Those of my readers who were at my wedding may recall the priest who married us. He is a very thoughtful and spiritual man who made an impact, in his quiet way, on many of our guests that day.

For some time now, this priest has been seriously ill with cancer and I was very sad to read, last night, that his condition has worsened considerably. He'd been housebound for some time but now he is in hospital and has been referred to the Palliative Care team. The bishop has retired him from active duty and is talking about a nursing home for him. The one blessing, as the bishop puts it, is that he does not seem to be suffering any pain.

I can see why God would want to call the Canon home: he's such a loving gentle man whose love of Our Father is evident, and I'm glad that he's not distressed but it's still a little sad to think that I am unlikely to see him again in this life.

Can I please ask my readers to join me in praying for Canon Frank in the time he has left on this earth, that he might not suffer but be at peace in whatever time God has given him, and be strong and comforted in his Faith and the love of those around him. Thank you.

Fifty years ago, a woman sat on a bus. She'd paid for her seat and was feeling tired, so when a man demanded that she relinquish her seat for him just because his skin was a different colour to hers, despite the fact that this was the custom of the time, she refused. The rest is history.

Fifty years on, we have come a long way. But not far enough. Although legal safeguards are in place to protect people from this kind of discrimination, we still place far too much emphasis on appearance. Look at recent attacks on people with an Asian appearance in this country because people associate Islamic fundamentalist terrorists with all Asians. Never mind the fact that not all people of Asian-descent are Muslim; never mind that not all Muslims have darker skin. Let alone the fact that, as one special episode of The West Wing highlighted: Islamic fundamentalist is to Islam as the Klu Klux Klan is to Christianity.

But even moving beyond skin-colour, we still place far too much emphasis on appearance. Fuelled by the media, we have an image of the "perfect" appearance, and define others by their failure to meet this idea. When looking for a way to describe somebody, how often do we focus on their physical features: "the fat lady", rather than "the lady with the red handbag", "the black man", rather than "the man with the big smile"? I've often noticed that people tend to comment on somebody else's weight if they are large: it is one of the first things that strikes us.

It's easy to do but perhaps if we are truly to continue to move forward in the spirit of Rosa Parks, whose passing we marked this week, we should try to close our eyes to people's appearance, and not judge others by their conformity or non-conformity to some impossible ideal, but rather to look at what is beneath the skin instead. Our sight is a blessing but, perhaps, it can also be a handicap.

I got a very good tip recently from the Money Saving Expert, regarding online shopping. He recommends firstly that people use a shopbot such as kelkoo or pricerunner to search for the cheapest deal (using more than one for larger purchases because no one shopbot checks all available shops).

Secondly, he then recommends that you sign up to a cashback site - RPoints being one of the best for people who spend under £500 a year - and if the store with the best deal is listed with them, then use their link to go through to make the purchase. This way you accumulate points which eventually gets you cashback. You can click through to the shopbots from these cashback sites too and earn more points.

Martin Lewis recommends that you only sign up to one cashback site because they don't payout until you've earned a certain amount of points, therefore if your earning is spread among several different sites, it takes much longer for you to get money back.

For more information, read the article here.

Some days start off well. This morning, Dragon Dada went in to work early, which in itself is not a good thing, except that it means that he'll be home sooner today. It meant, however, that I was up at 6 and managed to get a workout done before the Dragonets awoke. Which leaves more time for study during the day.

Then, when we all came down for breakfast a little later, I switched on the radio and we were all dancing to Dolly Parton's 9 to 5 and Dire Straits' Walk of Life. A good start to the day.

I was reading an article this morning about the discovery of a new species of 'zombie worm' off the coast of Sweden. These worms feed off the bones of dead whales and have previously only been found in the Pacific Ocean, thus the excitement at their discovery in the North Sea. The bit that really caught my attention, however, is the name of the species: it has apparently been named Osedax mucofloris, 'which literally means "bone-eating snot-flower"'. Lovely.

I would like to wish a very happy (and deeply respectful) birthday to our much-loved Winnie-the-Pooh who (and I hope he won't mind me saying so) is 79 today!

If you sign up for a free e-mail newsletter with the Money Saving Expert before midnight on Sunday, he will donate 50p per new registree to this cause.

The e-newsletter does exactly what it says on the tin, it gives money saving tips on all sorts of things, to help with finance. Martin Lewis, the "Money Saving Expert," has a regular slot on BBC Radio 2.