Been trying to get a table for 6 people around some restaurants in town and Christchurch without much luck, although 8pm is peak time I guess.

Things must still be booming down here. What recession?

Had to get a 9pm table at the Urban Reef down by Boscombe Pier. Hopefully the rain clouds will keep away.

We've had a beer down in the very small bar downstairs. At least this is a new review for fong.co.uk/efnic.co.uk

A quick thought over coffee

A shame that some of the niche and interesting places have gone.

Take Zafari that was in Boscombe. Where else are we to eat crocodile steaks, kangaroo and ostrich?

We went to Nippon Inn which is on what I have seen called the Gaza Strip on the internet to mean Charminster. Very affectionate I must say. It was good to see Nippon Inn was full and we enjoyed our food yet again. There menu has grown and I suspect their client base has grown and I wish them the best of luck. My previous favourite, Tokyo Sushi, had closed down years ago and not too long after starting up as well.

It is great to see Bournemouth has a diverse range of eateries and great to see the good people of Bournemouth checking them all out. I can quite easily and happily go from the Harvester to Gary Rhodes and back again without too much thought.

At the Mexican Grill

Oh yes, we were back at the Mexican Grill. Whelks, oysters and more whelks. Yum yum.

Wasn't too sure about the Sterling Euro exchange rate. Very poor indeed.

Brussels 2009 Photos

After two months of 0% interest on my tracker, I have to start paying now.

So unfair, ah well a good thing doesn't last.

Scorchio, hot damn hot.

Weather reports have been a bit off so hope that the sun is really coming.

No BBQ

Too much has been happening and weather is probably not great, not that it has stopped us before but I think we should leave it for another time.

It will be a scorchio summer this year. It will, it will, it will. Plenty time left for a swim and BBQ.

It's BBQ-time

The South-Vegas night might have been a bit blowy and a bit chilly but that is part of the fun. Also like wondering where the firelighters are and then realising that we had those handy small bags of charcoal where you light the wrappers themselves. Panic over.

Ange picked up a couple of packets of 'kwalitee' beefburgers, 50p for two quarterpounders. Nice. Skank sausages and some cook-from-frozen ribs topped off the menu.

This was just a practice run. Off to Argos for my Deluxe Trolley BBQ in readiness for the summer at Hotel Fong.

Trouble with having an older house is that things start to leak and it seems we have been hit with quite a few in the past year, the ensuite, shower room, water tank and overflow pipe, mains stopvalve and an miscellaneous airing cupboard thing.

I do like leeks though, yum yum.

Sad News

A very quiet chap that stood outside of Marks and Spencers. He wasn't very vocal in the way that many other sellers are and was the pinnacle of politeness when I bought a copy off him and let him keep the change. Less so for the one at the bottom of the escalators in Asda who assumed the change was for him and didn't offer it back.

Anyway, back to Westbourne. When I first moved to the Bournemouth area I lived near Westbourne and would frequently pop there to do my shopping. Before M&S, the place was a Waitrose supermarket. What really struck me was the fact that the well-to-do and wealthy (I assume as they shop at Waitrose most days which aint cheap) would always be friendly to the Big Issue seller, chat with him and would buy copies from him without prompting. Not sure if this was the same person there since '96 but the principle remains the same. Two ends of the scale but a common dignity.

All very pleasing to see and it prompted me to look into what was behind the Big Issue and how it helps the homeless.

We can just hope justice prevails.

Countdown to the lottery

Should we or should we not come to work on Monday, that is the big question. Should we be stealing a couple of this big Ikea bags so we can stash the huge pile of notes from the £110,000,000 Euro Millions rollover lottery draw.

Yup, I think so. Or at least I hope so, or at least I wish, or plead.... or anything.....

I shall wait patiently with my glass of Sancerre and plate of seafood. Oh the highlife has started.