Newsroom: Campaigns

Look around you – 40% of your friends and colleagues would rather be somewhere else right now, but if they told you where, they’d have to kill you!

The secret longing of the British public to be ‘somewhere better than here right now’ has been uncovered by Currencies Direct’s summer survey.

While four out of ten respondents revealed that they had a hidden happy hideaway the precise nature and location of which was ‘for their eyes only’, 34% made no secret of the fact that an all-day island beach party was where they’d much rather be.

Almost half of all respondents admitted the thing they hated most about summer in the UK was our inevitable wet weekends. Jealousy of friends or colleagues enjoying fun in the sun was also high on the list of summer hate inducers.

The results prove what many of us have long suspected – that being cooped up in the office on the rare sunny days of a British summer can seriously erode your will to live! More than a quarter of respondents got really annoyed that neither they nor their boss were on holiday, nearly 60% declared that they were only at work to pay the bills, with 10% saying that they never see their partner as a result. Outside the office almost 40% said that what gets right up their nose is shops, venues, holiday companies and eateries making a fast buck by ramping up prices during the school hols, while a third declared that the ‘chav beatbox’ – kids playing music through mobile phones without using headphones – was the single biggest irritation in their lives!

Yet, despite the apparent seething anger and resentment that’s bubbling just beneath the surface, we’re actually a warm and cuddly bunch us Brits. No matter how much they hate the summer, one in six of all respondents wanted their prize for entry to the Currencies Direct summer survey to be a donation of hundreds of pounds to charity.

For the rest, salvaging some kind of a summer from the pervading gloom was top priority, with half of those who answered the survey hoping to win a free holiday.

And who can blame them? Although the latest news suggests the golden days of the strong pound and cheap travel may be a thing of the past, the British will always need to escape the island of incessant downpours. Currencies Direct are here can help you get the most for your money whatever you might need abroad.

Thanks to all who participated in the survey. The winners are Tony Brown, Sorina Crisan and Julia Hughes.

Results:

1. What do you hate most about summer?
   1. Everybody is away on holiday EXCEPT ME. 27%
   2. Between 5pm on Friday and 9am on Monday, IT WILL RAIN. 46%
   3. The park is full of IDLE TEENAGERS. 7%
   4. There are a million CARAVANS on the road. Every road. 20%
2. Where would you rather be right now?
   1. Any place that has NO MOBILES, NO EMAILS, just Sky Sports. 15%
   2. It's a SECRET. If I told you I would have to kill you. 40%
   3. At an all-day BEACH PARTY on an island in the sun. 34%
   4. Watching beach volleyball at the OLYMPIC GAMES. 11%
3. What really annoys you about your boss?
   1. My boss is on HOLIDAY and I'm not. 16%
   2. My boss is NOT on holiday and neither am I. 28%
   3. My boss thinks he or she is so GREAT. 14%
   4. I AM the boss, and I AM great. 41%
4. How would you describe your work / life balance?
   1. I work to live, I don't live to work. 59%
   2. I never see my partner, we pass like two ships in the night. 10%
   3. Some give and a whole lot of take, take, take. 18%
   4. With a GREAT JOB like this, who needs home. 13%
5. What is the single biggest irritation in your life?
   1. Kids playing music through mobile phones, WITHOUT HEADPHONES. 32%
   2. My Blackberry, they can get me anyplace, anywhere at anytime. 9%
   3. The price of everything during the school holidays. 39%
   4. The London underground when it's hot, NEED I SAY MORE! 20%
6. If you could win a prize just for filling in this questionnaire, what would you choose?
   1. Free HOLIDAY, flights or hotel nights. 48%
   2. The chance to DRIVE a Ferrari way over the speed limit. 5%
   3. £300 SHOPPING voucher, wine voucher, or meal for 2 at a restaurant 32%
   4. To help others through a £300 donation to charity. 15%

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