Bath and Bristol - Valentines Day 2008 + update on the last two weeks

Dear Fighter,

I do not intent to bore anyone to death with the nice romantic weekend that we had in Bath. Just for the record, just in case the wrong (or the right) person reads this. It was a beautiful couple of days.

Travel - a curse or just bad luck
My last day at work was the 31.01.08. However, I had been ask to Travel to JFK for a couple of days to help out. A sort of consulting job to advise the new procurement manager in New York. This is where it all started.....

I haven't travelled abroad for a while. Therefore, I did not own a passport. I did have a temporary one which I had made for my trip to Dubai but that one was expired. And even if it wouldn't have been, it is useless to use for the states. Our friends in the U.S.A. (at least the one who made the mistake voting for Bush) truly believe that a German person could be the next Osama or Una Bomber. We, therefore, have to carry a fully fledged passport with chip and fingerprint to gain access to land of opportunities, world domination and freedom.

As it takes 72h to get this passport I had arranged to fly from Germany to London on the 31st at 20:15 with BA. I've noticed already earlier (curse of being involved in Airline Catering) that the two flights earlier to Frankfurt had been delayed and one was cancelled. Upon checking, I checked with BA if this fly would be cancelled. No! was the answer, it is on time. I, therefore, strolled through security, amazed that I did not have to wait forever (thank you BAA for finally employing more sercurity personell) but also pissed off that again I had to take my shoes off. Once all my change, keys, ipod, shoes, laptop, jacket and lighter had been placed again in the pockets where they belong, I checked the info display. Great 1h delay.... Look around the shops, killed time, bored to death, boarding time arrived, NO GATE. Waited another 10min, NO GATE, NO NEWS, check with the BA desk.

ME: "916 to FRA?"
BA: "cancelled!"
ME: "you are kidding me!"
BA: "Why would I kid you, what would I gain from that"
ME: astonished.....

Off I went to the reclaim, was told that I takes up to an hour for my bags. Result: Pissed OFF! Decided not to stay and to leave the security area to go to the ticket counter of BA (why the hell is there none within the security area considering that they cancel flight almost hourly). Anyhow, line, not long but not short either and very slow moving. Smoking, thinking about what I would say to the agent.... It turned out that I calmed down and the agent disarmed me even more by admitting: "we screwed up, the crew that is supposed to be on your flight is still in the air and we don't have backup". I then was booked on a LH flight at 7:10 the next morning.

Now, the next task, how do I get back into security. The yellow phone at the arrivals door. Ring Ring, no answer..... Ring again, no answer. 5 minutes later, still no answer.... so I went back upstairs to the check in counter where they've told me that someone would pick up the phone before. Finally, agreed to send someone down with me. Here we go.....Lost another 10 minutes for that....... for the first time my airside pass would have been handy but no i had to quit and returned it just 4 hours before. not to mention that I would have been allowed to use it for personal reasons anyhow.

So I got my bag and met Lucinda who was waiting outside for almost 1h. All in all, I wasted 4h at LHR.

The next morning, made it on time to the airport, however the flight was delayed again for 1,5h and it was freezing cold in the lounge.....Due to the delay, I then missed the appointment which would have still been possible. Therefore, I could not apply for my passport that day (note: in Germany civil offices close at 12:00, I arrived there at 12:02).

So, off to apply on Monday. Everything went smooth and my passport was due to arrive on Thursday by 11:00h. I was due to fly out at 14:00h, which means 1h window between getting my passport and going to the airport.

Though, I had to learn on that Thursday that the transmission to Berlin did not work and therefore my passport would not arrive that day. Ok, back home. Change of flights. Charges. More Charges. Plans changed: Tuesday off to LHR, Wednesday till Friday Bath, Saturday flight to JFK.

Tuesday: Lucinda calls me and tells me that my 14:30 flight to LHR is cancelled, great called BA, was booked on flight at 22 something. During the day I stayed informed about what was happening with the flights to LHR and had to learn that they've cancelled another 2 flights and that the flight before mine was heavily delayed. Knowing about the fact that flights are not allowed to land at LHR after 23h, I inquired with the BA hotline. Clueless. I then just 10min before the time when I had to take off to the airport, I called BA at FRA and they informed me that the flight is going and that it is relativly on time. So off I went.

I turned out that the flight would be delayed by "only" 1h and that it actually left only 30 minutes after the flight that should have gone 2h earlier. Anyhow, we boarded and I was relived until the purser made an announcement: "L and G, I have good and bad news for you, the good news is: we are going to London tonight, the bad we are flying to LGW" Arghhhhhh. So, I called Lucinda, rerouted her to LGW.

Once, I had arrived, I called Lucinda when I exited the plane as we had discussed. Though, I had to learn that she hadn't left yet because neither the hotline from BA nor the website told her that my flight would go to LGW. Why the hell didn't she listen to me. Woman I guess. Control Freak I guess.

Anyhow, we arrived home by about 2h local time........

The next day we went to Bath. We stayed at the MacDonald Bath Spa & Hotel, a 5 star property (beautiful) and MacDonald won the AA award for the best chain in 2007.
The building and souroundings of the hotel were beautiful, the interior and rooms were past their best and the service was appauling. I don't want to go into detail but DO NOT GO THERE.

Last but not least, we had our treat in the spa on Friday. I kept myself under control for the entire stay and tried hard not to complain to Lucinda too much and to not cause a scene with the staff. I even accepted that we were not able to extend our check out time to 14:00h even though we had treatments till 13:30.

My treatments were OK, the ayurveda massage was not what I expected and far from the quality that I had at Teneriffe. The facial was good and hot stone massage was very good. I was lucky to get it actually, as I had to sign a disclaimer because I had two massages on one day. The therapist almost refused to do it. The reply to our question why that was not pointed out to us at the time of booking was typical for the place: Reception has no clue........

Anyhow, the icing on the cake was not my (direct) misfortune but Lucinda's. Her therapist broke a rip of hers whilst massaging. ARGHHHH. This was diagnosed by a less than motivated NHS doctor without even looking at her properly after only 1,5h waiting.....

What a wonderful 14 days..... I am still waiting for the anwers to my complaints to BA....

Keep Fightin'

Jochen

Restaurant Gerbermühle - Frankfurt Sachsenhausen

Dear Fighter,

had the pleasure to visit the Gerbermühle last Monday. Monday is not typically one of the busiest restaurant days in Germany or Frankfurt. However, the restaurant was packed.

Let's start with the good stuff. The building has been restored beautifully, a perfect mix out of old and new. Untreated, bare, raw old walls. Lots of glass. A beautiful conservatory. Even odd pieces such as the horn chandelier in the bar and the hors in the reception work well.

The menu is excellent. A beautiful mix of German and Austrian cooking. Truly classics, served old school using only the best ingredients (Tartar, Zwiebelrostbraten, Kaiserschmarn) and classic newly interpreted (beetroot carpaccion with Matjes).

Whilst the food was very good, i now have to start with the negative aspects.

a) food was not hot enough
b) service was too loud and too friendly (the person that served us must have worked at a Kindergarden before; heeeelllllloooooo, howwww are youuuuuu, did you like your foooodddd)
c) we waited for too long for our food. 30min for main course, 30 min for dessert the table next to us must have waited 45 min for their main course
d) my company (above 50) not me (still below 30) complained that it was too dark.

Even considering the negatives, it was a very nice evening and I would visit again.

Keep Fightin'

Jochen

New Interior Design Ideas

Dear Fighter,

a couple more ideas for decorating.


I love FILZ, the texture, the look, the colors. A great selection is available at Filzshop24, whilst Wohnwaren offers a great pocket for your mobile or ipod called Babuschka.

Wohnwaren does wall tatoos as well. I love the style. Presumably they are not the only ones but I liked this one in particular.

Further, i found a company called ON Living that sells beautiful wood furniture (teak, walnut, oak,...). They say they do bespoke stuff as well which they import, most likley, from Asia. I will definatly give them a try in the future.

Raumgestalt is yet another company that offers nice and neat articles around the house, hotel and restaurant. A highlight are their oak boards.

Die kleine Firma has really cool stuff too, I just had to order the load-ding. Looks cool and if it does what they say it will be practical too. Let's see.



Keep Fightin,

Jochen

Ambiente - February 2008

Dear Fighter,

today I went to the ambiente. Here are a couple of items that I've spotted.

Ibili Flexiform
One of the many silicon moulds and mats suppliers. However, i think they have quite some novel ideas with regards to shapes.

Legnoart
Kitchen serving trolleys, they look cook and have a differnt feel to what is generally around. However, I feel they are more for home use rather than commercial. Their TRIX trolley caught my eye especially.

Berti 1895
The selection of steak knives is quite amazing. Too bad that the website seems to be in Italian only.

Menu
Menu, pretty well known by now, has produced a couple nice new features.

Lighthouse Oil Lamps
Other products got my attention as well. Especially a stainless steel bottle holder for the wall, which I can't find on their website.

Blomus
very nice ideas around fire.

Typhoon
I belive they were the one that brought us not so authentic asian tableware for the mass market. Or at least they were the first ones. Nevertheless, they still feature interesting items. What caught my eye was the Capsule Kitchen Bin.

Profboard
a cutting board with different colored exchangeable covers. Great idea if it works, would need to be put up to a test.

Fratelli Guzzini
Well known for their plastics. Always worth a look. The plexiglas dishes are interesting.

Koziol
Koziol to me is always like design on LSD. quirky and not for everyone. However, they partitions are very interesing and worth considering if you would like to have some color in your room.

Cutipol Portugal
amazing cutlery from Portugal. Not more, not less.

La Mediterranea
as ususal, nice spanish glass. But one plate in black again was my favorite: 2709/M69-6 €3,85 black oval

Bormioli Rocco
as usual, however, the decanters....






Other worth mentioning: LSA

On a different note, IKEA seems to have a black glass plate that is really nice....can't find it on the website, but will check.....

Cirque de Soleil - January 2008

Dear Fighter,

do you like circus? If you ask me a general questions like this, my answer is no. I think of stinking animals, poor clowns, poor artists, a cold tent,....

However, circus has come a long way since I have been a child. Now we have circus dinners with amazing food, virtually no animals, amazing artists and more.

Last year, L. took me to the cirque sureal in Windsor. As I have been quite aware of what circus had become in the last couple of years, I had high expectations. These where not. I was appauling. The story line was more than boring, the artists weren't that good, it was just a poor performance. Maybe my expectations are too high, I thought.

A couple of weeks back, L. suggesting again a circus. Now, the world reknowed "Cirque de Soleil". Not only were there, just a tiny bit, better knwon that our cirque sureal, NO, it would also take place in the Royal Albert Hall. BTW: the tickets were only slighly more expensive than the poor one in Windsor.

What should I say? The performance was great. Great artists, great costumes, great everything. The only to thing I could complain about is that the show was one performance too short. One more and it would have been mind blowing. But one should not expect too much. I know I am difficult to please.



It was great!

What I need to do now is to see the nude show of the cirque in Las Vegas. The perfect combination. Tits, Ass, Artists....

Keep Fightin'

Jochen

our society has gone nuts again - men vs. women

Dear Fighter,

I am a man. I love women. I respect them. I believe a women can be as good as or better than a man in any job. But what the hell has happened to our world. I found this text in the prefix of a UK customs notice.



Who cares to what the words he, she, him, her refer to. It is a general document. Does anyone actually believe that a woman might be offended if you leave out this note. I don't think so, I actually believe the opposite is true. Women should be offended that these statements are being made, it shows that they are not treated equally yet.....

Keep Fightin'

Jochen

DO & CO Staff Party January 2008

Dear Fighter,

the time had come for yet another DO & CO Staff Party in London. Our friends from the British Museum were so kind to organize it for us. Location was the commonwealth club on the strand in central london. Great place for a party. Unfortunatly not as many people as we hope showed up so the place seemed a bit empty a times but it was a great GOODBYE party for me.

Food was BAD, Games (car racing, black jack, roulette) were good, Music was good, but why the heel is everything closing so early. Nevertheless, I had to leave early due to romantic constraints if you know what i mean. Though, I had burned my fake cash in black jack already, am not a good dancer, had to get up early next morning and couldn't flirt with any girls as the police was in the building. so what was the point of staying anyways....





Keep Fightin'

Jochen

CSI in London - January 2008

Dear Fighter,

January was a stressful month, but you will see it in more detail in the posts. Shortly after Zürich, the managers arrived in London. Was great, first a small dinner at Ping Pong, and then the next day, a bigger dinner at Roka. It was great catching up with them again. CSI seems to be happy but bored in his new job ;-). What can you say, happy is most likely better than not happy and stressed.....

Ping Pong is not as good as it used to be, but the people are still quing outside like they are offering something for free. Too bad that they had to restict entrance due to staffing issues, downstairs was completly empty at first. However, our server and cocktail maker were already in the shit and we waited at least 20min for our drinks. they actually arrived after our first the of dim sum.

Roka was again great. Though, there seating policy is starting to drive me insane. Not much to say, new menu since about 2 month, couple new dishes, all excellent, what shall i say, a great restaurant with professional service.




Keep Fightin'

Jochen