Joe and Lou's Travel Blog

Beastie Boys at Wembley Arena

We saw them last night. They are promoting their latest album, "To the 5 boroughs". It is their first album for six years so we were lucky to see them.

Over their more than 20 year career the Beasties have spanned many genres including punk, hip hop, funk and even some country. They touched on all of these (except country) last night. They are very energetic and provided a great stage show along with their tight rhyming. Wembley Arena was packed, the audience loved it and we had a good old boogie.

The opening act, Talib Kwali, was not so well received. I feel he was let down by a bad sound mix that meant the music sounded muddy and distorted with far too much bass.

Stolen bank card

On Monday I got a call from HSBC. They informed me that they believed someone else had used my debt card (like EFTPOS). Debt card theft is a growing problem in the UK. Most cards are not physically stolen. Either the details are copied when the card is handed over at a restaurant or bar or they are copied at an ATM using a hidden camera or card reader. The problem is that they are only now bringing in PIN numbers. There are still many stores where you can pay by your card and sign for it (the signature is not usually scrutinised closely). Someone had gone to Tescos (a supermarket) in Basildon (a town where mum lived as a child!) and purchased some goods then got cash out at the till. When they tried it a second time the same day it either was suspected by the bank or the person at the till noticed something wrong.

Luckily the card was cancelled quickly so they could not run up a bigger amount.

I had to go to the bank and the police to report it stolen. Hopefully the bank will reimburse me the money and it will simply be an annoyance.

I am unsure where my number was stolen as I used my card quite often at stores and cash machines the previous weekend. I will have to be more vigilant in future. Let this be a warning to you all!