if you have to stay at Heathrow, then this is the place to do it. easy access. decent food and rooms. and, after all, you are at the airport. BA forced me to stay the night. it took three trys to get to a room that was acceptable. first so beat up that i felt sorry for it. the second seemed to be designed by a first year architecture student. the third, well, i was tired of moving. it all worked. i really do not remember much except for the very nasty ceiling in the entrance foyer and inadequate tranistion from the gerbal tube to the main entrance. Ahh yes, the dinner buffet was superb. normally these are dismal, but this one was really excellent [to my great suprise] and unexpected. all three courses had a wide variety of scruptous choices.

i would stay there again if i had to.

its tries so hard.

perfect location overlooking the castle and musuem of Wales. a ten minutes walk from the train station thru lovely Victorian and turn-of-the-Century shopping arcades which are wheezing their way into the 20th Century. it only took two room changes to get to one which was acceptable. the first had a wonderful view of the parking lot and exhuaust flumes. the second in the elevator/lift foyer. it is a good thing that i am tall, otherwise the view would have been only of the sky. the shower was super large - six feet wide and four wide. tub decent as well. the curtains actually worked really well when two chairs helped close them against the wall to actually keep the light out. and the HVAC system was quiet and worked.

health club was really just right. stainless steel pool with underwater lights was very cool. just large enough to do a few laps. hot tub, sauna and steam room also all set on a timer so that you knew how long you were in there. the green slime growing on the wall behind the small waterfall pouring into the pool was the only fall back. oh yeah, and the water hoover sitting on the side of the pool next to the entrance was not so appealing. and the light being burnt out in the steam room was not so bad since the other one was working. and the tears in ceiling could be mistaken for black stars, so that was not so bad either.

the kitchen of the restaurant needs a real revamp. my rare fillet came out looking like a piece of grey leather and the sauteed spinach so salty that i could not even swallow the bite. second try on both resulted in a medium fillet and bland spinach. i did not have the patience to try it a third time. the wine was about on the same par. the first glass could not be swallowed - even after i politely warned the waiter that i really wanted a great glass of wine and did not mind paying for it. to his credit, he brought two new bottles to open at my table second time around. what a difference.

the breakfat buffet is ok. nothing extraordinary, but nothing really missing.

i would go back ONLY for the pool and health club.....but would not even begin to consider eating in the restaurant.

A new study of the mass of ice capping Greenland reveals that the giant ice sheet burying the island has rapidly lost mass in recent years due to melting and iceberg calving. Between 2003 and 2005, the island’s low coastal areas shed 155 gigatons (41 cubic miles) of ice per year, while snow accumulation in the interior of the ice sheet was only 54 gigatons per year. The amount of ice lost in two years is roughly the same as the amount of water that flows through the Colorado River in 12 years.

To read the full NASA press release on this study please read Greenland Ice Sheet On A Downward Slide [http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/lookingatearth/greenland_slide.html]

The latest global Freshwater report is at
http://www.panda.org/about_wwf/what_we_do/freshwater/index.cfm?uNewsID=77900

The World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Living Planet Report 2006 is now available at
http://www.worldwildlife.org/news/

under the link
New WWF Report Details Global Impact on Natural Resources 10/23/2006

Chris

I know you like these sort of stories. I do.

Haier, China's largest white goods manufacturer prides itself on after-sales service. A high number of washing machine faults started being flagged by their maintenance staff and when they took the machines apart found vegetables cuttings trapped in the filter. Oh, said customers, we use the machine for washing our vegetables too.

Rather than ruling the warrantee invalid, Haier took the challenge back to R&D and within a week had found a solution; modify the pump, open the filter a bit, etc, and within a month had the new model back on the market proclaiming best for washing your clothes and your vegetables!

Sales leapt again.

Terry
CEO Arup

I was so pleased wednesday at about midnight when my bleary eyes could rest and my soggy brain had dealt with the last of 408 emails in 36 hours [that was about half of my inbox]. after the glow of the stupendous accomplishment wore off [in milliseconds], images of the movie BRAZIL began to swim into my consciousness....i was so proud of essentially sorting hundres of messages into folders. i had become a FILER. Flippin' Imbecile Letting Email Rule my life.

not pretty. think about it. are you one?