1 of these 15 Christmas villains has been up to no good and stolen our fairy lights! We’re asking people to see if they can spot which Christmas villain it is and only 22% of people can spot it in under a minute!
Can you spot which Christmas has stolen the fairy lights? They’ll certainly be on Santa’s naughty list.
Did you spot which villain stole the Christmas lights? You can find out here.
To make keep your home safe from villains this Christmas, check out our range of our solar security lighting.
Are you protecting your home from burglary? Check out what
you can do to keep your property safe with our in-depth guide and checklist.
Burglary within the UK is one of the most common crimes
committed, with a burglary happening every
108 seconds. They often have serious financial and emotional effects on the
victims. According to the ONS Crime report, the average cost of a residential
burglary in the UK is £3,030, in the year ending March 2019 the UK witnessed a
total cost of almost £900 million from residential burglaries.
The seriousness of protecting your home is not something to take lightly. Luckily, with increased awareness, homeowners are becoming savvier to the necessity of protecting their valuables and loved ones. Analysis from Google trends shows an 11% increase in queries relating to “home security” over the past year within the UK.
Home Security Checklist
Here at The Solar Centre, we’ve devised a home security
checklist which is loosely based on hints and tips by former burglars, as no
one gives better advice on the subject than those with firsthand experience.
This list is designed to be the ultimate guide on keeping your home safe.
Home security basics
Lock your doors and close your windows.
Ensure doors are sturdily installed.
Consider putting screws on your door frames if you are fearful your doors are not secure.
Steel is a perfect material and avoids the temptation for burglars to kick down your door.
Change your locks when you move in and if you lose your keys then get your locks changed immediately.
Don’t leave keys under doormats or pots, instead find a more secure spot.
Keep your valuable goods away from windows.
It is important to protect your most valuable possessions, so we’ve collected data on how some of the most commonly stolen items have changed over the years. Are these possessions hidden safely away in your home?
Make sure your presence is known (even when you aren’t there)
Clear all old newspapers from your porch and letterbox.
Make sure you regularly open and close curtains each day and night.
Turn your lights on when in the house.
Consider a dog or train your current pet to bark at signs of disturbance.
Produce signs that highlight you have alarms and don’t leave old alarms that are in poor condition insight.
Leave the radio on while you are away, the Nature of Burglary report estimates that 70% of burglaries happen on a weekday while homeowners are at work. If you believe radios are too cliché to fool burglars, investigate streaming some anti-theft home occupancy sounds.
Trim any plants back to ensure you are completely viewable to the street.
If you are worried about leaving your house alone, ask a neighbour to check in.
Avoid posting about any holiday on social media.
Be wary of your social interactions and surroundings
Stay vigilant to suspicious lurkers outside your
home.
Never let anyone into your home without
credentials (they may be checking out your valuables and security system to see
if it is worth robbing you).
Do not let strangers in to use your phone or any
other facilities.
Get the right equipment
Conceal wiring on your security system (this can
be disconnected by intelligent burglars)
Avoid spring-latch locks as they can be loided,
this is where an expert at breaking and entering slips a plastic card against
the latch to unlock the door. Deadbolts are a far better alternative.
Investing in the latest security solutions is the best way to scare burglars. Worryingly the number of victims falling for repeat burglary incidents has risen 16% over the past year. Burglars have no reason not to return if they have been successful once, and considering they already know the best escape routes and types of valuables you have; it saves them time planning.
Spending Money On a Solid Security System
Keeping your home secure doesn’t have to break the bank.
Below we outline different home security choices.
Anti-theft home occupancy devices
Home Occupancy Sounds (Price estimate: free)
Some people don’t trust simply using radios
anymore. Hence, home occupancy sounds were invented as solutions for when you
are going away for a weekend or long holiday. The idea is to play ambient mundane
house sounds from a speaker as if to simulate occupancy. These are completely
free and you are able to get these sounds on streaming services such as Spotify, Deezer and YouTube
Security Timer Plugs (Price estimate: £10-£20)
Another option for when you are away is a
security timer plug. These will enable you to create the illusion that the
house is occupied by setting a timer on lamps, televisions and radios.
Burglar Alarms
Smart Home Alarms (Price estimate: £190 – £600)
Described as the future of burglar alarms, smart
home security has received a vast amount of interest in recent years. They
operate as a traditional alarm but allow you to control it completely from your
app on a smartphone or tablet.
Unsurprisingly, like all smart home devices,
their unique functionality comes at a steeper price. However, typically smart
home alarms are combined with an entire system (wireless security cameras,
sirens, door locks and state of the art motion sensors). Systems can be
instructed to record when certain things happen, i.e. a door opens.
Low-value devices can cost just £190, but for
the whole security package, you would expect to spend up to £600.
Wired Alarm Systems vs Wireless Alarm Systems
(Price estimate: depends on the size of home)
Hardwired alarm systems are renowned to be
superior in terms of reliability. Furthermore, if your home is already prewired
for a security system, wired systems will be very straightforward to install,
hence it may be worth opting for this.
Alternatively, if you don’t have a security
system pre-installed, a wireless system may be the best option. Installation in
this instance will be a lot simpler and there will be no necessary home
modifications to make.
Another advantage of wireless systems is that
they can be used in remote places where wired systems are unable to reach.
Furthermore, the fact they’re no visible cables means the system is next to
impossible for burglars to tamper with.
CCTV
Night Vision CCTV (Price estimate: £100 – £250)
Considering for both weekend and weekday
burglaries, evenings are the preferred time of day for 61% of burglaries, night
vision is a worthy investment.
Depending on your budget night cameras can show
black and white or sometimes coloured images of your home in the pitch black.
Mini Cameras (Price estimate: £30 – £99)
Typically employed for indoor security, mini
cameras can be efficient in identifying burglars due to their inconspicuous
nature, but for this reason, they are not recommended as a scare tactic. They can,
however, also be a cheap solution for stairwell monitoring for small children
and elderly relatives.
Door Security
The
Nature of Burglary report also shows 70% of burglars came through the front
door. Looking at greater depth, 29% of the time the lock was forced open, while
14% of the time the door was not locked. It may seem obvious but making sure
your door is locked and the lock is bolted could severely reduce your chances
of being burgled. A deadlock should be tested to BS 3621.
In addition to this, ensure your door frames are
solid, estimated door measurements should be 4.4cm thick with 10cm hinges.
If you choose to further screw your door, ensure
they are compliant to British Standard BS 7950.
Steel doors are preferred as they discourage
burglars from kicking down your door. Wooden doors and doors with glass panels
should ideally be changed if you feel you live in a high-risk burglary region.
(link to burglary region table)
For some, cars are one of our biggest financial
investments and as such can be a prize target to thieves. One popular security
method here is to employ a driveway security bollard. These can be raised and
lowered automatically on approach using a fob key. Alternatively, at a lower
cost, homeowners can purchase a security bollard that requires manual action.
Garden Security
Sheds and garages are an easy target. Often
homeowners sacrifice measures here in order to prioritize their budget with indoor
security. Burglars know this and take advantage. Outdoor buildings are
particularly vulnerable at night (78%
of burglaries in a non-connected building near a dwelling happen in the
evening). Hence combining security with night vision is wise. Padlocks on
shed and garage doors fitted with battery-powered alarms can be extremely
effective and cost just £15.
Lights are a fantastic option for garden
security. They can either be manually turned on or triggered by movement. Often,
they are enough to deter burglars from coming again, as they act as an initial
warning sign of your solid security system.
Window Security
Another important insight from The Nature of Burglary report shows 25% of burglaries in 2018 happened by intruders entering through a window. Apart from keeping windows shut and locked, make sure all windows are fitted to double glazing standards making the windows harder to break. Any new windows must be in line to the British Standard 7950/ PAS 24. It is also important to have alarms viewable or signs near windows to deter burglars.
Are Home Security Systems Worth The Money?
We’ve also taken the average cost of a security alarm (£500) so you can see how much you’d potentially save by investing in one.
We’ve collected data
on the cost of burglaries to each region of the UK so you can see the average
amount which is lost in your area.
It looks like it’s going to be a hot one this bank holiday
weekend and as things are heating up, so will lots of BBQs. But with so many
different types of food to offer it can be difficult to choose what to add to
the shopping list. Nobody likes too many leftovers, and even worse, everybody
hates going hungry!
That’s why we’ve carried out a survey – BBQ It or Bin It,
asking people to rank different types of BBQ foods to find the Nation’s
favourite. And the results are in… It turns out the most popular BBQ delicacy
is the corn on the cob! Followed closely by the classic side dish of coleslaw
and in third place, none other than the staple sausage.
Ending up in the bin is grilled fish and prawns, so no need
to visit the fish counter on your shopping trip. Halloumi also didn’t fare well
coming second from bottom.
Yorkshire and the Humber are lovers of sausages taking top position in this region, in the South West coleslaw was voted top followed by burgers.
Love Island 2019 is in full force and whilst some islanders heads’ are being turned with each passing day, other couples just don’t seem to be connecting. Therefore, at The Solar Centre we decided to analyse the solar energy of star signs giving islanders the inside information on who to graft. Hopefully this can make its way into the villa before its too late!
Our Love Island Star Sign compatibility matrix tells us if there is an energy to send pulses racing or whether a re-coupling is necessary. Find out which Love Islander you should couple up with below…
Love Island is back for a fifth series and as ever the villa is setting this year’s must-have outdoor lighting trends.
The 2019 Love Island Villa Garden Lights!
Love Island Villa Garden You don’t need to have been watching too closely this year to notice that Love Island has gone ball light crazy! I mean sure, there were a few ball lights knocking around last year, but this year they have taken things to a whole new level! There are the massive ball lights around the villa garden, ball lights by every bed and even ball lights on every table on Love Island: Aftersun.
Ball Lights In The Love Island Bedroom
Ball (shape) lights in the bedroom too!
We have a sneaking suspicion that the ball lights on Aftersun may indeed be our very own Shapelights Sphere which appeared on The Only Way Is Essex a few months ago, but we can’t say for sure.
Shapelights Sphere on Love Island: Aftersun?
Either way, the Shapelight Sphere is a 35cm diameter version of all the indoor or outdoor ball lights you can see on Love Island or Love Island: Aftersun. Why do I say that? I say that because you can use our Shapelights anywhere indoors or outdoors! Shapelights can be USB charged or solar powered outdoors or you plug them into the mains and use them indoors. Once powered up Saheplights can be set to gently change colour from white, warm white, blue, light blue, green, lime, purple, pink, orange and red or you can set your Shapelight to stay on your favourite colour. A keener eye will have noticed the main love island tree has been beautifully wrapped in warm white fairy lights this year as it was last year too. We offer two ranges of warm white solar fairy lights to help you get that Love Island look. We have our value Elan range which comes in 100 (10m) and 200 (20m) lengths. Or our premium Lumify USB Solar Fairy Lights which, like our Shapelights, can be USB charged so you don’t need Love Island weather to keep them going night after night even if you don’t have a great solar panel location. Our Lumify USB chargeable solar powered fairy lights come in 100 LED (10m) and 300 LED (30m) lengths.
Are these the solarcentre Lumify Solar and USB Fairy lights?
Warm White Solar Fairy Lights on Love Island 2019? Finally, we come to the legendary Love Island Terrace where we’ve seen everything from group chats, awkward one to ones and first kisses. If you can draw your eye away from the drama you will see that there is a lot of festoon lighting creating that romantic ambience.
Festoon lit Love Island Terrace 2019
We have plenty of festoon lights for you to choose from. From our value range we have our Elan Solar Festoon Lights which offer 20 5cm diameter festoon balls along a 10m string. From our premium USB chargeable Lumify range we have our stunning warm white Lumify USB Solar Vintage Bulbs which come in two lengths: 10 bulbs on a 7m string or 20 bulbs on a 14m string.
Climate change is a constant topic of conversation and as one of the UK’s leading eco brands, we wanted to show
the impact climate change could have on popular tourists landmarks in years to come.
Many people are choosing to go on holiday at this time of year and we picked out some of the tourist
destinations both in the UK and abroad that are most at risk of climate change.
Using Photoshop we can show what each place will look like in years to come and these changes are based on real
research and studies of climate change – so what is shown in each picture is extremely likely to happen!
Lake District
The Lake District – a popular holiday destination in the North West England famous for the mountain views and
lakes. Research has shown that the Lake District is at threat from climate change with many changes likely to
occur.
Species are likely to decline including the mountain butterfly, with this there will be an increase in
pygmyweeds and Japanese knotweeds – not the type of plants you want in your back garden.
Heavy rainfall will cause erosion to the ground, footbridges and footpaths. As a result, this will increasedirt
in the lakes.
In the summer months, lake levels will also fall drastically- causing picturesque views to diminish.
London is one of the most popular destinations for tourists visiting the UK and one of the most iconic
buildings is Big Ben. But climate change could threaten this 160-year-old clock.
Research has suggested climate change will cause flooding from the North Sea and river flooding from The
Thames. This would result in mass flooding to London City and create an abundance of surface water – heavy
rainfall will no doubt add to this problem and even walking across Westminster bridge may be problematic.
The Great Barrier Reef is the worlds largest coral reef system located off the coast of Australia. A home to
snorkelers, divers but most importantly – fish and other marine life. Climate change is already having a huge
impact on the Great Barrier Reef with reports suggesting as much of half the great barrier reef is dead.
Rising sea temperatures are the main reason behind this, causing coral bleaching and ultimately killing the
coral. And this is likely to increase and soon there could be zero marine life living in one of Australia’s
world heritage sites.
Venice – known as the floating city but soon this could be the sinking city. The city is at constant threat
from flooding due to it’s low lying foundations. Anytime there is heavy rain, seawater is pushed into the city.
A vulnerable city which could soon lay partially underwater.
April is here and British Summer Time is well and truly underway, and April isn’t just the month where we tend to spend more time outdoors, it’s also the month of Earth Day. Celebrated for almost 50 years, Earth Day is an international event to help raise awareness and show support for the environmental protection of our planet Earth.
Here at The Solar Centre, we wanted to get involved and help
raise awareness of Earth Day and inspire people to be more environmentally
friendly. We recognised that sometimes it can be difficult to understand the
impact we have on our environment – especially when there are over 7 billion
people in the world. So, we wanted to make sure we focused on the environment
in the UK and areas which would matter to you.
We’ve taken 10 different factors which are affecting our
environment and collected data for each factor in 52 different cities across
England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland and scored each city between 0 –
10 based on the data. Some of these environmental factors include:
CO2 emissions
Fly-tipping
Traffic congestion
We then averaged the rankings across all the factors to crown the greenest city in the UK. We hope this will inspire you to make a difference in your local area, whether you live in a city or not. You can view our Greenest Cities interactive which shows all the rankings here and find out which city was crowned the greenest.
We’ve created another Christmas brainteaser for you to solve. We’re asking if you can spot the Rudolph with the bright red nose hiding in the Christmas trees
Only 1 in 5 people at The Solar Centre can spot him within a minute! So how quickly can you find him?
Did you find him? You can see where Rudolph is hiding here.
We have even more Christmas puzzles for you solve here.
Everybody loves a good brainteaser, so we’ve put together some festive puzzles for you to enjoy and solve!
We’re asking people if they can see the word hidden in the Christmas lights and only 10% of people can spot the hidden word in under 30 seconds! So how long does it take you to see it?
Can you spot the Christmas word hidden in the string of lights?
The quickest time to spot the word here at The Solar centre was an impressive 7 seconds! Can you find it any faster?
Can you spot the Christmas word hidden in the star of lights?
This one took us slightly longer to solve with an average time of 49 seconds!
Can you spot the Christmas word hidden in the reindeer of lights?
This proved to be the hardest with 21% of people here not being able to see the word at all!
We hope you’ve enjoyed these and if you still don’t know the answers click on the links below to reveal the answers…
If there’s one thing that’s gripped the nation this summer (apart from the World Cup of course) it’s Love Island! Here at The Solar Centre, we’ve looked to the stars and the planets in our solar system to work out the astrological love matches in the villa.
Our Love Island Star Sign compatibility matrix tells us if there could be a cosmic dance between contestants or a meteor shower and shows who should (according to science) be grafting who. Find out which Love Islander you should couple up with below…
