Vivastreet blog

Colon massage courses, a prehistoric hand axe, dead butterflies, a Gloucester Old Spot pig you can adopt (and then slaughter), a human scarecrow and a topless cleaner are six of the best — well certainly most bizarre — ads this month on free classifieds website, Vivastreet.co.uk.

It’s not our first choice of course to enrol on, but if you’ve ever wanted to massage a stranger’s colon and relieve their ‘sluggish circulation’ then you’ll be keen to hear about a series of courses running in Cardiff in our classes section. The Colon Massage Accredited Course is ‘predominantly practical-based’ so you can get stuck straight in. So to speak.

If you’re planning on cutting down a tree in your back garden this weekend, but haven’t got a Homebase or B&Q nearby (God forbid), for £6 you can purchase this prehistoric hand axe dating back to ‘circa 50,000 BC’ in our memorabilia and collectables section. And who knows? Once that old oak is down and cut up into logs maybe you could sell the axe to the British Museum for several grand?

We’re not telling porkies when we say you can adopt a Gloucester Old Spot pig for as little as £35 per month, receive updates and pretty pictures of the beast and then, six months down the line, ‘take delivery of your pig either butchered or whole’. If you’re planning a pig roast in the summer, then this is perfect for you. And if pork isn’t your food of choice, there’s plenty more nosh in our food and wine section.

If you’re a lover of Lepidoptera — flying insects to you and me — then look no further. On the memorabilia section of Vivastreet.co.uk, you can buy a gorgeous Orange Tip butterfly for a pound (it’s dead, btw). All you need now is a pin and a small glass case.  And a life.

Love working in the fresh air, live in Kent and looking to earn some extra lolly? Then why not apply for the position of ‘bird scarer’ in our jobs section. It’s an early start but then it has to be if you’re going to ensure that the early bird doesn’t get the worm — well, prize marrow!

Top rates of pay in Leeds are promised if you’re, errr, prepared to take off your top while doing the dishes, ironing and bleaching the loo. The gentleman in question, ‘ClassyBloke’ (real class), wants a topless cleaner, although stipulates that he prefers busty ladies. Has the man no shame?

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The recession has taken its toll on millions of families across the UK, but the Brits are nothing if not resourceful. According to free classifieds website, Vivastreet.co.uk, more people than ever are turning to the Work from Home section of the website to boost their salaries, replace lost income or keep on top of their debts.

Vivastreet.co.uk figures show that last year the number of people searching for work they could carry out in their own homes increased by 142% compared to 2008. This trend is expected to continue this year as people look for ways to supplement their income to help keep on top of their finances.

In fact, January 2010 has already seen almost 150,000 people visiting the Work from Home section of the website making it one of the more popular categories in the part-time jobs section and 62% more people searched for ‘work from home’ jobs last month than did in December 2009. Traffic levels in January 2010 were also a staggering 412% higher than traffic levels in the corresponding month in 2009.

Currently, the most popular types of jobs on the Vivastreet.co.uk website that people can do from the comfort of their front room include data entry clerks, remote typists, online survey respondents, online sales consultants, part-time PAs and translators.

With millions of people struggling to cope with mounting debt and worries about job security, the option to earn additional income after work and at weekends has proved a life-saver. With the country expected to languish in the economic doldrums until at least the beginning of 2011, the number of home workers is likely to grow significantly in 2010.

The attraction of working from home has also benefited from the home communications revolution, with the majority of households now having access to fast speed broadband. This has provided a wealth of new opportunities to make money armed simply with a computer and a phone.

Inevitably, with more people looking for work they can carry out at home, Vivastreet.co.uk, a website for free classified ads listings, has also seen an explosion in ‘work from home’ ads being posted on the site during the past 12 months. January 2010 actually saw the highest number of ads uploaded to the site in any one month since the section launched five years ago. The number of new Work from Home job ads placed in 2009 was double (98%) the number of new ads placed during 2008.

Yannick Pons, CEO, Vivastreet.co.uk, commented:

“The Work from Home section has been one of the most popular sections on the site over the past year, but we’ve noticed a massive spike in page views during the first month- and-a-half of 2010. Traffic has been growing month on month, and the number of news ads has also risen sharply.

“Not only are people looking for ways to bolster their incomes, it seems businesses are beginning to see home working as a more cost-effective resource than having staff on-site, particular at a time when they need to cut spending to the bone. With a lot of the jobs people can take up requiring just an internet connection and phone, it’s no surprise this segment of the market is beginning to appeal to consumers and businesses alike.”

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The latest unemployment figures have just been published and they show that the number of people out of work has dropped for the second consecutive month. However, when you actually look at the figures, we are talking by a very small amount. More illuminating are the stats on the number of people who are working in temporary employment. The part-time job market has exploded over the past year as more and more people turn to part-time work while they wait for a full-time position to become available. The Office of National Statistics report shows that there are almost 1.5 million people in temporary employment and that 34.6% of people working on a temporary basis, said they had looked for full-time work with no success, and were working on a temporary basis until the job market improved.

We know how tough it is out there at the moment for the all those people out of work, but don’t give up, there are definitely jobs out there which could match your skills. VivaStreet.co.uk has seen the number of new full-time jobs posted on the site increase threefold in the past six months and that’s positive news for those of you out there actively looking for work.

We currently have a huge variety of jobs on the site, both full-time (2,624 new jobs) and part-time positions, from childcare and nanny jobs to marketing and accountancy jobs.

And for those of you specifically looking for part-time positions, we have 7,151 new part-time jobs currently posted on the website.

Finally, don’t forget you can post your CV on the website for free and create alerts so that you’re the first to hear whenever a hot new job is posted on the website.

Good luck!

Well it’s that time of the year again, where hearts are fluttering and mens’ brows are perspiring!! Yes, Valentine’s Day is on Sunday,  and across the UK, thousands of men will be tearing their hair out because; 1/ they’ve forgotten to buy their loved one a present or 2/ they have no idea what gift to buy their loved one – something which encapsulates, very simply, how much they love them – awwwww! Trust me chaps, two tickets to Chelsea vs Liverpool won’t get her heart palpatating, I promise you!

To be honest, if they could get away with it, most men would happily just buy their girlfriend/fiancee/wife a box of choccies and a cheap card from the local service station, on the way home from work. Unfortunately, there’s no avoiding it chaps – your loved ones will want sooooo much more than choccies, naff cards and a bunch of roses bought over the counter at Tescos! Don’t worry, it’s not too late to save yourself from spending a night in the doghouse… if you act now!

And because over here at Vivastreet, we care about the welfare of our users and particular those male users who could be spending a night in the doghouse, we thought we’d lend a helping hand if you’re in desperate need of some Valentine’s gift ideas inspiration. Vivastreet has set up a special category for one week only dedicated to love!!! Yep boys, your salvation, and more importantly a happy girlfriend, is just a click away. So, don’t delay, find a Valentine’s gift today, in our special category, which is listed in our Buy and Sell section on the Vivastreet Homepage.

Good luck!

We would like to inform you that in response to our user feedback, we are constantly improving the content quality of our site and our service.  For this reason, we have introduced a new rule, which will no longer permit posting of naturist/nude massages in the Services section (Massage-Beauty-Spa category).

Due to the nature of these massages, from now on the posting will be possible only in the Erotic massages category in the 18+ section.

We regret any inconvenience this might cause and we hope this will not discourage you from using Vivastreet either for your personal or business needs.

If you have any further question, do not hesitate to contact us via our onsite Contact us form or e-mail us directly to: team-uk@vivastreet.com