or What do we mean by improvement. Improvement generally means a measurable positive change in something over time. read more...

Our venture to Xtabi up towards the west end was good, except we that we clean forgot that we had spent up on jetskis that afternoon, so having starters meant we didn't have enough left to pay the bill - sometimes travelling with the parents definitely has fringe benefits. Otherwise Laurel would have been doing the washing up. read more...

The compulsory tourist trap of Negril is the world famous Rick's Cafe. It was given the honour of being declared the 6th best bar in the world or some such. read more...

Back in the old days before holidaymakers came looking for sunburn or the "flower people" came looking for ganja, Negril was a small and insignificant fishing village - on the mouth of the river sandwiched between the cliffs of the west end and the 7 miles of beach to the north is the commercial centre of town. We made quite a few pilgrimages down here for shopping at the hi-lo supermarket and several more just to eat food and nose around. read more...

16 years ago Jackie and Verona stayed at Negril Beach Club for three weeks. They say Jamaica is a relaxed kind of place and indeed very little has changed at the beach club down to the guys who come round every morning and sweep up the paths, gardens and beach for fallen leaves and fruit. read more...

Laurel, Jackie and I been in Jamaica for the last two weeks. Pretty marvellous really and our first real attempt at any form of big travelling with Laurel. read more...

I got on a train from Bolton to Manchester Airport. It stopped at Piccadilly and threw everyone off. read more...

Just to prove we have probably gone mad, following our visit to the city zoo, we headed out for a day at the safari park at Sigean. It was a very different experience, driving round in first gear for the first part, getting pecked by an ostrich and trying to spot distant giraffes and buffalo. read more...

Today we had intended to go for a swim. However having left the house rather late we stopped on the way at Pezenas to go round the shops and have a bite to eat. read more...

For a gentle day out with a bit (but not too-much) walking and some interesting things to see we went to the local Zoo - the Parc de Lunaret in Montpellier. Getting there involved a typically frought few moments negotiating the insane road system of Montpellier but we arrived ding-free and slotted ourselves into what didn't seem like much of a car park. read more...

This morning to get to our usual South-of-France haunt we took the new bmi-baby flight from Manchester to Perpignan, a new route and a great improvement on our previous options (Liverpool to Nimes or before that, Stansted to Montpellier). Flying from Manchester really does make a serious difference to the journey length and overall levels of annoyance. read more...

Since our car broke down the other week we have ummed and ahhed and quite rapidly decided that the old beast has really had it. It has been gradually becoming really quite unpleasant to drive what with umpteen little bits bobs buttons windows wipers indicators etc failing to behave themselves in an erratic kind of way. read more...

After another heavy afternoon of house-hunting in Stockport we trundled our way back towards Bolton, past a peachy sunset as we crossed the Manchester Ship Canal swiftly followed by more torrential rain. As we dribbled our way up the A666 and hit the junction next to PC World there came an almighty clunk and my clutch pedal was no-longer clutching. read more...

I'm staying at the Fitzrovia Hotel near Regents Park tonight - which was chosen mainly on the strength of purportedly having big curtains and internet (Oh look there's an ethernet cable under the desk. does it work. read more...

The plan for our last day in Berlin once the conference was done and dusted was to head over to the East side. This was primarily to have a look at the Christmas market and to see if we could get a few pressies out of the way. read more...

Our apartment in Berlin is a good change from the hotel routine. It is a nicely kept, well heated, IKEA furnished, laminate floored pad, with all the right things provided. read more...

One little item we had on the list of "things to blog about our holiday" was our experience on the British Airways return flight. Due to the funeral of my Grandfather Arthur we had to shift our flights backwards by a day and found a BA flight from Montpellier (changing at Gatwick) to be the most reasonable option at £200 for the pair of us. read more...

Rob and Rosie came out to see us while we were in France - Following lunch beneath Pont du Diable, we took them round Saint Guilhem le Desert and yes, you guessed it, we took loads of lovely pictures: Click for more We ate at the highly recommended la Table d’Aurore on the terrace overlooking the gorges, but it was dark and the best tables had been had already so we didn't get to take advantage of the views too much. The food was indeed very acceptable. read more...

The enterprising accordion players of Montpellier have developed a novel way of playing without the need to even touch the keys of their instruments. And gosh they both look and sound so accomplished. read more...

For this particular journey to France we took the plane from Liverpool to NImes, starting with a leisurely taxi to the airport. It tuned out to be a bit of a comedy of (mildly annoying but non-threatening) errors. read more...

Browsing for things to do during our upcoming trip to France in September, Jackie found this impressively thorough guide of The Languedoc region. Following our recent visit to Park Hill the original task was to investigate the Unité d'Habitation in Marseille. read more...

To start our holiday we went on a bit of a tour of nearby bits of seaside. starting with Southport and then round the coast to Blackpool. read more...

If you ever have the pleasure of going to Bristol and staying at the pleasure of the University you might want to avoid being put in The Hawthorns particularly if they put you in “Mendip”. It's the second time I've ended up there and well, I should have remembered what it was like last time. read more...

The morning's wanderings took us on the bus to Postdamer Platz and then on round the Bundesrat to a section of wall-remains housing a semi-permanent exhibition on the war years and the destruction of the wall - though strangely very little on it's construction (which was the bit we were interested in). From thence we walked the cold streets to (the reconstructed) Checkpoint Charlie - where I got tourist trapped by a decidedly un-american border guard (who nearly caused Jackie to get run-over). read more...

The East (where there be trams) beckoned. Germany is such a well organised kind of place - not only do they have trams but they even have free internet at the tramstops while you wait. read more...

Planning ahead for a day of tourism in Berlin we decided to hang the paranoia that it would cost 54 euros having been tempted by the hangy thing on the door and ordered breakfast in our room. Excellent plan. read more...

I was coming back from the ALT conference in Exeter, in style on an AirSouthWest flight to Manchester. When I got to terminal 3 I got myself rolling towards the train station (the long way rather than getting a bus) and somewhere along the way acquired a Nigerian man named Sydney. read more...

The application form clearly stated 'must be willing to travel'. We figured it meant what it said but couldn't actually know what it meant in reality until now. read more...

The educational content SIG being over, it was time for me to catch the 4:49 from Glasgow Central which should wend it's merry way to Preston where I intend to change. Today's exciting travel story started as I walked down the train to find second class only to discover that today for some inexplicable reason there is no second class. read more...

This morning I got on a train to Stafford where I have been learneding all about UML. I feel very much enlightened and generally like I might be quite good at this job. read more...