When there are rules they should be obeyed - and this applies equally to governments as to citizens.
The EU has made a ruling (a directive) that governments must introduce a common telephone number 116 000 to allow for the rapid reporting of missing children across the EU. Well guess what? The only countries to have done so are Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Hungary and Portugal of the 27 EU states. What has Britain done - well the website http://www.eumonitor.net/ reports that the UK expects to do so 'Early September 2008'. Hello! it's the 26th!
Now I'd never heard of the 116xxx common number range, but it's a EU standard for 'social' numbers - so 116123 is reserved for 'emotional support' helplines. Good idea - no action.
See http://www.eumonitor.net/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=106575&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0 for the full lowdown and http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7339335.stm linking this to the McCann story.
Créez votre adresse électronique prenom.nom@laposte.net
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Friday, 26 September 2008
Thursday, 25 September 2008
TableTable - Forest Lodge LFE
The other evening Mrs Grumpy and I decided to eat out, and as I'd got a voucher for triple Nectar points at TableTable we decided to go up to the Forest Lodge in Leicester Forest East.
Now, leaving aside that TableTable is a bloomin' silly name for a pub / restaurant chain it was a pretty pleasant meal.
The Forest Lodge has gone through a number of iterations to get to its present state, and is looking very good indeed. The decor is by-and-large very pleasant, realxing, but modern, with a number of little alcoves for semiprivacy. The rugs on the floor and the pictures are modern without being pretentious. But why on earth they feel the need to poil the ambience they have tried so hard to create with wretched one armed bandits I don't know.
We found a table, and were very pleasantly surpised to find that we could order at the table, rather than this nonsense that has crept in over the years of finding a table, ordering at the bar, then it being brought to you, but you order you sweet at the table. Our server - an interesting young lady named Victoria was helpful and polite - a little too slow to bring the bill - but hey! we're all European now, and that;s the way they are on the mainland :)
The food was good, without being great - I'd rate it as good pub grub rather than restaurant quality. Initially I thought "haven't got much here" - but there was ample - I decided that the plates were too large for the food and the portion sizes were just about right. My only complaint was that my lemonade and lime was flat - are they watering down the lemonade?
The bill for the two of us with a drink, main course, and sweet, came to about £36 - certainly not cheap, but not expensive either.
Recommended.
Créez votre adresse électronique prenom.nom@laposte.net
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Wednesday, 24 September 2008
Barclaycard Cashback Card
I used to have a Morgan Stanley credit card - it gave a pretty fair
cashback, and as I paid off the balance every month the interest rate was
great!
However, Morgan Stanley in their infinite wisdom have transfered all their
credit card customers over to Barclaycard - with a new cashback card. This
card has a number of advantages over the old Morgan Stanly card - the
cashback is put onto (credited) to your account each month rather than
accruing and having to be reclaimed, and it has the new contactless
payment system built in - even though this is only available in London at
the moment.
But - yes there's a bloomin great BUT. I tried to set up the account on
line so I could set up a Direct Debit (now there's another subject!) to
pay the balance every month but Barclaycards servers are having none of
this - after multiple calls to their Indian call centre (on an 0844 number
-heaven alone knows what that's cost me) they finally told me that the
servers cannot register the migrated Morgan Stanley cards.
So with trepidation I will change my PIN and make a couple of test
purchases, and we'll see what happens when the bill comes (or if I'm in
luck no bill will come, ever!)
cashback, and as I paid off the balance every month the interest rate was
great!
However, Morgan Stanley in their infinite wisdom have transfered all their
credit card customers over to Barclaycard - with a new cashback card. This
card has a number of advantages over the old Morgan Stanly card - the
cashback is put onto (credited) to your account each month rather than
accruing and having to be reclaimed, and it has the new contactless
payment system built in - even though this is only available in London at
the moment.
But - yes there's a bloomin great BUT. I tried to set up the account on
line so I could set up a Direct Debit (now there's another subject!) to
pay the balance every month but Barclaycards servers are having none of
this - after multiple calls to their Indian call centre (on an 0844 number
-heaven alone knows what that's cost me) they finally told me that the
servers cannot register the migrated Morgan Stanley cards.
So with trepidation I will change my PIN and make a couple of test
purchases, and we'll see what happens when the bill comes (or if I'm in
luck no bill will come, ever!)
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