Toptable, again

I note that Toptable continues not to publish anything but complimentary reviews. Of course, this means that its statistics are skewed too.

Computers (again)

I said in an earlier post that I'd changed my Internet provider. I AM finally getting decent download speeds, but I'll have to replace the nasty, cheap wireless router they provided for something that works more consistently.

However, part of today has been concerned with trying to get my website up and running on the new ISP - complicated by the fact that I've updated the software I was using and had (surprise, surprise) forgotten how to write websites anyway. Still, most of that has been overcome so WHY has it taken 2 hours for the ISP to update?

If you want a laugh, go here!

Tom Paxton

Tom Paxton in concert at Birmingham Town Hall - just fantastic!

I know he's been singing since I was in junior school, but he's still got it. A great night (Robin Bullock was - as ever - a fantastic guitar, mandolin, bouzouki (?) accompanist) but the highlight for me was the final song: a genuinely acoustic rendering of The Parting Glass (not bad in an auditorium that seats 1086!).

I continue to be impressed by the songs, the performance, the talent  - AND I'm on his last DVD!

Computers ...

I work at home quite a lot in the room I call my 'study' (actually the smallest bedroom in the house). I have a wifi/wired network with NAS, network printer, etc., etc. Just moved to fibre-optic broadband (so far from the telephone exchange that copper can't give me any real speed) and now have most of those transition issues beaten.

So (glutton for punishment), I've moved to my 'new' PC - really a refurbished Dell that I've been running in parallel with the old Acer desktop. It's only when you finally do this that you realise what still needs to be done ...

What fun!

Don't use Toptable.com

Toptable.com are an on-line restaurant booking system. Restaurants subscribe and pay a fee for successful bookings. (The service is 'free' to diners). There is also an opportunity for diners to comment on the restaurant and food with these comments published on the website.

In my experience:

1. They don't publish bad reviews (I posted a review of a restaurant in Nice that was far from complimentary: it was never posted. Toptable told me that they discussed negative reviews with the restaurant)
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2. This week I booked a restaurant for Saturday night. It was confirmed on-line and by email from Toptable who later rang to tell me that the restaurant was fully booked. I wouldn't have minded, but we'd already made some arrangements. What's the point of a system that doesn't work?

I won't use them again. Tell your friends.

A couple of weeks in

The new academic year's going OK. Busy, busy ...

NEW TERM TOMORROW ...

Just spent a week in (sunny) Bordeaux. Lots of good food and even more good wine.

Tomorrow marks the start of the new academic year -- always a joy with those keen new students setting out to change their lives.

Bordeaux photos to follow ...

Thai Edge

Went to the Thai Edge Restaurant in Birmingham's Brindley Place yesterday...

Food wasn't great: restaurant was very noisy: service was on the slow end of 'ordinary'.

The main problem with the food was that it was hotter than advertised. A green chicken curry had 3 chillies (the hottest description) and was OK. Some beef (2 chillies) was too hot to eat [and we have some experience of this sort of food].

We won't bother again.

More Vancouver

I'm way behind in my postings, partly because of a new computer that's stolen several days of my life by being faulty! (Then there's printers -- but that's another story).

Anyway, one of the little trips we did was to Capilano Suspension Bridge. It's really quite dramatic (and not very scary) ...

If you're a good customer, you can stamp your entry ticket at all the places where you can spend money (OK, some of them are just places where you can look at the scenery) and then you get a certificate!

We shared our trip with a lot of older US citizens who'd been on a cruise (I've never met more selfish people) - they loved these certificates!

Vancouver

Is awesome!