Two groups of travellers in the morning rush hour

Using tube every day. 34 pounds per week.. Two change. 55 min to arrive. I notice two kinds of people travelling on London underground. the first group is jeans and jumpers. They use the tube around 6-7.  another group is 8 -9. They are in luxury jackets and shining shoes. 

being in Angus Steak House

British summer is always nice to go out, i mean, if no rain. I just took a great opportunity, while London hosting 2012 Olympic, to look around, checking the international sport fans in major sport event areas of British capital with curiosity. Yes colourful people were everywhere holding their identities. Absolutely brilliant atmosphere.

After walking along the Regent street, i felt hungry. I popped into leicester square where i used to buy KFC for several times in past. This time i was thinking to try something different as i no longer fancy deep fried chicken. I saw Angus steak house at the corner. I usually avoided that restaurant previously with the thought that it would be for beef eater as i never eat that meat since child for unknow reason. When I checked menu, I found out a variety of foods are available, chickens, lamb, fish, pork and so on.

It was easily noticeable that the most waitresses were eastern European origin. I ordered lamb cultet. Ribs and salad were for my friend. Of course we agreed to share a bottle of read wine, French marlot.

This point, a small annoying thing was that the young well dressed waitress had no idea how to serve wine. A few wine splashed onto table. I demostrated her how to pour it nicely by turned around the bottle at the final drop. She appreciated saying '  I see'. Wondering this shop manager never gave his staffs a proper catering  training.

About 25 minutes later,  foods arrived. All looked nice with aromatic smell. Nice taste. But I felt lamb portion was small for price of £17.50. I tasted some ribs. It was beautifully tender and salt content was optimum.   But a bit sweet to me.

At the end of our dining, I asked bill which showed £57 with "service not included " . I understood the meaning. I put £5 note together with my bank card in a small bill holder. She brought a wireless chip and pin device and I entered pin. Transaction went through quickly. She said thank you and asked "what  is it for? "  by pointing at £5 note. I replied it is just for you sweetheart.  She said again " thank you". What's on earth this poor waitress was dull enough not to know a tip. It happened in central London.

In general, foods are ok. But not so special. Those kinds of foods are easily available in most UK pub with cheaper price. I would score 6.5/10


Lamb


Salad


Staying outdoor is nice



Ribs

Service NOT included 

De Vere Village hotel , Swansea feedback

I choose a hotel with swimming pool and sauna to meet an old friend over the weekend.
The hotel is called De Vere Village in Swansea. Meaning, Village hotel ran by De Vere group. When I check about De Vere, it has a long story of business since 1760s, started as brewery, later changed to hotel and leisure activities.

In terms of hotel presentation, it looks great at its level with decent carpet and lighting. Car parking was enough for weekend visitors when I stayed there. A good thing is no bad smell you may experience in some hotels.

Unfortunately, there are a variety of issues while I was in that hotel of Wale's city, Swansea.

Thanks God. I was given the top floor with a nice view to dock and Swansea bay. I was so happy and I tried to take a photo. Gosh! The smell of dust came out from curtain once I touched it. I noticed paints of oil, most probably human origin, marked on the glass. It seemed hotel staffs never check the curtain and window glass or they wont bother it.

Visitors should thank for free wifi which is reasonably fast. I feel it is faster than Starbuck coffee wifi. I was able to communicate on line with contacts across the world.

TV is just OK to watch BBC news . It is Philip flat screen. For some reason, image was slightly blurred with gravels. To be honest, I have not seen such quality of Tv reception for such a long time in the UK.

The bath room looks good in a first glance with florescence lights and big mirrors. But the disappointing thing, if you are hygiene conscious, is that there were a couple of brown stains near the toilet paper roll holder. It looked fresh. You could argue that it was tea drop. If so, why it is in toilet near paper?

In the evening, hotel restaurant and bar were busy as it was weekend. We did not make reservation and no seat was available. We were advised to go to bar. We ordered foods with the starter as grilled chicken wings. Unbelievably, it was so sugary sweet. I saw a crust of sugar coat over the chicken skin. I never know British people eat such a sweet chicken. I must say , it was cheap. 22 pieces for only around 7 pounds ( I cant remember exactly) But we had to leave about 18 sugary pieces.

At night, I set the temperature at 25C as I felt room was cold when I came back from dining. I appreciate that bed was comfortable and no noise. But, in the early hours of morning, I was woke up by cold air blown from ceiling air conditioner. When I checked the thermostat, it showed 21C (Not 25C I set) . I suspect the hotel has central control system to keep the temperature at that level , regardless of customer need. They could argue that it is environmental friendly approach. Obviously, I am not really happy with it at all. I got sorethorat in the morning.

I did enjoy sauna and swimming pool. Well built and not crowded. Well facilitated. A guard has been standby at pool. Good for safety. But, disgracefully, I could not enter my room when I came back from at 10:20 Am from swimming pool. My swipe key had been rejected. Fortunately, a hotel staff was cleaning at nearby room. She kindly helped me to go into my room , saying that the reception locked the door because I am leaving on that day. Absolutely ridiculous. It has been declared that the check out time is 11am and check in time is 3 pm. ( usually, 12pm check out time in the majority of hotels I stayed previously ). The hotel administration indecently made inaccessible to its customers during the time paid for the stay. It happened in Wale's 4 star hotel.

To conclude, this 4 star Village hotel in Swansea is providing poor customer service. I would score 3 out of 10. I have a concern about De Vere.