo is the place to go.

If you think of the internet like a large city, then the commercial concerns are always the easiest to find. They throw money at the best locations and hire marketing staff, PR companies and advertising agencies to make sure they are on every map. But anyone who really knows a city, knows that the most interesting of craftsman or curio shops, the best tailor, jeweller or spice trader is often to be found off the main thoroughfares. These traders thrive for many years on word of mouth and have no need to pay the rent for flashy office or shop space. But if you are not talking to the right people or walking up the right side-street you might never come across these hidden gems.

Often too, the people behind the niche or specialist websites are not really that interested in the internet itself. Their websites are only a means to an end; a communication tool for their current clients. Often the sites are unsophisticated and lacking in the basic steps that would make their websites easier to find in the search engines.

The only way you are going to stumble over some of these hard to find specialist sites is by letting yourself get lost. So go on and give it a try and if you find any interesting tribes, let me know. And if you happen to be a hard to find specialist then send me an email now and I might just be able to help you get closer to the main thoroughfare.

Words fail me. It’s not often, I admit, and it comes as quite a relief to my nearest and dearest but in this case, the best I can do is let the original post about Telefonica’s latest scam as reported by Direct-Telecom speak for itself.

I was sweet-talked into an Ikea telephone deal last year that ended up with me paying MORE for my phone calls too. Check the small print!

Interesting to read about a sticky-fingered young man in Marbella who was making use of an electronic device to break into cars and pilfer valuables from inside while doing no damage at all to the outside of the vehicle. My dippy neighbour has lost her car key in Tenerife twice in the last month or so and it has cost her a whopping €150 each time to get it replaced.

The first time she had to get the Grua to deliver the car to the right garage and pay for that before organising the new key. In the UK there are mobile auto-key firms you can call out at any time day or night which gain access to your car and supply a new transponder key at a fraction of the price of the dealers.

I don’t think Tenerife really needs any new bars right now but an auto-key service. Hmmm… sounds like a winner.