Apr
24
Yes
April 24, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The last couple of posts have appeared in one go despite being dated last weekend. I wrote them then but wasn’t online to post them and decided to leave them true to their moment (or something).
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20
And On The Subject of Hotels
April 20, 2008 | 2 Comments
I feel qualified to make a few observations:
- The practice of having someone come in and ‘turn down’ my bed is the single weirdest thing I’ve ever come across. The chocolate on the pillow is just the punctuation mark on the weirdness.
- If you need to fold the ends of the toilet roll into a point to make sure I know you’ve serviced my room, then there’s something wrong with the way you service a room.
- It doesn’t matter how many packets of non-dairy creamer you put in my room, I’m never, ever, going to use your tea and coffee making facilities if there’s no milk to put in the product.
- Minibar prices are by definition criminal.
- No human being can possibly need that many pillows.
- The cheap-and-nastiness of the complimentary toiletries is always in inverse proportion to the amount of them hotels provide.
- Room rates provided on booking that don’t include all relevant taxes are evil and ought to be illegal.
- Good looking hotel staff who visit your room for any reason never make the kind of offers porn movies might lead you to expect.
- The opposite of point 8 is inevitably true.
Apr
18
An “Am I In A Film?” Moment
April 18, 2008 | 7 Comments
Every now and then it’s brought home to me that my current lifestyle is a slightly unreal one. I spend a lot of my time away from home, flying around the world, staying in hotels, and eating on my own in cafes and restaurants. The international jet-setting lifestyle has some advantages, and I’m sure many people would like to give it a go, but a lot of the time it feels a bit repetitive and I feel like I just want to be at home with The Mrs and Gramsci.
And then every now and then I have a moment like the one last night that just makes me grin as I think about it and note that while it could potentially happen if I didn’t travel as much as I do, I’d probably not be in that type of situation at home.
I went out after work to get something to eat and drink, and ended up in a bar down the street from the hotel I usually stay in while in SF. I like the place because it allows that thing that’s incredibly difficult to find in the UK - a place where you can sit at the bar for a drink or two and then have a meal without being made to move to a table. So I got there last night, ordered a glass of wine and started perusing the menu, ordered some food and then settled in with a newspaper. A woman came and sat at a barstool a couple along, and said a general “hello” to those around her as she settled in. We exchanged some ‘eating alone’ pleasantries, then I returned my focus to my food when it arrived.
As I was eating, she made a couple of comments, and I responded as politely as I could, but without particularly (as far as I was aware) engaging. As I was heading towards the bottom of my second glass of wine and was starting to think about getting the check, she caught my eye and asked if she could buy me another drink. I said I needed to head back to the hotel and do some work (technically a lie), and she looked very disappointed. So I apologised and started trying to catch the barman’s eye. When I looked back in her direction, she was rummaging in her bag, and pulled out a hotel key card which she held up for me to see, and raised an eyebrow.
Convinced that what appeared to be happening couldn’t actually be, I furrowed my brow quizzically at her and she nodded very clearly. At the same moment I became aware that the the clearly entertained barman was looking on somewhat expectantly, and I suddenly felt like I was an actor in a drama whose plot I didn’t recognise. As if to underscore her intentions, she very deliberately winked at me. Seriously out of my depth at this point, I could only think of one thing to do, (and this is the ‘am I in a movie?’ moment): I raised my left hand, fingers slightly spread, palm towards me, and showed her my wedding ring.
And then got the hell out of there.
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17
And The Verdict…
April 17, 2008 | Comments Off
… on Virgin America is:
There’s no reason ever to use another US Domestic airline if I’m flying a route VA cover. It was excellent, and reminded me a lot of the way it used to feel to fly Virgin Atlantic before they started to feel a bit big and corporate and run by accountants.
Highly, HIGHLY recommended.
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16
Another Morning, Another Airport
April 16, 2008 | Comments Off
If it’s Wednesday and 5am, this must be JFK. Oh god I’m tired. I’ve slept terribly the last two nights, and woke up this morning with a horrible ‘hotel air conditioning’ headache. Still, I get to experience Virgin America for the first time in a couple of hours, which is keeping the plane spotter in me alert.
San Francisco here I come.
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14
The Ground Force Experience
April 14, 2008 | 1 Comment
A couple of years ago, when The Mrs and I were living in his flat, we capitalized on the fact that we were going off to Sweden for a week to get the bathroom refitted. It was a very pleasant experience to leave the old bathroom on a Monday morning and return to a new one on the Friday night.
So during my sojourn in North America this week, our old lawn and beds will be ripped up, and replaced with a Mediterranean style space of raised beds, gravel paths, benches and lemon tree. This to go with the rather lovely table and chairs we just recently took delivery of to make the patio a bit more usable and some nice plants in pots, including an olive tree from around the same point.
I’m oddly excited by the prospect of getting back on Saturday morning to find the whole place transformed.
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10
Yes!
April 10, 2008 | Comments Off
UK wrong to halt Saudi arms probe
I can’t think that I’ve been as happy to read a headline since The Guardian’s the day after the Aitken judgement (”He lied and lied and lied and lied” in case you need a reminder). The shutting down of that enquiry was a disgrace of huge proportions. Bending over to the threats of the Saudis who didn’t want their dirty laundry aired and used the threat of non-collaboration over security issues was shameful, and I’m delighted that someone with some clout has stood up and said so, in stark contrast with the position of our less-than-glorious leaders.
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10
Look At The Time!
April 10, 2008 | Comments Off
Weeks later I suddenly remember I have a blog. It’s been a bit crazy - returned from the US and am now feeling more or less settled, though going through the clocks going forward a second time in three weeks added to the general jetlagginess and created an additional layer of mental fog.
Loads going on now I’m back - I keep trying to get caught up with people properly but everyone seems incredibly busy.
I’d like to say that my time awa has been occupied by follow-up consideration from my vague comment a few weeks back about contemplating the future of this blog, but that would be a lie. I just haven’t had the time.
Anyway, I’ve remembered I blog, so now I just have to find something to blog about.
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21
Last Night
March 21, 2008 | Comments Off
So tonight’s my last night in town - tomorrow I fly back to Blighty and return to something approaching normal life. I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed, with The Mrs and Gramsci close at hand, and reconnecting with all the people I’ve been disconnected from for so long.
This last week has been crazy, hence the lack of updates, but I wanted to round out my time in San Francisco by reflecting back to one of my relatively early posts, about how I have not the worst view in the world to wake up to.
Well, it’s certainly not a bad one to go to bed to either:
Mar
14
As Weeks Go…
March 14, 2008 | Comments Off
…. this one’s been a bit rubbish.
It’s been disrupted by travel, and also by dealing with some very frustrating people along the way. It’s also yet another thing that’s got in the way of me getting everything done that I wanted to during this stint overseas. I’m very very frustrated that I’ll be leaving this task less than 100% complete.
I’ve also been thinking long and hard about this here blog and what i want to do with it going forward. Further thoughts to follow.
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