Keep Calm and Carry On

Last day blues, London is gorgeous in the sun, long days and light late into the evening. Dusk at 9pm and drinking tea in covent garden until late listening to one of the many street artists.

The flight home is tonight, still, keep calm and carry on.

Friday night Soho is a buzz, loads happening and so many people adorning the street with their pint glasses in hand. Nicola never dissapoints when she sees this and treats me to her regular cry of "I can't believe they are drinking on the streets". It has been the small things that are the most obvious differences.

Late night food, cafes that are open beyond 8pm, a constant buzz on the streets and always something to do around the next corner. The flight to Brisbane will take two days and it won't be pleasent.

Still, keep calm and carry on.

After a month of travelling around Europe we have both learnt some things about whay we like Australia and also what we would do if we came to live in the UK. There is something very pleasent about the rugged country side of Derbyshire, the buzz of London, the history and culture of the place.

Brisbane, friends, family, jobs, future, work, fun, great weather and not being able to get a coffee on Sunday afternoon anywhere out of the city. There has been so mush to take in while we have been away.

This isn't the end of the blog but it is a farewell to the UK . I will be posting pictures in the next few days of our trip to Blackpool beach where Nicola saw the donkeys  plus other tasty treats from around London and the UK. So , thank you all for reading and to those of you who hhave been kind enough to drink a pint with me and have a laugh or two, I thank you all very much. It has been great seeing everyone and I hope to see you all again soon. To all of you back in OZ, perhaps we can have that pint and share some stories.

But , in the mean while...

Training Montage

It's when the ex-cop, has been boxer, washed up space pilot has to get fit and kick ass but the film can't afford the time so they squish all the training into a 2 - 5 minute training montage

So Nicola and I have the morning off. That is to say that we are not visiting historic monumnets, travelling around the country or takingb guided tours of stately homes. A couple of hours to do nothing.This afternoon there will be a BBQ with family and hopefully a donkey on the beach but right now there is a movie, The Holiday. Star cast, Kate Winslet , Jack Black, Jude Law and Cameron Diaz. The movie is 18 hours long, should probably have gone straight to the bin, bypassing both movies and dvds. It is cute, sentimental and lovey dovey to the nth degree but about 3/4 through the movie it turns from mearly bad to so bad it is almost good.

How does it do this? That's right, training montage! The 80yo infirm ex hollywood movie writer needs to get on stage for his big award night. How can he do it? How can he walk with out the zimmer frame? Will he get up the three red carpeted stairs un aided? Training Montage. Simply brilliant. The movie quickly dropped off again , still what can you expect.

Well , the morning is nearly over and we will be heading out for the beach, Blackpool, hopefully a donkey. There isn't muchtime left on The Holiday ,see, just like the movie we watched. A few days in London then back to Australia.

This isn't the ned of the blog though, keep tuned , there will be pictures, The Family Do, York, Leeds Armoury and of course the videos.

The great British pub crawl

Pubs, brilliant. You just don't get them in Australia. I do miss them and tonight we went in a few. In fact , over the last few nights, weeks, we have been in a few.

Nicola has fallen in love with them, it is safe to say she likes pubs. Let me just ask her.
Yes, she likes pubs. Brilliant.

Tonight I drank real ale. Last night I drank real ale, in fact, the night before that I also drank real ale. Flat, not cold, not warm, just right, tasty , real ale. Dizzy Blonde, Robinsons best bitter, Tale Wagger, Hyde's Joeys. Gorgeous.

We went to the Cheadle Hulme pub and The Church. Not really a pub crawl but it would do us for the night. You can't start too big.

What do I miss about England apart from family, pubs.

Pubs, brilliant.

Hard graft, an arm and a leg and having your card marked.

Let's see, Tatton Hall.

Once again we opted for the guided tour. I can safely say that the guided tours at the heritage sites we have visited have all been worth while. Free or otherwise. The Tatton Hall one was particularly good. An old chap of suitably British demeanor and deportment lead us around the old Georgian mansion in a timely manner.

The house was built by a commoner who rose to fortune and fame after winning a case in court against Queen Elizabeth the first. The queen was heard to say of Samuel Egerton, "I do not wish to meet this man under these circumstances again". She then gave him a job as the Queens counsel and he continued to be her lawyer for many years.

The place is great and we wandered the stat rooms , family residences and servents quarters for a few hours soaking up the differences between them crying out on occasion, "oh, ów the uvva árf live"

We did learn the origins of three phrases though.

"Cost an arm and a leg" this comes from commisioning portraits. Should you wish to have a full length portrait which included arms and legs it would cost considerably more than just the top half. Hence , costing an arm and a leg.

"Your card has been marked"  Upon arriving at a stately home you would present yourself to the butler and proffer up your caling card on his platter. The card would be taken to the Lord or Lady in residence who would decide if they wanted to receive you. If they didn't they would put a little mark on your card and the butler would return it to you and without a word you would leave. Woe unto you if your card was marked three times.

My favorite originated during the building of the Manchester Ship Canal. The workers spent much of their time digging with a grafting tool. This was hard work. Hence the term Hard Graft. You can see a picture of a graft in the image below. It looks like a shovel , but you can see it obviously isn't. The graft is the one in the middle with the long blade.

I never took much notice of Tatton hall during school trips , perhaps that's for the best really. Had I misspent myyouth by learning things Tatton Hall wouldn't be the interesting place it is today. Well that's my excuse and I'm clinging to it.

I am a fair bit behind in my blogging so here is a quick catch up.

Monday - Pick up car and drive to Banbury to see a fine lady upon a white horse and Nicola's Grandma Beryl. More of that later. We stopped at Warwick castle and had a pint in a pub.

Tuesday - Drive to Stone Henge then Bath to see the Roman Baths and then back to Banbury with rings on my fingers and bells on her toes.

Wednesday - Blenheim palace in the morning and then back oop north to Blackpool for more donkey hunting.

Thursday - Nottingham, Robin Hood? Sherwood Forest? NOPE , Warhammer World :) Exciting. Yay, Bugmans Brewery and nerdiness. Nicola went to Hardwick Manor and then back up to Blackpool.

Friday - Back down to Manchester after visiting the John Ditchfield glass blowing foundry, to visit the Museum of Science and Industry.

I will endeavor to get up to date as soon as possible.
Meanwhile , I have updated the slideshow for your delectation.

Ok, it is time to go to the pub, again, Nicola seems to have taken a shine to going to the pub.

Here is a picture especially for Peter :)

Red Dragon

Not known for it's weather. Sorry let me start that again.

Not known for it's nice weather, Wales is often grey and overcast. Sometimes it is much worse though. Someone once said "you can't stop the music". In Wales you can't stop the rain. Wales = rain.

What you see above is the Welsh flag. A big red dragon. Really I should be writing each sentence in this portion of the blog in both English and Welsh. That is what they do in Wales on all the signs.

If you think I am going to you arre kidding yourself. Os ydych yn meddwl fy mod i'n mynd i chi arre kidding eich hun.

The Welsh language requires some amazing feets of linguistic acrobatics, or a very bad and phflegmy cold.

The drive to Wales was pleasent and wet and we were all excited to try out our new Welsh summer wear. Raincoat, fleece and hood. To quote my sister-in-law. "Here you are Nicola, you can wear this coat. It has a fleece in the lining and is water proof. But if it gets warm you can zip the fleece out"

Note she didn't say you can take your coat off. Wales just isn't that kind of place. 


What Wales lacks in good weather though it more than makes up for in castles. Take Conwy castle for instance. It took only 5000 builders and artisans 5 years to build a castle. WOW
It is a top place too.

Look at the place. It's amazing. You can't feel the stone, or indeed the biting wind from the battlements by looking at this picture but it is a real experiance. Gripping and very inspiring. Looking out over the ocean. Hundreds of years of weathering, history and of course people.

We didn't stop there though. We went the extra 20 miles, (31km) to the next and even bigger castle. That's right. In the time it takes some people to go to the shops there is another huge castle.

Caernarfon ,(what did I tell you abou the Welsh language?). This place took decades to build but it was completely solid. Never taken in all the years people tried and at one point an invasion was seen off by 28 people inside. 

You just aren't getting in this place. Unless you pay for your National Trust ticket , then it's ok.

My nephew, David, spotted this as we entered Wales, look closely and see if you can spot when a clever person has written on the wall.

Ironic really as Wales is so cold. Just for being so clever here is a picture of him . Cheeky little chap isn't he.


I am now several days behind my blogging. So much to do , so little time to sit on the net and waste my time drinking coffee and tip tapping away. As much as I would like to.

After Wales we went to Tatton Hall.

I have frequented this place over the years many times. Not far from where I grew up I had many a school trip here.

I just realised I have run out of time. I will continue later when I am back sat down not pushed . Meanwhile the clock ticks on my parking ticket. I will be back...

OK, Italy isn't rubbish

Yeah, I had my rant, that's ok. It was well deserved and I meant every word.

But.

Here are some things I like about Italy.

The coffee, well at least the coffee at Tazza D'oro, was very nice. Any country that regulates the price of coffee must be heading in the right direction. I had some very tasty espresso in Rome ranging from average to very good indeed. Good enough for me to buy a kilo of it. Monmouth Coffee in London still takes top slot though.

When in Rome try this cafe for a nice quiet coffee where you won't be harrassed by the people who run it.

Very close to the Colleseum too.

Gelati, yum, my tummy got bigger and I ate a heap of the stuff. Love it. Amereno and Chocolat, by the litre.


Italian drivers, yes, they do try to get 4 lanes of traffic where there should be 3 but. Oh hang on, no buts, they are rubbish.

Not much there really is there. Best we move on.

Next stop , Blackpool. This is it, the big day, donkeys on the beach. The night before and a few beers we have made the decision. Come rain or shine. Most likely rain. We are going to Blackpool.

Then disaster. My niece informs me via Facebook that Friday is Donky Day Off. Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo...

I doesn't matter, we can still see the family, perhaps the wether will be ok, perhaps we will see the beach? So we did. We set off in the pooring rain having packed out cagoule and weather beating cream, (the equivilent of sun tan lotion in Blackpool). Off we went.

It rained and rained and rained all the way there and as we pulled up to the house of my sister the grey clouds rolled over. Welcome to Blackpool.

That didn't stop the smiles though, all the kids, neices, great neices and great nephews, my sister and brother in law. It was, as Tracy would say, ACE.

Without being there I have no nway of conveying the atmosphere. It was great. I loved every moment and then something strange happened. The clouds parted, the sun shone and the blue skies appeared. This last happened in Blackpool in 1958 and was recorded as the longest summer in history which lasted for 6 hours.

I jumped on the chance and immediately called, "Beach, prom, ice cream NOW!!!" We left for the Golden Mile straight away and 30 minutes later everyone was out of the door and in the car. That's what happens when you have 8 kids in tow apparently.

What you have to realise about Blackpool is that the charm is in the kitchness. With the sun shining we hit the prom front and stopped for ice cream.

7 kids, each one wants a different ice cream. They all got pink and white. A very very cluey ice cream seller saw my pain and announced to the children that he only had pink and white left. LOVE HIM!

The pier is calling me now, the rides, the flashing lights, the carnies. Yes, the carnies. "try your hand, win a toy, give me all your money"

So we head up the pier, the kids go MENTAL and I mean MENTAL. The screams the running around, the wide eyes. 

What could I do after feeding them all sugary treats. I had to over stimulate them on rides before handing them back to their mums and leaving. 

Harry and I went on the helter skelter and everyone went on the ferris wheel. I probably shouldn't have told Ellie that if you make the ferris wheel cage spin round enough it unscrews and falls off. Still , I enjoyed it.

This is now officially and epic blog post. Still we have done a lot lately. 

Next stop, WALES!!!!!  I love my exclamation marks.

I think I will stop blogging now and have my beer and maybe go to bed early. This brings us almost up to date. We did go to Wales today. Wales basically equates to rain and castles, in that order. Possibly Fish and chips and seagulls.

You will find out in the next thrilling installment what happened in Wales.

I was about to blog when...

...I realised that although I have spent the last few days standing in the ruins of a once great empire, soaking up the atmosphere and admiring architecture built and conceived by some of the greatest minds of ancient Rome, Italy sucks.

They had a guy here in Rome, about 118AD, called Hadrian. You may have heard of him. He is most famous for his wall. It's a great wall,(not Chinese), but still great and you can find it in the north of England. Yes, that is a long way from Rome but this Hadrian guy got about a bit. He was also an amatuer architect. Yes, not a proffesional, this was a hobby of his.He rebuilt the original Pantheon, (built by Agrippa in 31BC), and is credited with being responsible for how it is now. Check this out. The Pantheon Rome

The walls are 6 metres thick, the dome above the structure is 43m wide and the same height. The dome starts at 6m thick and gets thinner towards the top to approx 2m. The huge marble floor is concave which drains any water which comes through the 9m diameter hole in the roof off into the complex drainage system in the foundations. The very same ocular in the ceiling marks each solstice with precision each year.

Now think, this was built about 2000 years ago.

Now, I ask you, how is it that the land known as Italy today, which has been the cradle of European cultures and peoples, such as the Etruscans and the Romans is incapable of posting 4 wine glasses from it's capital to Australia?

Shite...

Normal services will resume shortly.

In other news Allan was accosted by a nun on a bus today.

This week I are mostly been in Rome

My sister Pam, queen of the getaway break, had booked us a couple of cheap tickets to Rome. Brilliant.

<--- My sisterPam and my Great neice Lola

So my brother in law got himself out of bed at 3:30 am along with us and drove us to Liverpool aiport where Nicola and I caught a 6am flight on Chav Air. It was an air bus , really, a bus with wings. We got on the plane and Nicola asked for guidence to her seat and the flight attendent looked at her like she was daft and told her to just sit anywhere, so we did.

2 hours later we were in Rome and everyone piled off the plane and onto the real bus waiting to take us to the terminal. We were reminded to not walk under the wings or near the jet engine, apparently this is dangerous and chavs don't know. Once on the bus there was a ten minute wait followed by a 30 second drive to the terminal which was less than 20 metres away.

This trip gets odder and odder. Our next bus trip, (three in one day so far and one with wings), took us from the airport to Rome main train station and each and every dirty street we drove down had us wishing more and more for a decent hotel. Please, please , please...

YES!

4 stars, aircon, nice nice nice. It was all nice. But you already know that, don't you, because I said so in my last blog.

Well, we spent the afternoon and night getting used to Rome, trying not to die crossing the streets and finding a nice place to have some food. Finally, yes, at last, a good coffee. :) The muck I drank in Paris was woeful but this was good espresso. A little sharp yes, but very passable.

Happy Allan is happy. Great hotel , good food and good coffee.  This is how my life is defined now. I would like to say I am easy to please but we all know that isn't true. Still it's a start.

The next day would find us walking a short 10 minutes from the hotel, stopping for coffee and a pastry on the way, to the Colleseum.

That day we ate, drank, walked, walked, walked and saw stuff. We stood in the place where some one said "Let's take over the world" and they did (nearly). The Roman Forum. It was WOW. Really.

The Colleseum, people were there , doing what only Russel Crowe can. Actual helmets with dings in them where they got hit. The real deal. I loved it.

Palatine hill, the Roman Forum, ancient statues and pick pockets. Rome has it all. I had planned tobuy a bunch of cheap wallets and hang them out of my pocket and count the times I got them stolen but couldn't find any in the shops here. :( oh well, it was a nice idea.

The sights we saw were wonderful. The gelati delightful, the walking , well , yes, my feet are killin' me again but I don't care.

I will put some pictures up when I find a usb cable , I have two and they are in the UK. ACK!

Now, where is that little coffee shop we marked on the map, see you all soon

AL

Point me to the Vomitorium

Hey there everyone.

What a result, I can't believe that. Four years of waiting and in the end it came down to a bad decision and some unlucky plays. Still, you can't have everything and there will be another in 2014. Health insurance reform is a very important thing after all. Health insurance reform.

Also , in other news, we watched the world cup at Pam and John's which was a little bit of a washout. 

(Randon photo)

What wasn't a washout was seeing some more family. It was great, David(my nephew), who it turns out is now 19. WTF? , aunty Judith, (heheheh it's always funny that), and my brother, Ste, (who I have missed terribly since I left all those years ago).

Nicola and I even went for lunch with Zoe and John, old friends, in Manchester. That was cool. Zoe, Nicola and I searched Manchester for a recent BANKSY work. We couldn't find it but my nephew David says he knows where it is and will take us YAY!

It was great seeing them, though they were two short, Catherine and John. John has taken to putting pictures of himself as a young boy on his Facebook page in order to confuse me. He thinks I won't recognise him when we finally come face to face but I will. He is about 8 years old, comes up to my waist and a little pain in the arse. What could possibly have changed in 10 years?


Of course, Catherine is much nicer and has supplied me with pictures via her Facebook page and I have been stufying them to make sure :) .


I can't wait to see them.

LATE NOSTALGIA WARNING!!!

A bit late I know, but seeing them and Vicki and Dawn and their husbands and kids was unbelieveably great. I loved it. That's right, my neices have children. Come on Tahnee, you are lagging behind a little.
So NOSTALGIA soaked I sat and chatted to them all over cheese, booze and the world cup over a couple of days and nights.

 (another random picture)

This post may not make much sense , but asI said earlier, If you want sense you shouldn't be here. Go read another blog.

Everyone is Pregnent. WOW.

Either that or they have a heap of kids. It's great, it means that they are doing it so Nicola and I don't have to.We can swan around Rome on holidays , which is where I am writing this from.

The lobby of our 4 star hotel in Rome. 10 minutes walk from the Colleseum this hotel has it all. Clean sheets, walls without pealing paint, no damp smells, a nice batroom. Brilliant. After the two dumps we have stayed in at London (Mina House Hotel), which was shocking. Don't ever stay there. And the Comfort Hotel on Rue de Wigs in Paris, which was bare minimum passable .

Those two places were terrible. Hotel Prime Saint John on the other hand , so far, is comfortable and very nice indeed. We got a special deal thoguh, which makes it even sweeter.

Anyways, this has been and offical BLURTING BLOG, splashed on the page without much thought. Work your way through it and I will put some more up later after I have wowed at the sites and sights of Rome.

Have fun and see you all soon. No pictures this time, the internet is being naughty...

A

You know me , I like it hot, but not this hot...

We did it, we found a day spa in Paris and what we saved by sneaking into the Louvre we put towards having a much needed massage. It was heaven. Don't get me wrong, my feet are still killin' me but the massage made it all worth while.

And that is Paris, streets packed with bars and food , amazing sights. The aromas wafting through the air. Freshly baked bread and stale urine.Try typing "Paris smells" into Google and see whatyou get.

Off to London.

Taxi, train, tunnel, London. Easy. Marvellous.

Coffee, did we mention Monmouth coffee? It's superb and was the second time around.

So we had a coffee then some great British Food in a pub, no really, Great British Food.

What was great though was the pint I had before we were set to get on the train and head into the grim north to Irlam.

This was a real treat, a quick train journey and we find ourselves tired but happy.

Not having seen my family in many years I was extremely excited.

NOSTALGIA WARNING!!!
If you are easily offended or infirm then get off my blog you really have no business being here.

I dragged Nicola round all the old haunts of mine. Where I grew up , lived, the old pubs. Like a trooper she smiled through it all. Did it bring a tear to my eye, no. Quite surprised by this we headed off into the sunset, (read dark clouds).

What was rather nice though was dropping in on Auntie Joan and Uncle John without any notice. That was fun and so nice seeing them. A nice cup of tea and a buscuit plus a look at her quite superb collection of Camblewick Green figurines. AWESOME.

Seriously, guys, my feet are killin' me.

Paris , day two, things have gotten bad now. We snaked in and out of the streets.As if we were being sucked into the streets of Paris , into the heart of darkness.

"Bonjour, oui, merci..."

I'm not sure who I am anymore. We have our own voices, voices neither of us recognise. I once called her Nicola, now, Nicole. She chirps a fine "bonjour" to a passing waiter and I grunt "bonsoir" to the lady behind the bar at night, shrugging and pouting, hands held aloft , questions and condeming the world all in a single overtly French gestures.

It's too late. Time to order another biere and some fromage.

On another note, this afternoon we snook into the Louvre using a special secret way. The Louvre is one of the best , biggest and most interesting places to be inthe world. Bristling with STUFF!!!. Is it wrong that my fave part was getting in for free?

We saw antiquities galore, art, sculture and STUFF!!!.

Did we see the mona lisa? No , we didn't need to. It is in every shop here so meh.



Later we intend to find a massage spa and then have a glorious meal at a glorious French cafe. Food, bread, cakes, drinks. Wonderful. It does great things to ease the sole.

Rue de Wigs

Yes, that is correct, we are staying on the street of wigs.

After disembarking from the Eurostar train and losing ourselves in the Parisian streets Nicola's unerring sense of direction took us to the Street of Wigs, otherwise known as "where our hotel is". On a short 20 minute walk from train station to hotel we passed no fewer than 20 wig shops all displaying their wares on mannequin heads atop camera tri-pods. Odd.

But , that's ok, we are in Paris.

Paris is massive, a very impressive city. The architecture is astonishing and grand.

Nicola spent the first day staring at wigs and shoes and handbags and I spent it staring at bridges and towers and arches. We missed most of the historical interesting stuff including theLouvre, which is closed on Tuesdays. BUGGER!

Not to worry,hop on a river cruise, sail down the Sienne and hop off at the Eiffel Tower. Never a dull moment, well apart from the 2 hours queing to get in the tower. But we did it anyways.

That evening we strolled St Germain and ate the most amazing ice cream then went home tired and stuff with foods. My feet are killin me.

On to gay Paris

We spent our last day in London searching for a decent coffee. We had read that the best coffee to be found in London was at Monmouth Coffee Company.

"They" weren't wrong. A short trek through Covent Garden and we soon found a "hole in the wall" tiny little coffee shop with a queue stretching out the shop and into the street full of London commuters trying to get a good coffee before work would start.

 We managed to grab one of the few tables with Cecile, a fashion designer from Spain. She was in London shopping and researching before going back to her job in China via Berlin and Spain. Which was nice.
We chatted with Cecile over coffee and pastries for a while I was drinking the best coffee I had had in a while, perhaps ever.

This little coffee shop in Covent Garden served me two smooth, strong, well roasted coffees. Spectacular. Pay it a visit if you are in London and like coffee. You won't be dissapointed.

Once we had our coffee we were fit to continue the day, shopping. I managed to spend a fotune on Judge Dredd comics in Forbidden Planet and Nicola , well unfortunately we ran out of time and had to catch our Eurostar train to Paris. Never mind, maybe Nicola can shop next time? Maybe.

Two hours and fifteen minutes later we were in Paris. Amazing. Suddenly it's all oui oui , non non, and por favor...

The Tower of London

Retrospective blog post number one.

Day two and we are heading to the Tower of London. The view from the walk up to the Tower is postcard perfect with the Tower Bridge in the background and as you approach the beefeaters and Tower Gaurd stood to attention. Spectactular. My Britishness rose a few notches as we got closer, I could feel it.

The highlights would have to be the Yoeman Gaurd (beefeater) tour which went through the history of the Tower and all the incredible things that have happened there. Just to be one of the gaurd(queens body gaurd) you need at least 22 years of active service in the forces plaus meritous combat experiance and a whole bunch of other stuff. That is just to qualify to apply for the job. The guy giving us a tour in his ridiculous outfit was a combat medic in the gulf.

Highlight number two, deffinately the crown jewels. Unreal, the shear oppulence and wealth in one room. Stunning history and amazing craftmanship. It blew my mind and my Britishnessness shot through the roof.
You can expect plenty of colonisation when I get back to Australia so you better all start behaving.

My feet are killin' me!

OK, we didn't eat jellied eels but we did walk , alot.

In fact, had we been pointed in the right direction we may have been able to make it home we walked that much.

It turns out my brain must be in my feet and as they hurt so much I am incapable of writing a  witty blog post so here are a tonne of pictures.

Enjoy..

PS. See the blog slide show for the pictures

Touch Down! and we didn't even have to Go Fo It.

The trip started beautifully with a long flight to Singapore airport where we wandered aimlessly amongst other sleepy souls until we came across this little gem of a place. The Rainforest Retreat. Heaven is a jacuzzi and a fruit drink before your next long haul flight to the UK.

Welcome to blighty...

Well Almost. The first sign that we had entered the "British Zone", it's like the twilight zone but unhealtiher, was breakfast on the plane. We both went for the full english experiance.

Beans, sausage, and something called an omlette. There was also a patch of green in the corner of the "plate" which Nicola reliably told me was spinach. It didn't matter, we were so hungry we scoffed it and will pay the price later.

Despite the dodgy brealfast we did get to the UK and had our first quintessential British experiance and Nicola nearly wet her kickers, (prematurely I might add as we were not yet in Paris).

It is a good job Nicola managed to hold on as we still had a way to go before we got to our hotel, which is where we are right now, sat using free, unlimited, uncapped, super fast internet in a 3 star hotel. That one is for you Sean. :)

We have already used the power of the internet for good by translating for a spanish couple who were having problems communicating with the concierge.


Next , the British museum...