I retired from personal blogging in July 2008.
But you can find me over at http://blog.xero.com.
Flight from Hong Kong delayed a couple of hours. The 2nd leg to London is a biggie but I definitely prefer this way to transiting in the US.
I tried to get some sleep as once off the plane I had a 2 hour drive to Wales.
The flight in across London was stunning. A right turn over the London Eye and we could see all of the London landmarks as we flew up the Thames.
Hertz was infuriating. First the car I ordered didn’t have a GPS (as ordered). Managed to get an A6 which only has text based GPS and that didn’t work properly so thru my toys out of the cot and ended up in a Mercedes R320CDI. That’s their 7 seater for soccer mom’s. An hour and 15 later I was out of there. There was a big queue and lot’s of irate customers. For all their computerization they still take 15 minutes to check people out. You would think that someone would be monitoring branch performance for time savings. If you came after just a few people your wait was an hour. These are tired travelers. Look out!
Even though Hertz Gold seems to charge retail plus 10% it is convenient when it all works and you can go right to your car. If only they gave you what you ordered.
At least the GPS was map based but really badly designed as it orients North up, rather than changing based on the direction you are going. So if you are heading south the map is upside down. Coming off a day of flying and lacking sleep that was tough. It’s hard to turn your head upside down when you’re driving. Even the big manufacturers don’t seem to do Interaction Design of the basics.
Ready to burn my clothes after 30 hours of travel I stopped off at Steve and Becky’s place near Hook for a cup of tea and power shower. I can report to everyone that remembers the Brooke’s that they are well.
I had to drive through the country back to the M4. The first time I stayed in the UK out of London was a few years ago. Driving through the country lanes is an experience - but a tease. England is quite flat and almost all the houses have had years to grow big hedges, so you can’t really see the country houses. You just get glimpses. It’s like driving through a maze.
Back on the M4 and the the first thing you notice is that on the motor-ways the average speed is 75mph with the fast lane anywhere from 80-95mph. At less than 3000rpm in the Merc diesel you gooble up the miles.
Checked into the hotel. Broadband didn’t work. Room change. But they did have a trouser press. Yay! Finally get to a proper bed, 52 hours since I got out of the last one.
blog
e-sixt.co.uk might be a good bet.
Hello Rod, Missed you at the SaaS conference today. Al did a sterling job though covering for you. Get him to tell you what tribe he is.
http://www.8tribes.co.nz - be interesting to know what you are!
I do remember Steve and Becky although it was a a long time ago. Please say hello from me.
I’m sure you’re doing it just to annoy your enthusiastic followers, but I guess we should just keep pointing out the error of your ways, on the assumption that one of these days it might have some sort of impact:
Steve and Becky’s place - just fine - well done!
everyone that remembers the Brooke’s - not so great
Good luck on the rest of the trip - I look forward to hearing more.
I made a rod for my own back there didn’t I
You sure did! Next project: creating software that removes redundant apostrophes and inserts missing punctuation. Now THAT’S software as a service!
I had a similiar experience arriving in Heathrow last year. It took over an hour to get the rental car but when they gave me the keys and said “Take any car you want” So I took the biggest Merc I could find. As an Ala 166 driver I wanted to try something different. Same price for all cars. The A1 was great. I’m going along at around 80mph when a Porsche entered the motorway and he took off. So did I and we were up to 120mph and when I looked in the mirror everyone else was following us. Apparently no speed cameras on the A1 or A2.
I went to Wales up north only. Very NZ but less well kept, the people looked a bit rough, but the coast was fine.
I’ll keep reading your blog and see how your going.
Oh YES “Congratulations” on your winning the top prise.
Peter Banks
Wellington/Auckland.