Waiter! There's a pig in my dinner.

We went away for the weekend. Well, part of the weekend anyway, for reasond that may become clear.

The Best Western hotel in Alsager (I name good places when I review them, there's no reason why I shouldn't name ... less good ... places too) looks lovely on its website, and indeed at first site on arrival it looks not bad. I suppose I've been to enough business hotels in out-of-the-way places not to be surprised at stale air in the bedroom or the repeated requests to know what time I want to be seated for dinner. Or the resigned feeling of realising that the view from one's window is of the kitchen waste bins.

However, there were a few special touches that this place had to offer:

When I was asked (again) what time I wanted dinner and replied that I would await the arrival of my friend, you'd think that they would mention that she had cancelled her reservation. No.

When we went to dinner and were invited to take drinks in the cocktail bar, you'd think that they would offer cocktails. ("would you like a drink?", "How about a mojito?", "Er, don't know what that is"). No.

When arriving at the table with our bottle of wine already there and opened (not opened in our presence, tut tut), you'd think that someone would pour some for us. No.

When finally one of the waiting staff brings our main course and finally offers to pour the wine, you might think that they'd know not to fill a red wine glass up to the brim. No.

When you've ordered beef medallions with an oxtail suet pudding, you'd expect to get something close to that, rather than pork medallions. No.

When you point out to the waiting staff that pork is in fact, not beef, you'd expect a bit more than a shrug and "I'll mention it to Chef". No.

I could go on. Breakfast was amusing, in a David Brent kind of way. Checking out brought a moment of levity when we were asked if we'd enjoyed our stay.

To be fair, they did discount our bill. But I don't think we'll be rushing back.

Nine geese a-laying

The real perks of commuting to work by bike is getting to see what's going on along the canal. Recently I counted nine canada geese nesting at various points along the water's edge between Oxford Road and Manchester United.

At least four families of goslings have so far hatched out and been gently shepherded into the water by their parents.

I can't help feeling this goose's brood will have a slightly more exciting start to life, though.

Thank you Orange

But apparently my businees is important to them.

The last component is in place

We are taking a short holiday to Spain. By train.  That nice man at Seat 61 has plenty of ideas and route information for low-carbon journeys by rail, so Spain seemed like a nice option.

Eurostar to Paris,

Sleeper to Madrid,

train to Granada,

Sleeper to Barcelona,

Sleeper to Paris,

Eurostar back to London.

Three nights on board the Trenhotel will be augmented by "normal" hotels in Madrid and Granada.  The journey will (hopefully) be as much part of the holiday as the destination.

We'll see.

Mixed Up Confusion

Another meme. From Reach Out and Touch the Screen (and others):

 

1. Put your iTunes, Windows Media Player, etc. on shuffle (yes,other mp3 players DO exist).
   
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
   
3. Write the song name down, whatever it is, no cheating...
   
4. Share your answers via your blog (Some people add you tube links, but I'm not that clever...).
   

 

My itunes threw up the answers below. Despite only having 440 tunes on the macine, it's still interesting in places, and all genuine. Except for the two that I swapped around because the juxtaposition of question and song was, erm, a bit rude.  And no, I don't know anybody called Veronica.

 

1.If someone says, "Is this okay?" You say...?
I want to be the chairman of the National Trust (Fat & Frantic)

 

2.How would you describe yourself?
Sweet Bride (Juliet Turner)

 

3. What do you like in a guy/girl?
The girl with the smile (Juliet Turner)

 

4. How do you feel today?
Will you still love me tomorrow? (Carole King)

 

5. What is your life's purpose?
Veronica (Elvis Costello)

 

6. What is your motto?
Cabin Essence (Brian Wilson)

 

7. What do your friends think of you?
Maxwell's Silver Hammer (The Beatles)

 

8. What do your parents think of you?
Little Clown (Jason Collett)

 

9. What do you think about very often?
My Senses Fly (Eden Burning)

 

10. What is 2+2?
Surrender (Elvis Presley)

 

11. What do you think of your best friend?
In the Hall of the Mountain King (Edvard Grieg)

 

12. What do you think of the person you like?
Remind Me (Royksopp)

 

13. What is your life story?
Hard Rock Hallelujah (Lordi)

 

14. What do you want to be when you grow up?
The Valley (Sarah Masen)

 

15. What do you think of when you see the person you like?
It's the loving things you do (Marmalade)

 

16. What will you dance to at your wedding?
(Now and then there's) A fool such as I (Elvis Presley)

 

17. What will they play at your funeral?
Us and Them (Pink Floyd)

 

18. What is your hobby/interest?
The Star and the Wise Man (Ladysmith Black Mambazo)

 

19. What is your biggest fear?
Wish I (Jem)

 

20. What is your biggest secret?
The End (The Beatles)

 

21. What do you think of your friends?
More Fool Me (Genesis)

 

22. What do you want right now?
Ascension (Mike Oldfield)

 

23. What will You post this as?
Mixed up Confusion (Bob Dylan)

 

24. Last words? 
Because the Night (Patti Smith)

Dey Kraham slum cleared

In the early hours of the morning last Saturday, 24th January, 1500 families suddenly found themselves homeless.

Dey Kraham (literally: red earth) sits – or rather, sat – on the East side of Phnom Penh, near the National Assembly building and close to the mega casino owned by prime minister Hun Sen. At 2am on Saturday morning, all access routes into and out of the slum were blocked by the police, and heavy machinery was brought into place. At precisely 6am police and demolition workers entered Dey Kraham, using tear gas and flame throwers to disperse angry and frightened residents – many of whom had lived there for up to ten years.

Bulldozers were brought in, to crush the flimsy houses, while the residents scrambled to get clear. In some cases, people refused to leave their homes, and had to be persuaded to get out by NGO workers, moments before the buildings were flattened.

The process was completed by 8:00am.

Workers were paid $10 and were given breakfast and two litres of petrol.

Loss of Equity

At the risk of going all reachoutandtouchthescreen on you, I'm going to blog about shoes now.

Some time ago I realised I really really needed to replace the boring navy office shoes that I'd had re-heeled twice since I decided they needed replacing. I located a stockist of similar shoes in Didsbury - not the closest, but a small shop, which I preferred to support in this economic climate.

I can highly recommend Arnout's family shoes, both for the excellent customer service and their stock of quality shoes.

Much of their stock comes from Equity, who employ about 150 skilled people in Leicester. All their office shoes are manufactured in England, and I'm told by Mr and Mrs Arnout that it's a workers co-operative. Well, it was, but the reason the subject came up is that they say it's going to cease trading, not because it doesn't sell a million high quality british-made shoes a year, but because their pension deficit is increasing, partly because Flash Gordon: saviour of the world quietly removed the tax credit on pension dividends a few years ago, and partly because the credit crunch has made their investments shrink.

So there you have it, discover an excellent source of wide-fitting shoes, lose it all at the same time. 

During the course of the conversation, Mrs Arnout mentioned that another plus point to Equity was that their ladies boots were also built for real women. Now, I gave up even bothering to try on knee-high boots many years ago, after I worked out that all such boots were made for people with the legs of an anorexic twelve-year old. And, if the company's not going to be making them in the future, it would be daft not to even try them on, wouldn't it?

I have gorgeous boots. They make me happy. And they're doubly precious, since they will most likely be completely irreplaceable.