Submitted by marek on Sat, 01/03/2009 - 19:08

TGV

Admittedly we did have to spend two hours in Gare de Lyon, so we were getting cold by the time train 6585 was announced… but, oh my! it was certainly worth the wait! Our small group of three had a table for four in the quiet zone of the first class section, right at the back of the lower part of a carriage, partitioned off from the rest of the first class area with tinted glass. Leg room, backside room, reclining chairs, and a very quiet, comfortable ride.

Submitted by marek on Sat, 01/03/2009 - 18:08

Paris

Our journey to Paris was as uneventful as expected: check-in went smoothly, the service ran perfectly on time, and I arrived a little more confident in public transport than when I had set off. Gare du Nord was busy, and ticket desks were few (our arrival being shortly after lunchtime), so we proceeded by taxi to Gare de Lyon. What we hadn’t counted on, and nor had the driver, was a demonstration taking place between the stations.

Submitted by marek on Sat, 01/03/2009 - 14:00

Eurostar

Despite our best efforts running along station platforms and dashing for taxis, we have arrived too late to board our 10:23 Eurostar to Paris. We’ve already checked the Internet during our journey so far and determined that this will force us to miss all our onward connections.

Submitted by marek on Sat, 01/03/2009 - 10:23

Departure

I’m standing on my driveway with four bags, a huge coat, and a total lack of sleep.

Submitted by marek on Sat, 01/03/2009 - 06:00

has been having negative amounts of fun with an imaginary sum of money.

Submitted by marek on Sat, 01/03/2009 - 02:58

Marek wishes that VF’s engineers didn’t reboot things at 20:00 Friday; and that VF’s kit didn’t randomly forget stuff when rebooted.

It’s happened before, and it seems to have happened again; only this time it’s when I wanted to get some sleep (for a change). Seems like there is a bit of kit lurking in the Vodafone network which forgets a bit of configuration every now and then. Seven hours later, still no sign of a fix…

I have a feeling 2009 is going to be one of those kinds of years. Here’s hoping it’s just limited to January!

Submitted by marek on Sat, 01/03/2009 - 02:58

Resolutions: 2009

Normally I’m not one for making New Year’s resolutions, however this year I feel it might be worth breaking with the trend. In 2009 I shall:

  1. do more for the alternative music scene
  2. refrain from engaging in heated debate with those who do not understand my approach and are hurt by it
  3. remove the “brown paper bag” (resolve my personal self-esteem) which has been undermined

The last time I made resolutions was in 1998:

  1. no alcohol — kept until late August
  2. be “less nice” — kept all year
Submitted by marek on Thu, 01/01/2009 - 01:40

Film: Australia

My brief review of Australia:

Third worst film I have seen in the last five years.

My longer review:

Australia didn’t leave me with as strong a feeling of utter rage as Happy Go Lucky, so in some respects Happy Go Lucky was the better film. However I don’t feel I can give a film which was so awful a superlative review by ranking it “worst”, or even “second worst”.

Submitted by marek on Wed, 12/31/2008 - 15:06

Submitted by marek on Tue, 12/30/2008 - 20:00

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