Call That The Best Job In The World?

There's been no escaping Ben Southall's success in getting the "best job in the word" (copyright Australian Gold Coast Tourism) but has he - really? OK so he's going to spend six months in the sun, write a blog, do a bit of swimming and get paid a good salary for his toil. But in truth he's just been the willing foil to a brilliant marketing campaign by the Australian tourist board who have managed to get worldwide publicity at very little cost. No. There must be better "best jobs in the world " than a 6 month temporary position.

Ever since the T Mobile flash mob dance at Liverpool St Station it seems that railway stations have become the new centres for performance art. I mean last night I switched to BBC after the Arsenal game finished and there was Sarah Lancashire and a choir singing in a station. Then I had a quick look at Youtube and rising high in the charts was the following video for a mass dance at Antwerp's Central Station. It seems that it was done as promotion for Andrew Lloyd Webber's "How do you solve a problem like Maria" which is set to air on Belgian TV. I wonder if the winner will become one of those rarities "a famous Belgian"



Now I hope that hasn't upset Marc Tielemans who has set up his own website Famous Belgians net. Marc is attempting to list all the famous Belgians and has 259 so far. Until I found his website the only famous Belgians I had heard of were Tintin and Hercule Poirot and both of them are fictional. But now I can add Hieronymous Bosch, Bruegel the Elder, Audrey Hepburn and the Singing Nun to the list. To be honest Marc, if I were you I would wind up that website because I bet hardly anybody at Instanta will even have heard of more than one of the four most famous that I have listed. And another thing Marc you can't count Hercule Poirot (who is on the list), so that's 4 quite famous and 254 not very famous at all Belgians.



I am writing this at the Celtic Manor. We are here for the CEDABOND do and we've got a bit of time before we set the stand up. The room is nice but a bit dated and the mini bar prices are ridiculous. £2 for a bag of crisps! As we aren't snackers that won't be a problem but I used to think our washers were expensive. Mind you the Internet is free. Poor Nick has hurt his back and I'm not sure if he will be able to work so it's a good job that Marion and I are here. I've not heard how Peter got on at his golf yet but I will report tomorrow.

Whilst I've been writing this I've been trying to think up some better jobs than Ben's. And guess what? I didn't need to. Like the Famous Belgians there are websites listing hundreds of the best jobs. High on all the lists is "Gold digger" but others that appealed to me were "Director of Sleep" which involves sleeping at a hotel three nights per week (a bit like the gold digger really) and "blogger". You mean some people get paid for doing this?