“Non, Je ne regrette rien” sang Edith Piaf. I don’t regret anything either, I don’t think you can see life’s downs that way.

Motorbike, train, car – whatever, for me travelling is all about the journey and not the destination. It’s the events that happen on the way and the people you meet. It’s the stories you accumulate and the things you experience that give life its texture, that make it a life lived.

As vapers we are blessed that most of the vendors in the UK are decent folk who bend over backwards to help if there’s a problem. This guide is intended for any person new to vaping or experiences a problem with their product/vendor when buying online.

The guide looks at two things to help you: The Consumer Contracts Regulations and the Sale Of Goods Act.

Lots of things are bad for you – for some people it is cheese, alcohol or kinky sex games, Me? I found becoming a human bumper for a car while on my motorobike was particularly deleterious.

It never ceases to amaze me, the number of people who would compel you to do or not to do something because of their opinions. Not because of the science, not because of evidence, but their opinions.

What makes us failures? There’s a big list but according to a newspaper this week the answer is ‘television’.

This could be deeply upsetting news – well it would be if I watched one. I can’t remember when I stopped watching television; it must have been a gradual decline over the years. I do remember that someone spoke to me about a program recently and refused to accept that I hadn’t watched it. To be honest, TV life was never the same after they cancelled Eldorado.

When the going gets tough the smart find somewhere else to be or a good excuse. This isn’t a famous quotation by anyone important, it’s just been the story of my life. I’m brilliant at quitting, you name it and I’ve quit it. Well, almost all of it.

My Curriculum Vitae was inspired by a lecturer I had who took a break from the topic in hand to explain to us that the only thing important was getting a job. I asked her whether it was best to tell the truth or lie (having had over seventeen different jobs prior to doing the course at 22). She said that if I told the truth I’d never get the job and that if I lied I might get a job but then be sacked if found out. Lying won the day then.

When trying new wire or different coiling diameters by changing wicks it can be a hit or miss affair trying to work out how many wraps will provide the desired resistance, especially if you are new to coiling.

We would like to present a calculator for your use that takes all of the hardwork/guesswork out of the process.

Simply enter in you wire and wick details then the resistance you’d like to achieve and the calculator will do the rest – telling you how many wraps to make.

Clearly this will depend on how tightly you wrap your coils but it beats sticking a wet finger in the air. The calculator works for different sizes, types and even mixed wires.

Everybody’s favourite/least favourite reviewer has a catchphrase, it’s the one thing that actually differentiates them and sets the scene. Well, that and an ability to actually engage the viewer and carry out something approaching interesting. From “My name’s Scott” to “Hi guys, Todd here!”

If you live in a stress-free, news-free bubble you will have missed the huge waves created by Clives Bates and 53 scientists this week.

Constructing an open letter to the Director General of the World Health Organisation, they called for a shift from a no vaping/nicotine stance to one of harm reduction. The letter recounts how the majority of the predicted billion deaths can be circumvented by encouraging the adoption of the safer forms of nicotine use rather than (effectively) banning it.

At the moment I have Bush’s ‘The Chemicals Between Us’ blasting out in an effort to raise myself from the fug. One minute I was wide awake and cuddling my daughter as the breakfast news played. The next I’m suddenly aware that I have a space where my daughter used to be, a cold cup of coffee in front of me and someone has moved the clocks forward four hours.

In this week of all weeks the tune seems rather apt as 53 highly respected scientists call for the World Health Organisation (and their paid lackey, Stanton Glantz) to start respecting good science and to tell the truth about the chemicals in electronic cigarettes…as much as I hate that term. I vape, I use mods and attys, I don’t use an electronic cigarette.

There was one point, during the fag-end of the 80s, when Yuppie business talk fused into day-to-day conversations. You couldn’t discuss football, DIY or washing up liquid adverts without someone wanting you to ‘seize the day’. Not that I held any strong opinions about DIY. Worse, if you had a job working for an international chemical company and were greeted each morning with the Managing Director shouting:

“Carpe diem, Dave! Carpe diem!”