I travelled via Belgium last week and decided to stay overnight at Dinant, where I have stayed previously and found to be marginally less bad than most towns in Belgium.To anyone contemplating a similar stop - don't.The whole of the town is being
At La Dolce Vita exhibition at Olympia this year I bought a jar of garlic cloves preserved in a pizzaiola type oil and vinegar mixture.It is just amazing for snacking, the whole cloves are really crunchy with a fairly mild flavour of the garlic an
I need to buy a tyre for my car. I googled all the usual words but came up with nothing. Back in UK I would simply go to Kwikfit, or ATS etc and it would be done on the spot.
Does anybody have a contact for a sun blind maker?Think of a conventional, rather old-fashioned roller blind with the roller fixed at the top of the window and the blind hanging vertically down.
And you spell it "pertinent". And you seem to place an incredible amount of trust in a "qualified geometra" (ours - not of our choice - was a tosser extraordinaire), Estate Agent (can you be serious?) or "notario" (it's spelt notaio, and incidentally ours was seriously good). I think you may need to unclench a little - maybe you want to know everything about everything before you make a move, but that doesn't mean you should try to impose that way on to those who prefer more of an inspired leap of faith. Certainly if money is tight there may be a need to be extra careful, but many people buy their second home as a complete indulgence. And at the end of the day, if it turns you've been a complete mug, sure as hell there are plenty of other mugs who'll buy it off you! Yours ever, Clockwork Numpty p.s. it's "exacerbate", not exasperate
Maralyn, I was only against tipping €40 because, as per discussion above, I'm against the whole principle of tipping. It was a €40 "charge" for service that in a cheaper place would have been maybe €10. So just because the waiters concerned work in a different place, one gets €40 for doing his job, the other gets €10 for doing the same job. Fair? - I don't think so. Sensible? - I don't think so. For the record, we ate their standard menu and drank moderately, but it was Rockpool so it was always going to be expensive. Australia is generally expensive because Wall St hasn't yet demolished their currency in the same way as they've demolished the euro and the pound. But you can always go to Doyles and get a plate of fish 'n chips for a mere €35 plus another 10% for what they laughingly call service . cheers, Terry
I was in a Sydney restaurant last month and told the head waiter "We Europeans don't do tipping" so could he please let me know the tipping protocol? Naturally he said he couldn't POSSIBLY suggest etc etc until I told him that in the absence of a suggestion I would have to assume service was included and just pay the bill. At which he hastily suggested that 10% would be considered normal, so I tipped 10%. Service had been impeccable, but the tip added $A50 (€40) to the bill for dinner for TWO! TK
Agreed La Dolcevita, the only tip that happens in my local restaurant is when Danilo tips the bottle of grappa into my glass at the end of yet another perfect meal. In fact we've just this minute got back from there; so refreshing after our experiences in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago! TK
Most places in Italy, France and many other countries service charge has already been included, and always was. Unfortunately many British and (probably all) Americans seem not to comprehend. I recall an evening in my local restaurant when my fellow diners were adjusting the shares of the bill so that they could leave an appropriate tip, when the chef (one of the family who own it) impatiently took over, extracted the exact amount from the pile of money, and walked off quite happy - as if to say "what are they buggering about at". Habitual tipping is yet another thing we have to blame Americans for. In USA now a "tip" of 15 - 20% is expected. Bloody ridiculous. Apparently it's because certain states are allowed to pay below minimum wage to waiters, in anticipation of their tips earnings. Which needs sorting. I was intrigued to find that if you are really peed off with your waiter you give him 10% (out of your hard-earned) in order to render a suitable insult. Some insult! TK
We did Norfolk Line once and took the Exec Lounge option. Not great but probably better than the alternative. However, I would advise against having a meal, as the food was very drab and the wine options were from California or somewhere. Why would they do that to decent people? Instead, you might want to try for O Baguettes (Asian) in Dinant - I only recommend it because it was full on a Tuesday night off season, so we couldn't get in. Then maybe you could tell me what it's like. TK
Well said La Dolcevita - don't you find that most of the people who criticise cruising have never cruised (or maybe went on the wrong ship), while most of the people who have cruised absolutely love cruising! "Gross meals" - where does that come from? - poster has clearly never tried Silversea! And why would tour-guided parties from cruise ships be any different from the hordes who come in by 'plane and have a tour guide? FWIW, I wholeheartedly agree that big ships should stand off outside the lagoon. TK
Comments posted
And you spell it "pertinent". And you seem to place an incredible amount of trust in a "qualified geometra" (ours - not of our choice - was a tosser extraordinaire), Estate Agent (can you be serious?) or "notario" (it's spelt notaio, and incidentally ours was seriously good). I think you may need to unclench a little - maybe you want to know everything about everything before you make a move, but that doesn't mean you should try to impose that way on to those who prefer more of an inspired leap of faith. Certainly if money is tight there may be a need to be extra careful, but many people buy their second home as a complete indulgence. And at the end of the day, if it turns you've been a complete mug, sure as hell there are plenty of other mugs who'll buy it off you!
Yours ever, Clockwork Numpty p.s. it's "exacerbate", not exasperate
The Idle sounds like my sort of cricket club too - I can relate to much of the stuff on their website! TK
Maralyn, I was only against tipping €40 because, as per discussion above, I'm against the whole principle of tipping. It was a €40 "charge" for service that in a cheaper place would have been maybe €10. So just because the waiters concerned work in a different place, one gets €40 for doing his job, the other gets €10 for doing the same job. Fair? - I don't think so. Sensible? - I don't think so. For the record, we ate their standard menu and drank moderately, but it was Rockpool so it was always going to be expensive. Australia is generally expensive because Wall St hasn't yet demolished their currency in the same way as they've demolished the euro and the pound. But you can always go to Doyles and get a plate of fish 'n chips for a mere €35 plus another 10% for what they laughingly call service
. cheers, Terry
I was in a Sydney restaurant last month and told the head waiter "We Europeans don't do tipping" so could he please let me know the tipping protocol? Naturally he said he couldn't POSSIBLY suggest etc etc until I told him that in the absence of a suggestion I would have to assume service was included and just pay the bill. At which he hastily suggested that 10% would be considered normal, so I tipped 10%. Service had been impeccable, but the tip added $A50 (€40) to the bill for dinner for TWO! TK
Agreed La Dolcevita, the only tip that happens in my local restaurant is when Danilo tips the bottle of grappa into my glass at the end of yet another perfect meal. In fact we've just this minute got back from there; so refreshing after our experiences in Los Angeles a couple of weeks ago! TK
Most places in Italy, France and many other countries service charge has already been included, and always was. Unfortunately many British and (probably all) Americans seem not to comprehend. I recall an evening in my local restaurant when my fellow diners were adjusting the shares of the bill so that they could leave an appropriate tip, when the chef (one of the family who own it) impatiently took over, extracted the exact amount from the pile of money, and walked off quite happy - as if to say "what are they buggering about at". Habitual tipping is yet another thing we have to blame Americans for. In USA now a "tip" of 15 - 20% is expected. Bloody ridiculous. Apparently it's because certain states are allowed to pay below minimum wage to waiters, in anticipation of their tips earnings. Which needs sorting. I was intrigued to find that if you are really peed off with your waiter you give him 10% (out of your hard-earned) in order to render a suitable insult. Some insult! TK
At least they are not Golden Labradors; most of the people who own those end up going blind.
We did Norfolk Line once and took the Exec Lounge option. Not great but probably better than the alternative. However, I would advise against having a meal, as the food was very drab and the wine options were from California or somewhere. Why would they do that to decent people? Instead, you might want to try for O Baguettes (Asian) in Dinant - I only recommend it because it was full on a Tuesday night off season, so we couldn't get in. Then maybe you could tell me what it's like. TK
We've done Dinant and I agree it's better than Namur - better choice of restaurants.
Well said La Dolcevita - don't you find that most of the people who criticise cruising have never cruised (or maybe went on the wrong ship), while most of the people who have cruised absolutely love cruising! "Gross meals" - where does that come from? - poster has clearly never tried Silversea! And why would tour-guided parties from cruise ships be any different from the hordes who come in by 'plane and have a tour guide? FWIW, I wholeheartedly agree that big ships should stand off outside the lagoon. TK