Queen’s Hotel, Cheltenham (and Mobile Broadband)

Outside the Hotel

Last night Sue & I spent a night away at a nice hotel in the centre of Cheltenham. The Mercure Queens Hotel was selected at the last minute for a break away from home. (we had planned to do the OMM but that’s a different story!) The hotel has a grand facade overlooking a nice grass and flower park in the centre of town. The atmosphere was calm and relaxed. A problem with flickering light sorted without fuss.

The room was small but comfortable, but we were on their special autimn deal of £89 B&B so still good value for money.

The only slight let down was the breakfast with a relatively small selection and service a small step below what you would expect (no orange juice for 20 minutes, and 5 or more minutes wait for coffee)

All in all – I would return. It deserved some of its stars!

As for the broadband – down at 2 bars, initially my 3 dongle was roaming on the Orange network. I went to talk to the 3 shop the next day and he seemed upset with me for saying that the signal was poor. Perhaps I should contact their customer service?

OMM Mountain Marathon – Press Coverage

I have spent some time looking on the Internet at the coverage of the OMM. What is very clear is that there are 3 camps in this.

The competitors seem to be consistent in the support of the decisions of the organiser. Defintiely right in going ahead as the runners are independent souls, big enough to make their own decisions and well equiped and experienced.

The few statements I have heard from the emergency services sound pragmatic and are not coming with any strong criticism – it is a situation they are dealing with.

There are however a few who are coming out with statements like “the organisers should be shot”.

At the time of writing there were only a few unaccounted for so it seems that the claims of good people and good gear have lived up to their promise. Though no time to be complacent until all are down.

No doubt there will be long debates about this ver coming weeks and months. My sincere hope is that it doesn’t damage the sport and that the organisers and potential organisers are not put off for the future.

Finally, I’m happy in my decision to stay at home – I must be a wimp! But now even Sue agrees with me.

OMM Mountain Marathon – Am I a Wimp?

Today we should have been heading up to the lakes for the OMM mountain marathon but instead we are at home, in the warm with a bottle of wine. Why aren’t we heading up there?

I must admit that I am a bit of a fair weather runner. I don’t refuse to venture out in bad weather but I am definitely reluctant. With poor recent performance, my partner suffering from a bad foot we decided to leave the final decision to the weather forecast and you have to admit the  Gods have given quite a clear message.

The organisers seem to have done a great job in keeping the event alive and for the first time that I can recall have announced shortened courses for day 1.  The forecast included severe weather warnings and the thought of a super lightweight tent in winds of 60mph+ with rain sounds just a few steps too far from sanity.

I know a few people who have headed up for the event. I do wish them luck, and good luck to all involved.

Maybe next time?

Mobile Broadband – 3 in Hemel Hempstead

Holiday Inn Express in HH and trying to do a bit of work in the evening so plugged in the 3 dongle to be presented with the 1/10 signal level. I needed to compile and upload a visit report for work – 2Meg e-mail and about 30 minutes for transmission.

This contrasts with so many reviews – I’m beginning to wonder of there is an equipment problem.

I had a chat with someone from one of the competitors who suggested that 3 might have good coverage but low capacity meaning bandwidth degradation and the like. From my meagre understanding heavy traffic reduces the effective range from the mast.

I will continue the trial for a month or so and then perhaps there will be more choice in the market and better information.

Express by Holiday Inn – Hemel Hempstead

Another brief hotel review of the HI Express near Hemel Hempstead – location - another work visit.

The location is quite good but the first impressions disappoint. Although the building is quite nice the first thing you have to do is battle with the car parking – finding £5 for overnight. This can be added to the room bill but the only way I found this out was when I went there trying to get some change.

The rooms are as standard HI Express and the reception areas fine. They have a reasonable lounge area and serve meals – hard to judge the quality on the basis of a curry (breaking one of my rules – only to eat curries in proper dedicated establishments.

All in all OK – might use it again.

Street Orienteering – SLOW Southhfields

I have been working in London and was invited by my niece, Jayne to come and try the street O taking place at Southfields near Wimbledon. This is part of a series run by the South London orienteers – SLOW. The series website gives more details.

Anyway. I decided to give it a go and arrived without any gear other than running kit. I borrowed a torch – useful to read the map in the gloomy bits and to check some of the details for the clue sheet – used to prove you had been to the locations marked on the map. The format was a 1 hour score – get as many as you could in that time with penalties for a late return.

This was not quite my first street O but I was up against some real experts. My big problems were eyesight (difficulty reading in the darkness) and control flow. I reckon I could get to the location pretty well, but then finding the right clue, finding the answer, writing it down, planning the next bit of running, keeping an eye on the time – all this took a toll. This was coupled with a bit of a poor route choice at the start.

Down to the basics: I wasn’t going to be competitive and the results proved this. I did however enjoy myself and if ever the opportunity arises I will do it again.

It was also good to see a few faces from my orienteering past as well of course thanks to Jayne for the encouragement.

Thanks to Ruth as organiser – a good job done there.

Premier Inn – London County Hall (& Mobile Broadband)

Another few days in London and having also to include a trip to Gatwick I was looking for something convenient but good value. I though that Holiday In Express and more than £150 a bit on the expensive side – particularly as they don’t seem to be much different to their non London siblings so I looked round. Accor hotels couldn’t really offer me anything to match so I looked at the Premier Inn website and the London County Hall looked like reasonable value (little in London can be classed as good value!).

First impressions weren’t brilliant – a trainee at check in and would you believe another failed key card! This seems to be the story of my hotel life. The room seems OK however I still definitely object to paying for wireless internet. I have just received a call from reception asking if the room is OK and I couldn’t face raising the internet fees with them but will add to the customer feedback when I leave.

My 3 broadband card is delivering 1 bar – slow slow slow – (never managed more that 3 out of 10. This deserves a separate category. I’m just glad I didn’t go for a high traffic monthly contract as I would never manage to get anywhere near the usage. I wonder what the other networks are like?

Mendip Muddle multi-terrain race

The Mendip Muddle is a good off road event. It was originally guessed at 12 miles, in modern money converted to 20km but this year remeasured at 13.1 miles, 21km or half marathon distance. Garmin 305 said more like 20.5 – did I really find that many corners to cut?

Chepstow Harriers as a club did well. It was one of the club championship races which encouraged a good tunrnout. Steve Caldwell and Martin Pengilly did very well – a shame there wasn’t a team prize. As for me it was a real disaster. I recognise that I am very inconsistent – is this physical, psychological or most likely a mix of both. Anyway, the Me that turned up was in a bit of a state. Slow and unsteady. Sue beat me by 17 minutes – and she reckoned she wasn’t running well.

When asked if I had enjoyed the run I tried to mix honesty with positivity – the honest answer – no but that was no criticism of the race – just of the runner. It is a good tough route. The terrain doesn’t allow much easy running – the sort where you just go into a bit of a trance and keep pushing. There were too many rocks, puddles, stiles and undulations to let you settle, but this is part of the event. The countryside is great and it is well organised. Definitely one to add to your calendar. I’ll be back sometime.

Quality Management – Records

Again no hints of the organisation(s) where this issue has sparked a bit of a campaign.

I see lots of people doing good things in their organisations, but for many they forget that sometime in the future they may need to look back to what they have done. When contracts are reviewed, authorisation of major spend or design activity etc. I see so many organisations keeping the key records in personal e-mail. Now, I accept that for most organisations this stuff is backed up but for me the question is how are you going to find it? This is a real practical problem that has many relatively simple solutions.

As always I go back to ISO 9001 – A documented procedure shall be established to define the controls needed fo the identification, storage, protection, retrieval, retention time and disposition of records.

Do I need to make this more simple? So just do what it says…

London Hotels – IBIS London City

Booked in to the IBIS London City as a bit of a trial. Check in was slow and with the key card not working 3 times they eventually gave me a different room which I could get into. Room nice and clean. Restaurant was good, with food good value (set meal at £15.50 including a glass of wine).

Location probably the worst factor with fairly frequent police sirens through the evening but to me it currently seems quite good value for London. See how it goes.

Update following 2 nights – I don’t think I’ll be back. The area is as noisy as I feared and the final straw was when I arrived back this evening the keycard wouldn’t work. That’s 4 trips down from the 10th floor to get a new key. What really annoys me is that the staff do not appear to be the least bit apologetic that this has happened. Sometimes a bit of sympathy goes a long way.

ps At checkout they appeared to listen but by then it’s just about too late – damage done…