We ve just got

We’ve just got back from a really pleasant few days break in Prague (of which more later I’m sure). As is now traditional, we had to find a wall chart for the world cup, and having failed to find one before we left the UK, this years is from the Czech magazine HATTRICK. The special World Cup issue also contains team information, and their predictions. So, according to HATTRICK the winners will be Argentina, with the Czech Republic in 2nd place. Third will go to the Netherlands and 4th to Brazil. And what do they say about England? We’ll go out in the 2nd round.

Prague 2006

We booked a 4 night break in Prague through Last Minute and found Prague a great city. Everywhere you turn there are impressive buildings. Every corner you turn there is something to make you stop and think. And the beer is cheap as well 😀

We used the Time Out Prague and the Prague popout map to find our way around.

We did the usual touristy things, checking out the castle, the Charles Bridge, the old town, the new town. We only visited one museum which was the Museum of Communism but there were plenty of others we could have seen.
It would be possible to spend a 2 night break in Prague and see most of the sights, we were fortunate enough to be able to take it easy and have a relaxed stay.
We stayed at Andels Hotel, which was out of the centre somewhat, but really well connected by a wide range of transport, and the hotel was lovely with good facilities.

All in all, a great trip and a city well worth a vist.

Last Sunday we headed

Last Sunday we headed out to the Ridgeview wine estate near Ditchling to see what tastings they were doing to celebrate English Wine Week. Ridgeview specialise in sparkling wines, so the best comparison from last years vineyard visits was our visit to Nyetimber. The major difference is that Ridgeview is open to the public 6 days a week for tastings throughout the year, something we may take advantage of next time we have visitors. We tasted the Grosvenor, the Cavendish, the Fitzrovia and their special, limited red, the Pimlico, and left with 4 bottles to enjoy over summer.

My bank knows my

My bank knows my email address and mobile phone number. It can send me emails, and it can text me — in fact it does both already. So when I go to a cash machine (ATM), why am I offered a printed receipt? Why not just SMS or email me the receipt? There’s no a security issue, because I’ve seen people leave those receipts in the machine or on the floor near the cash point.

If I’m going to be emailed a cash withdrawn receipt, why not attach something to the email I can drag and drop into my financial software. And if the banks could do it, why not the credit card companies for every transaction I make.

Not only would this be useful, we’d also save the 10 kerjillion megakilos of paper used every year by receipt printers.

We had few beers

We had a few beers at the Windmill with friends on Friday evening. Whilst there Kirsty and I both had massages from Urban Chill. I’d never heard of these people, or seen them before, but looking on their website it seems that they visit quite a few bars (mostly in London). There is no fixed price for a massage, you just pay what you think it was worth. A nice service, and a great treat for a Friday evening.