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sobriqueHmm, a good new year. The new year's party rolled on for a couple of days. Well sort of. A few people crashed, and so stuff kept happening on thursday and friday, and saturday.
Happy new year to all.
Thursday was breakfast in sainsburys, and LoTR (again for some, first time for others.)
For those who've not encountered it, the sainsburys double breakfast is a very acceptable hangover recovery, and there's a tendancy to visit on sunday each week. The standard time is 11am, because they stop doing their 'breakfast' menu at 11:30 (on the dot, for some reason they're irritatingly fussy about that.
The standard friday pub visit was good, the Nursery proved a very acceptable alternative to the malt shovel. Good beer, and no music is good. Did pack out somewhat later on though... Lots of merry people was good ;p
We've visited Wing Wah (new-ish chinese place, where broad lane intersects with the A45). Buffet style chinese, with some japanese (teppenyaki cooked to order, and sushi). The food was very good, the beer was nice too. The staff were a little variable.
I was most disappointed that we got a table right away, the girl on the front desk was most pleasant to ogle. Found out why on sunday too - we'd been recognised from the sainsburys canteen - turned out she worked there. (Which for the 3 who showed up late, was why they recognised you and took you straight to the table).
The one that impressed me was the guy who brought our drinks, and all of them had ice. In the case of the beers, this was a little unusual. In the case of the port, this was frankly bizarre. The shift manager caught him before he got to the table, and tipped the ice out of the beer glasses (it arrived in bottles) but there was still some iced port that made it to the table.
Having got back to work, I've just finished wading through 946 emails. Most of which utter junk and spam. One from manglement makes me fume a bit though:
"From 12th January the charging of taxis, chauffeur cars and hire cars to company account will cease. From that date it will be the responsibility of the person requiring the service to settle the account either through company AMEX card, a personal debit card or cash. For guidance the following arrangements exist with the various suppliers
Taxis. These are normally booked for short journeys. These should be paid for in cash. Please note that the taxi firms used do not accept electronic payment.
Chauffeur Cars. The supplier used will now take AMEX, Visa, Mastercard or cash payments.
Hire cars - Hire in this country will in the near future change from Hertz to Europcar and the majority of bookings will be made through them. All hire cars must be booked either using a Hertz Gold Card (for Hertz bookings) or a company AMEX card. The servicedesk are instructed to book all vehicles in the first instance through Europcar, in the second through Hertz
In exceptional circumstances charges to company account will be allowed for example where customers are being transported or where a taxi is used for a journey likely to be in excess of £20.
Reimbursement of transportation costs incurred will be through the normal expenses system.
All bookings should continue to be made centrally to ensure that we are taking the most competitive prices and that the most effective use is made of services booked (e.g. sharing of cars to the airport).
The Servicedesk will not be empowered to accept bookings other than as outlined above.
Please would you inform all of your travellers of the new arrangements before the end of next week. Those who need AMEX cards should apply for a form)."
Bastards. So now we have to pay in advance for travelling ON COMPANY BUSINESS so they can get 30 days free credit from their employees. What if I didn't have a credit card? And couldn't/wouldn't get one for some reason (religious or moral, or otherwise).
But of course, we still have to book through the same source, so it's just making it more complicated in general. At the moment, bookings are made, and just charged to the department.
Oh well. An initial play test of a new DND setting seems to have worked. Essentially medieval/dark ages europe, with france at the centre of a planar collapse, and britain being 'where the old ones lived many years ago' as an excuse for games there. Rare magic/divine power, extremely rare (as in, cannot be made) permenant magic items. (Damage reduction of lots will be a problem, but perhaps 'oil of GMW' will be available).
Oh and one of my workmates pointed me at this Can Launcher. Almost certainly not legal in the UK, but....
Happy new year to all.
Thursday was breakfast in sainsburys, and LoTR (again for some, first time for others.)
For those who've not encountered it, the sainsburys double breakfast is a very acceptable hangover recovery, and there's a tendancy to visit on sunday each week. The standard time is 11am, because they stop doing their 'breakfast' menu at 11:30 (on the dot, for some reason they're irritatingly fussy about that.
The standard friday pub visit was good, the Nursery proved a very acceptable alternative to the malt shovel. Good beer, and no music is good. Did pack out somewhat later on though... Lots of merry people was good ;p
We've visited Wing Wah (new-ish chinese place, where broad lane intersects with the A45). Buffet style chinese, with some japanese (teppenyaki cooked to order, and sushi). The food was very good, the beer was nice too. The staff were a little variable.
I was most disappointed that we got a table right away, the girl on the front desk was most pleasant to ogle. Found out why on sunday too - we'd been recognised from the sainsburys canteen - turned out she worked there. (Which for the 3 who showed up late, was why they recognised you and took you straight to the table).
The one that impressed me was the guy who brought our drinks, and all of them had ice. In the case of the beers, this was a little unusual. In the case of the port, this was frankly bizarre. The shift manager caught him before he got to the table, and tipped the ice out of the beer glasses (it arrived in bottles) but there was still some iced port that made it to the table.
Having got back to work, I've just finished wading through 946 emails. Most of which utter junk and spam. One from manglement makes me fume a bit though:
"From 12th January the charging of taxis, chauffeur cars and hire cars to company account will cease. From that date it will be the responsibility of the person requiring the service to settle the account either through company AMEX card, a personal debit card or cash. For guidance the following arrangements exist with the various suppliers
Taxis. These are normally booked for short journeys. These should be paid for in cash. Please note that the taxi firms used do not accept electronic payment.
Chauffeur Cars. The supplier used will now take AMEX, Visa, Mastercard or cash payments.
Hire cars - Hire in this country will in the near future change from Hertz to Europcar and the majority of bookings will be made through them. All hire cars must be booked either using a Hertz Gold Card (for Hertz bookings) or a company AMEX card. The servicedesk are instructed to book all vehicles in the first instance through Europcar, in the second through Hertz
In exceptional circumstances charges to company account will be allowed for example where customers are being transported or where a taxi is used for a journey likely to be in excess of £20.
Reimbursement of transportation costs incurred will be through the normal expenses system.
All bookings should continue to be made centrally to ensure that we are taking the most competitive prices and that the most effective use is made of services booked (e.g. sharing of cars to the airport).
The Servicedesk will not be empowered to accept bookings other than as outlined above.
Please would you inform all of your travellers of the new arrangements before the end of next week. Those who need AMEX cards should apply for a form)."
Bastards. So now we have to pay in advance for travelling ON COMPANY BUSINESS so they can get 30 days free credit from their employees. What if I didn't have a credit card? And couldn't/wouldn't get one for some reason (religious or moral, or otherwise).
But of course, we still have to book through the same source, so it's just making it more complicated in general. At the moment, bookings are made, and just charged to the department.
Oh well. An initial play test of a new DND setting seems to have worked. Essentially medieval/dark ages europe, with france at the centre of a planar collapse, and britain being 'where the old ones lived many years ago' as an excuse for games there. Rare magic/divine power, extremely rare (as in, cannot be made) permenant magic items. (Damage reduction of lots will be a problem, but perhaps 'oil of GMW' will be available).
Oh and one of my workmates pointed me at this Can Launcher. Almost certainly not legal in the UK, but....
