london at The Observer's Log

Posts Tagged ‘london’

The Obligatory Vacation Recap

22 Apr 2008

In the few minutes I have before I dive back into another conference session, figured I’d cover some of the items of our last vacation. This was a 2.5 week excursion mostly to Scotland, with a few days in England. Alex planned most of the trip, with me handling things like the transportation and hotels to stay along the way. Overall, about a 50/50 split on the events et al.

Sadly, at the end, it wasn’t a usual vacation. Until now, it’s always been either just me, or myself and Alex. Now there’s three of us, and the Wee One doesn’t have our stamina for travel and has a pseudo-schedule that needs to be followed from time-to-time.

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Back in cloudy London-town

3 Apr 2008

Will keep this short. Really bad terminal. Flight went well though not much sleep. got bags but BA damaged stroller. head to oban tomorrow.

Anyone know what Terminal 4 at Heathrow is like right now?

30 Mar 2008

We leave for Scotland via London Wednesday evening, on BA 102. We arrive, according to British Airways’ information, at Terminal 4. I consider this a good thing, given that Terminal 5 is a living nightmare right now.

However, that said, there is NOTHING in the news about how the other terminals are faring at Heathrow airport. Does anyone know what baggage delays — if any — exist at the other terminals? Pileups at one surely must affect the others. Any and all pointers are appreciated!

Up-coming travel

22 Jan 2008

I love travelling — I honestly believe that I don’t do enough of it. Always makes me feel more energised, and sitting on my duff all day long really makes me pine for it.

So I’m lucky to be getting around a bit in the next few months.

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Calgary is big enough for better transit

16 Nov 2007

As I’ve said before, I’m no expert. I haven’t been everywhere or done everything. But one thing I have done is paid attention to public transit systems, especially the ones I’ve had to deal with on a daily basis.

Such as the one in Calgary. You already know [[Calgary Transit Sucks|how I feel about our beloved transit system]]. And we’re long overdue to consider how much bigger it should be.

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Day of Visitation

28 Dec 2006

Alex slept better in a king-size hotel bed. Not so much for myself. I was tired. Grumpy. Irritable.

That’s why I was particularly annoyed with the complete and utter disappearance of my deodorant (which I know I had with me) and two T-shirts. They’ve totally disappeared. I have no idea what the heck has happened to them.

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VIA Wi-Fi = No-Fi

28 Dec 2006

So I’m taking VIA from London to Oakville, saving Alex from another four hours of driving on Ontario’s highways. I’m sitting here with my trusty laptop trying to do some work, using the “Wi-Fi” service on-board.

Except it doesn’t work.

I can connect to the onboard gateway, no problem. It recognizes me and that I’ve been desperately trying to send and/or receive something. Anything in fact. It has my byte counts. What it doesn’t do is actually let me receive any data. So far, I’ve not even been able to pull up a Google search.

I call false advertising! It doesn’t work, VIA — don’t tell me that it’s there if it doesn’t work. And it isn’t my laptop, as I know I can connect to virtually any wireless network I’ve ever seen. I can see yours but you won’t let me see anything else!

Mind you, could be someone else on this train using up all the bandwidth for porn…

(And if you’re wondering how on Earth I posted this despite not having any connectivity, I offer the simplistic Notepad + Copy & Paste method.)

[Ed. Note: When we got past Brantford, it actually seemed to work, albeit not very well. I wouldn't rely on VIA's WiFi service for anything mission-critical, though it was still better than the next-to-nothing access I had with the CBC.]

In Merry Old London (Ontario)

27 Dec 2006

We arrived last night, around 20:00 local time. A quick run through the airport, and we were tracking through the back country out to Janice’s place in Kintore.

The house was cool (old farm houses tend to lack a lot of insulation or it mostly needs to be replaced) so Alex was a little chilly most of the time. We watched Bon Cop Bad Cop until around midnight or so (22:00 our time) before we were tired enough to go to sleep. I’d picked it up during what will be my last bout of Boxing Day sales. They’re hardly sales, since most of the prices (for the things I wanted) were still steep.

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Things seen along the way

30 Jun 2005

As we”ve moved along over this journey, I”ve taken pictures of things for posting to the blog. Some of them didn”t make it, for one reason or another. But hating to waste good pictures, I thought I”d throw them into a blog posting for all to experience.

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I love pubs

2 May 2005

[This entry originally posted on How To Get Lost: I love pubs.]

Last night, Amy and I decided to check out some of the local pubs near our hotel. Here’s what we noticed.

Local pubs have a great atmosphere. Some don’t, and you can tell right away — when everyone stares at the “outsiders”.
All food and drink is ordered at the bar. Ain’t no waitstaff.
Guinness comes in two varieties: “Normal” and “Cold”.
Guinness tastes way better in England.
Pubs aren’t as smoky as we’d expected.
Pubs close at 23:00. What the heck is up with that?!
Fish and chips isn’t just a meal — it’s almost a religious experience.