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Thailand June 2014 - an Update
Thailand Military Coup Update - 17 June 2014, 1300hrs.
Thailand's military government has fully lifted the nationwide curfew it imposed since seizing power at the end of May. The military junta, headed up by General Prayuth Chan-O-Cha, said the curfew was lifted as there is no threat of violence.
The junta have censored some of the TV channels and radio stations from making political broadcasts. However, in a move to "return happiness to the Thai people," the junta has also acquired the TV rights to provide Thailand with free access to all 64 World Cup matches :)
We do not advise against travel to Thailand or Bangkok at this time. Since the military coup, life in Bangkok has been peaceful and many people feel that this is a better situation than before the coup.
All Businesses, tourists sites and public transport are operating as normal.
All our progrmams are running as normal and without any change to routes, transfers or schedules. ( in fact no disruption occured to any programs during the entire post coup period) As Thai residents we continue to monitor the situation closely, and will update the situation regularly.
2014 with Wild Planet and The Wild Lodge
We finished 2013 on a high with our busiest season ever, only to come back to be greeted by a distinctly rocky start to 2014 here in Thailand.
However we are glad to report that none of our programs to date have been impacted by the ongoing peaceful protests ( confined to the city centre of Bangkok) and as we prefer the outdoors to the urban sprawl, none of our adventure programs visit the city, so we do not expect future programs to be impacted either.
However we hope all sides come together to achieve a speedy and peaceful resolution of their differences.
The next couple of months sees us in the North of Thailand in the Muang Khong Valley, combining adventure with charitable community projects and welcoming both acdemic groups and boy scouts back to the WIld Lodge.
IYA groups are begining their steps towards Silver and Gold awards with us and we have a few surprises coming up in the next few months focusing around our establishment of a local support program in the North.
We are going to attempt to be more in touch in 2014 with a new Wild Planet website and some instagram and youtube action so more can see what we are up to ( + Danny our favourite photo pro will be documenting some of the changes in the North and at the Lodge which we will be sharing on flikr)
More as the next few weeks progress…
Pizza is coming to The Wild Lodge 1
Reto finished the construction of our wood fired pizza oven last week and the remodelling of the main kitchen area is complete.
Dish pit gone, hidden in a new room for water filtration and washing dishes behing the main kitche ! Replaced by an open sala surrounded by plants and containing our new pizza oven, lava grill and BBQ.
Now we just need to wait for it to dry, fire it and then figure out how to make pizza :)
Plans are afoot for Pizza making to become a actvity for students to run alongside mealtimes ( but not every night :) )
EOTC Training
Graham Wardle bought his EOTC training program to the Wild Lodge for the 4th year in sucession last weekend and this time the course had a more planning bent with Primary and Secondary teachers in depth planning their annual Week on The Wild side.
As always, a sterling weekend put together by Wardle
Archery a firm favourite with the NIST crew on the Sunday mronign session and I think many returned to Bangkok planning visit to the range.
Tham Khi Mai Cave is a go 9
Reto took a team from the local thambon and Forestry into Tham Khi Mai and removed the old dengerous wooden egress ladder and replaced it with a brand new 8m alloy ladder whihc will remain in place.
We will be running some groups though the cave Nov onwards and introducing them to the wonders of the underground world.
Tham KhiMai is the forth longest passge in Thaialnd with a 1.9km run though various caverns and is perfect for an introduction to splelunking.
Our new caving gear is courtesy of Josh Morris of CMRCA/Black Diamond the go to guy for great gear at better prices.
WMI Wilderness First Aid @ The Wild Lodge 13-15th August
Dates confirmed, itinerary to follow, contact us if you are intereested in joining.
A few steps on from your basic CPR !!
R3 WWT course outline.
Program Title: Whitewater Rescue Technician
Provider: Graham Wardle, Rescue 3 / The Wild Planet
Duration: 3 Day 2 Night
Date: Program 1: 17 – 19 August 2012
Program 2: 7 – 9 September 2012
Rescue 3 International was founded in 1979 after a California search and rescue team nearly lost one of its own during a water rescue. Nearly 30 years later our mission remains the same: to provide flood, water, and rope rescue training to individuals and organizations with an emphasis on ways to keep rescuers from becoming victims. As a result, Rescue 3 has risen to become the recognized leader in water and flood rescue, training over 90,000 students throughout the US and 32 foreign countries. Known for our dynamic curriculum and utilizing state of the art techniques. Rescue 3 is constantly developing new and innovative rescue techniques, improving on old techniques, and working with manufacturers to develop equipment to meet rescuers needs.
Graham Wardle is an International School teacher, currently working in Bangkok where he lives wife his wife and daughter. For the past 26 years he has paddled, rafted, dived, trekked and climbed in 35 countries. He is a British Canoe Union Level 5 Coach Raft Guide and Rescue 3 Swift Water Rescue Instructor. He holds British Mountaineering Council, rock climbing and mountaineering awards as well as been a keen and avid PADI Scuba Instructor. He has been instrumental in the development of White Water Safety & Rescue techniques in the UK and Europe, along with the development of coach education schemes.
Course Content
This is a three-day course designed for the Outdoor Professional with existing river experience to provide you with the necessary skills to perform rescues in whitewater river situations. It is both classroom and river-based and will include:
· Hydrology and water dynamics
· Introduction to technical rescue equipment
· Hazard identification & risk assessment
· Introduction to rope systems
· Swimming in moving water
· Medical considerations
· Foot and body entrapments
· Scene management
· Contact and in-water rescues
· Two and Four point boat and rope system
· Crossing techniques
· Boat pins and entrapments
· There will also be several team based scenarios..
Practical element
The practical element will be delivered on the dates above and will be primarily bank/river based. The skills covered will build on your previous foundation knowledge
There is also some preparation work required prior to the course.
All attendees will be required to be equipped as follows:
Wet Sessions:
· Wet Suit*
· Helmet*
· Wet boots/Aqua Shoes or Trainers (NO SANDALS)
· PFD* (preferably with harness)
· Throwbag & River knife
Dry Sessions:
· Outdoor clothes
· Waterproofs
· Sturdy footwear
NOTE: Wetsuits, helmets, PFD's and Throw Bags are available (Please notify The Wild Planet if required).
Pre-requisites for Attending the Course
Previous White Water experience either as a Rafter or Canoeist. Confident in swimming in moving water.
Prior to the commencement of the course please practice the following and come prepared to demonstrate:
Figure 8 Follow Through
Figure 8 on a Bight
Directional Figure 8
Double Figure 8 ( Bunny Ears)
Clove Hitch
Italian Hitch (Munter Knot)
Alpine Butterfly
Double Fishermans
Prussik Knot
Water Knot (Tape Knot)
Tensionless Hitch Tying
Two useful Resource Sites that may aid you are:
http://www.cmcrescue.com/ ( - If you are an IPhone/IPad User – down load the App.)
Day 1:
1100 – Arrival, Registration at The Wild Lodge, - Lunch
01230 – Course Introduction,
Rescue 3 Course Philosophy.
· Principles of Water Rescue,
· Water Dynamics,
· Management/Organization & Size-Up. Dealing with bystanders
· Rescuer Safety & Equipment
Introduction to Ropes/Knots & Technical Equipment.
· Communications
· Search Management & Helicopters
· Medical Considerations, Panic & Survival
1800 Evening Meal
1900 'C" Spine Rescues & Use of Improvised Collars - practical - In the Pool
2030 Course close for the day
Day 2:
0800 – Travel to WW Site, On Scene Site Safety Brief, Check PPE, Decontamination
· Throwlines – Dry land
· Basic Swimming Position, aggressive/defensive
· Throwlines wet – Coiled uncoiled – Practical Assessment
· Strainer Swim
1130 - LUNCH – by the River
· Anchors & Mechanical Advantage Systems
· Tension Diagonal
· Contact Rescues
· Paddle Boating – 2 & 4 point tether
· Tyrolean boat on tether
· Swimming in a Hole
1630 – Travel to The Wild Lodge
· 1730 Aggressive Adult CPR Practical Assessment
1900 Evening Meal & Social
Day 3:
0800 – Travel to WW Site, On Scene Site Safety Brief, Check PPE, Decontamination
· Shallow Water Crossings
· Swimming in a Hole
· Swim, Paddle, Shoot a line across the river
· Foot & body entrapments/vertical pinning
1230 - Student Scenarios – 2/3
1430 – Celebration of Achievement
1500 – Review, Reflection & "The Way Ahead"
1530 – Course Disperse. -
OTHER DETAILS: The Wild Lodge
Planet Scuba and the Wild Planet Co. Ltd. have over the last 15 years built a reputation for offering safe, fun and exciting adventure programs for Schools, colleges and corporate groups all over Thailand. Our intention with the Wild Lodge is to continue that reputation creating a location that offers first class programs, first class instruction and first class equipment within a relaxing and pleasant and ecologically sustainable environment.
We operate the Wild lodge in a way that promotes the active stewardship of our natural resources and surroundings and encourages current and future generations to protect it, but at the same time get out into nature and enjoy it. We realize that this involves individual commitment and may not be embraced by all, but if we can have all of our guests leave us with a better appreciation of the outdoors then we are some way forwards to making a difference.
We have eight individual lodges. each lodge has a front balcony, main room and rear anti room with an en suite bathroom and rain shower. The main room is large and can be set up with beds for up to 8 students dormitory style. All of the lodges are screened against insects.
Our main camp building has four bunkrooms and there is a dedicated staff lodge with four rooms + 2 more Siam rooms in the main lodge. All lodges and rooms have high ceilings with fans and additional freestanding fans and are designed to encourage natural ventilation.
Accommodation for this course will be on a twin or triple share basis, individual rooms can be optioned subject to availability and payment of a single supplement.
Food will be prepared on a communal basis with participants all contributing as this course is being subsidized by the Wild Lodge.
Meals will be taken in the main Hornbill Sala, water will be provided with meals.
Throughout the day, water will be available during all activities; participants are also required to carry their own water bottle (given to them at the start of the program), which can be refilled on demand within the lodge. All activity locations will also have a 'drink station'
Note: Details of other lodge facilities + directions can be found in our main brochure or by going to www.thewildlodge.com
New cave
We are pushing forward with the development of the new cave site close to Wild Lodge 2 in Muang Khong and have secured a camp ground close to the entrance.
This is on a piece of land cleared 20 years ago from the forest so we plan on establishing an Eco camp site and reforesting over the next couple of years to return it to post encroachment state.
We will be putting on some conservative bolts in the next couple months so that we we use the cave we can tie off aluminum caving ladders protected via top rope for ingress/egress from the River exit end of the cave.
We will be conducting a survey to confirm water levels in the cave during the coming wet season and fixing some level markers. The cave itself is a 1.9km journey with squeezes and false ceiling off from the main route, an ideal introduction to caving which we will be incorporating into the 2012 UWCSEA Yr 8 expedition program.
WMI in Singapore
I am just back from a WAFA course in Singapore, I attended wanting to gain another perspective on first aid and CPR and came away very impressed. Mark and Sarah gave a fantastic course and I met a great bunch of people.
We at the Wild lodge now plan to talk to the folks @ WMI in Wyoming about running some programs at the Wild Lodge in the latter part of this year.
In addition our good friend Rob Houghton will be coming over to run some two days outdoors programs with basic first aid and CPR with a Wilderness bent.
Details and scheduling to follow.


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The starting of an uneventful day
I'm drowning in a pit of sorrow.
I walk these halls seeking the chance to catch a glimpse of you.
To my surprise; No luck.
So I go home and lye in my bed and get lost in my dreams of tomorrow.
In that dream, I see me walking into corridor with rugged flooring.
I look around and see many people standing;watching;waiting.
I walk past them.But their eyes just follow me.
Half way down the corridor, a tiny faint laugh escapes the mouth of an individual watching me.
The laugh starts to infect other people in this corridor.
Soon everyone in the corridor is laughing.
Surprising enough, I start to notice they're laughing and pointing at me.
I try to run but the corridor seems to be endless.
I collapse....I roll up into a ball.
In my mind I am hoping that they'll all go away.
The corridor starts to dim.
The people dissapear.
I'm alone...I'm always alone.
I'm panting...I try to look through the darkness that is now engulphing me. But no luck.
I fall to what I assume is the ground.
I lye their hoping that I'll be back to reality once again.
Then suddenly at the side of my eye I notice a foot.
i look to the side of me and a person is there.
I sit up to further examine the individual.
I tilt my head upwards and notice its you I'm seeing.
As I watch her, the darkness begins to dissapear and i'm back in the corridor.
But she's by my side now.
Instantly I dont feel alone anymore.
Because I know your always with me.
I awake and realize its time for school.
I enter the school and notice you at your locker.
I approach you.
I signify my existence with a simple hello.
You look at me disgusted and walk away.
Now I'm back to square one.
I go home.
I lye in my bed and resume my dream where me and you can be together.
and so it resumes...

subset: commoncrawl


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Rod and Jan retired early to Spain in 2001. They have a good life here in the sun.
Rod used to be a press photographer and Jan worked as a secretary and also for a charitable organisation. Previously she owned catering establishments in Spain.
We have 5 children and 6 grandchildren.
Enjoy days out by the sea and taking our dogs for long walks in the countryside of which there is plenty of here in Albox, visiting the many restaurants in the area and enjoying their very reasonable "Menu del Dias".


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Splitsville: Why Newspapers and TV Are Going Their Separate Ways Corporately
Like & Share E&P:
By: Rick Edmonds | Poynter
Like the sale of the Washington Post this time last year, the merger of E.W. Scripps and Journal Communications, announced last night, and their reorganization into separate print and broadcast companies came as a jaw-dropping surprise.
But the morning after, the complicated transaction makes perfect sense.


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BioWare owns everything that has to do with Dragon Age, in all its incarnations, and are the best for letting hacks like me borrow their world and characters for my own amusement.
A world of thanks, in advance, to Sandtigress.
Everyone always assume that her first memory is of running.
But it's the opposite of running, it's her father's strong arms and the two small bundles in them. He takes a careful seat next to her on the bed so that she can see their round faces, splotched pink and wrinkled. They are not cute, like the baby kittens Gray Mellie keeps, but she knows what they are, somewhere deep inside of her and as acutely as a three-year old can know anything.
"They're mine." The one that will be Carver scowls at this.
"Yes, Mina. They are yours," he smiles down at her, pride radiating from his weary green eyes and she knows she's said the right thing. "Remember that always, and no matter what."
Carver tests her.
"You're too stiff," sweat stings her eyes and her feet ache from sliding around in boots that are meant for someone much larger than herself. "And you have no follow-through."
"I'm not some blademaster from Orlais, Wil," his sword makes a clean arc through the air, but she can read his posture like he's shouting out his next move and manages to easily deflect the blow. "I have a sword. I hit things with it and they die. Eventually."
He has a point. She throws her own weapon away and begins pulling at her gauntlets. They've been practicing for hours behind the Lothering Chantry, their daily exercises not abandoned despite their purpose in town.
"It's not like you'll be challenging the darkspawn to a duel," hands bare, she automatically flexes them, testing for stiffness or pain and is surprised by how easily they give. Either because of nerves or excitement, Carver has been a less challenging sparring partner than usual. "I'd half-expected you to show off in case the recruiter was out."
"I thought about it," he weighs his sword in his hands, striking a fearsome pose that Wil assumes is meant to impress someone who has no idea how to use a blade. "But Mother made it clear that I can only go if you do, so it's no use to me, ruining your chances."
"Oh, shove off," Wil can hardly contain her annoyance, but there's a fair amount of affection in her voice. "You know I could hand you your ass three times before you even realize it's gone."
This earns a sneer, less than Wil is expecting. Carver hated to be reminded that his strength and size meant nothing when up against his sister. Her three year head start and attention to technique meant that she was able to easily dismantle his few advantages, and his temper meant that he had little patience for learning the skills that would bridge the gap.
"You know, Carver, it would be less embarrassing for you if you could just admit that I'm damned good and live with it."
"Ostagar will be our proving ground, sister," he frowns down at her as he secures his blade in its sheath. "We can meet up at the end of every battle and see which one of us has collected the most darkspawn heads."
"Ok, morbid," Wil's nose wrinkles at the notion of collecting darkspawn anything. "Maybe their pinkies? Or we can keep a mental tally, like normal people."
"Too easy to cheat," his voice is grim, but the corners of his mouth twitch slightly. "Heads are the way to go."
She laughs him off, heading towards the fence separating Chantry property from the well-worn path winding from the merchant's stalls towards the outlying homesteads. Further up the road, perched on a sudden and unlikely hill, sits a windmill that creaks out the seconds and minutes of life in Lothering and forever appears on the verge of collapse. Gathered at the base are a handful of would-be soldiers, split evenly between young farmhands and their fathers. None of them are as well-equipped as she and her brother, but she nonetheless feels disadvantaged by the interest that sparks in their eyes when she approaches.
The fact that they aren't looking at her face or her sword tells her everything she needs to know about this lot.
"That man in the bone armor, he's the one I talked to last week," Carver takes her elbow and, for the briefest of seconds, he's being almost brotherly. Then his hand falls away and he lets out a derisive snort. The man has turned his attention onto them. "Don't screw this up, Wil."
She barely has time to bite back a vitriolic response when they're waved forward by the recruiter, his expression neutral as he runs his eyes over them. He spends more time evaluating Carver, which is fine by Wil. Carver did look every inch the warrior, tall and solidly built, and he often dressed to impress this fact on anyone who might glance his way.
Wil, on the other hand, was...tall. She was strong enough but her ill-fitting armor only accentuated all the ways she didn't fit anyone's idea of what a soldier should look like.
Skinny legs, she can almost hear the recruiter's first snap judgement. Skinny neck, weedy arms. How can this woman even lift a sword?
From the way Carver is also staring at her like he didn't know what she was capable of, she can't help but wonder what sorts of things he's told this recruiter for the king's army.
"Name?" The question is so suddenly brusque that Wil fails to respond.
"Hawke, ser," Carver's annoyed. "Carver Hawke."
"And you?"
"Also Hawke. Ser," she takes a deep breath that does little to calm her nerves. Why am I even nervous? Haven't I been doing the very thing they want me to be doing since I was old enough to lift a plank of wood and beat it against a tree? She exhales in a rush. "First name, Wilhelmina."
"Wilhelmina Hawke," he says it like she might be playing a trick on him.
"Wilhelmina. Or Wil," Carver is radiating annoyance. "Or...Hawke. Although that would be confusing with the both of us around."
"I have that name written down," the recruiter smirks and his demeanor relaxes significantly. "One of the templars suggested a Wil Hawke when we were at the Chantry earlier today."
"One of the templars?" Wil can barely keep the horror from her voice. There was little she liked less than templars who knew her name and that she might be someone worth suggesting.
"Yeah. A Ser Bryant? Said you could handle yourself."
"I...we both can. More than handle...," she trails off, trying to remember if she's spoken with a Bryant in one of her many attempts to avoid the Chantry while simultaneously trying to seem like she wasn't avoiding the Chantry and..."Oh."
"So you know him?"
She did. He was one of the nice ones, rated by Bethany as a solid "I wouldn't mind if he captured me. But not like that, Mina, so don't even start." He was the regular market guard and had always struck Wil as a practical man rather than a fanatical one, and that made all the difference when it came to those who might hunt or hurt her sister.
"Wil," Carver's growl urges her out of her musings and she realizes with a start that they're being directed to a caravan set up on the far side of the chantry. It was there they would receive their orders and supplies as needed. "We have three days before we leave. Thanks for not ruining it for me, by the way. You came across great."
"Maker, you're an ass," Wil follows her brother forward as a sudden wave of concern washes over her to replace whatever acrimony his sarcasm evokes. All joking about macabre trophies aside, they were going to battle against godforsaken creatures that only existed to most as legend. "Wait, three days? I need more than three days. I promised Bethany I'd help her with harvesting and Mother doesn't even know how to hold a dagger yet, let alone use one."
"What are you worrying about," her concerns are dismissed in a single lift of his broad shoulders. "Three days should be more than enough time for you. You do know how to handle yourself, after all."
They are yours. Remember that always, and no matter what.
She punches his arm and laughs.
"Fuck you, Carver."
"So how's a nice human like you end up working for a ring of elven smugglers?" The question comes from Sorrell, an elf who is peering up at her with eyes of startling violet. He's decent company, and the question he asked is a fair one, but she worries about working with him because he's too striking, the sort of person you remembered when the guard showed up with their questions.
"Because the alternative was too creepy," Wil shudders when she thinks about oily Meeran and the way he'd leered at Bethany. Poor Bethany, who was so beyond exhaustion and dehydration at that point she'd have probably handed herself over to the templars had Wil and Aveline not been there to stop her from stumbling straight into the Gallows. "I'd rather not owe anything to a pervy old man if I can help it."
"I guess I can see that," Sorrell chews at the inside of his cheek and studies her for a few minutes. "I used to think all humans looked the same. You and your sister don't, though."
With a sigh, Will sinks against the cargo they were guarding. It had been a long day. A long week. A long year.
Actually, not a year. Eleven months, one week and three days since we were allowed into Kirkwall. Almost two years, including Ostagar.
"I look like our father," her eyes narrow against moonlight that reflects off the water at the end of the docks. Everything here is so sunbleached white that cloudless nights are sometimes almost as bright as a typical day in Ferelden. "Bethany looks like Mother."
What she does not say is "Carver looks like all of us." She wonders when she stopped automatically adding that every time someone expressed surprise that she and Bethany were related, let alone full siblings. It had been a life-long habit, something the Hawkes had grown accustomed to pointing out whenever they were settling into a new village and the neighbors started showing up with their small welcoming gifts and open curiosity.
"I bet most say Bethany is the pretty one," Sorrell sneaks a glance back at her. He's about her age and handsome. A pale silver scar winds itself across one cheekbone and disappears into an unkempt mop of mouse-colored hair. She'd almost asked him about it one evening, but decided it might be an unpleasant memory. Maker knew that most scars were.
"Some people have said that," Wil is bored enough, and Sorrell cute enough, that she's willing to entertain him even if he seems to be coming at her all wrong. "Although most don't state an open preference."
This elicits a small chuckle. "Why risk ruining your chances with both? I have to say, though, I'd disagree. I like your eyes."
She's surprised to hear such a compliment coming from an elf. Although his were particularly beautiful, every elf she'd ever met had liquid eyes that seemed to fill with light as much as reflect it.
"You don't believe me," he's on his feet in one quick motion, his heels not quite touching the dock. "They're so...bright. Not sad at all."
It's a genuinely sweet thing to say and, disarmed, Wil is unable to do much more than offer an appreciative half smile. From what she could see, Kirkwall's preferred currency is sadness. And maybe some fear. But mostly sadness. And hopelessness.
She hates it here, and is glad that this past year of compromising herself to survive might not leave a lasting mark.
"I think we're in for it," Sorrell's tone remains casual, but Wil catches his meaning immediately and does not react. To anyone observing, they were just an elf and a girl from the slums engaging in ill-advised flirtations when they were supposed to be guarding cargo. Sorrell appeared unassuming enough; sometimes even Wil forgot about the serrated blades he kept sheathed along his wrists, encased in worn but colorful elven cuffs that obscured his forearms and most of his palms.
As for herself, she's dressed for a day in the market. A pair of plain leather boots, black trousers and a loose linen tunic would offer little protection against blades or arrows, but the marked lack of armor or weapons, her own sword hidden just out of reach, would attract far less attention- from either side of the law.
"So much for a quiet night," she inclines her head towards a distant alcove and then studies the group that approaches them.
There's six of them, which is a concern, but the largest of their number is probably no taller than Wil and none of them seem to be that well-equipped, although one is carrying a fine looking short-bow, his fingers playing at the string as the tallest stops them about ten feet short of Sorrell.
"Nice night, knife-ear," his gaze is trained on Sorrell. "But it would be better if you were far, far away from them crates."
Bold. Silently, Wil assesses the men again. Three carry daggers, the main and another carry single longswords. And then the bowman.
Wil has learned to be wary of bowmen, but this one is something of a comfort. She's surprised they didn't leave him behind, just out of view. That such simple strategy escapes them speaks very highly of their over-confidence. Or poorly of their intelligence.
"Only better for one of us." Shaking his head, Sorrell indicates the cargo and Wil. "I've been charged with keeping it safe. All of it."
This amuses the lot, and their attentions shift to Wil, who responds by lowering her chin and drawing her knees together, hoping to come across as nervous and not at all like someone who could possibly give them any trouble.
"Do you think the girl is part of the deal, Lis?" The archer is closest to her and she hates to note that he's ceased toying with his bow to express this curiosity.
"No!" Sorrell's voice breaks as he defends her honor. For a moment, Wil forgets that this is an act and has to fight back the urge to smile. "I'll be skinned alive if I let anyone near her!"
Laughter ensues, the throaty cruel laughing of human men who are completely convinced that there is nothing in between them and what they want. It makes Wil seethe inside, especially when a dagger comes out and their merriment turns to aggression as Sorrell is challenged for even thinking they might care whether or not he gets to keep his skin.
"And I'll take off your ears if you don't," the way it's whispered is like seduction; Wil visibly winces as the threatening blade wavers dangerously close to Sorrell, thin fabric the only thing between glinting metal and the elf's heart.
"Let him go," her voice wavers. "Let him go and you can...have me."
"Hawke!" And she sees a flash of violet in the moonlight as the man with the dagger grabs Sorrell's arm and drag-shoves him back, sending him staggering past the others. This was not how things were supposed to go, but Wil knows he's smart enough to realize she's just gotten him a prime place for the fight once it starts.
Which will be soon.
"Are you part of the shipment? Or something extra?" The leader, Lis, steers the pack towards her, every step taken contributes to the quickening of her heart.
Calm down, Wil. The dagger has been sheathed so only the archer has his weapon drawn, but he is so distracted by the prospect of her, and having her, he might as well be empty-handed. Thank the Maker for screwed up priorities, I guess.
"I'm not part of the shipment," she finds her feet, but keeps her shoulders forward and her chin down. "But I am important to the ones who protect it. Retribution important."
"Retribution?" Lis scoffs at her and her lack of place. "I find it hard to believe that anyone in Kirkwall would miss another Blighted refugee."
"Or maybe I'm just that good!" Wil's eyes widen as it pops out. Hadn't Mother told her a thousand times that her mouth would be the end of her? She really did not need to be challenging a bunch of armed thugs to research what she was "that good" at.
"I guess I'll just have to see for myself," Lis twists his head to address his men, and Wil catches the glint of teeth bared in the very leer she'd hated so much on Meeran. "Take it all. The cargo goes to Etienne. She's for us. Then we'll decide if the trouble is worth it."
A hand goes out; the archer is reaching for Wil, claiming this prize as his own and it is immensely gratifying when he's stopped dead less than a foot away from her, his face literally frozen between anticipation and shock as a column of frigid air consumes him.
That's my Bethany. Taking out the archer like I taught you.
It takes a few seconds for the rest of the men to react to what has just become of their companion and, in that pause, Wil hears the moist sound of flesh being pierced followed by an anguished cry as the man furthest from her collapses to his knees, revealing his assassin to be a stonefaced Sorrell.
Then it all starts to happen fast and much of it automatically. Between the icicle and the elf, the men are no longer paying much attention to Wil and she takes full advantage of their distraction to retrieve her sword from its hiding place behind the crates.
Or she tries. The pommel is caught beneath a protruding board and Wil has to contort herself before she can jerk it completely loose, giving Lis time to focus on what she's up to.
"Maker help me, she's got a sword!" He lunges into her, thankfully unarmed. Wil manages to get turned around just as they collide so that she falls back against the cargo rather than faceplanting into a crate or dock or bay.
The full weight of the man above her presses down, crushing the air out of her lungs as he fumbles for his own weapon. His breath is putrid on her face and she can see every dirty pore in his filthy nose. The sword she needs to defend herself is cold in her hand; her arm outstretched and her position beneath him is too awkward for her to get enough leverage to actually fight him.
"I will kill you so hard," he's hissing in her ear when the world goes orange around them. It's accompanied by the smell of summer grass and sunshine, although Wil knows she's the only one who notices. Lis certainly doesn't, as a frantic shriek alerts her to the fact that he's partially aflame and he pulls himself away from her to better address his rapidly burning left boot. Wil's on the move the moment she's free, her sword secure in her grasp as she springs away from the cargo and into the center of the remaining thugs. Besides Lis, there's only two others and one of them is crying as he stabs blindly with a longsword bearing the crest of the Kirkwall City Guard.
Aveline might be interested in that tidbit.
Without hesitation, Wil strikes out at the panicked man, her weight thrown behind an arcing blow and she's suddenly someplace three years past, a clearing behind the Hawke's small cottage where she and Carver spar while Bethany hurls fireballs at them. Despite giving their mother fits at the time, and potentially drawing unwanted attention to the apostate in their midst, the activity had turned out to be the best training for life in Kirkwall that Wil and her sister could have ever received.
The impact of her swing pulls her into the present and she looks down to see that her blade has buried itself almost halfway into the man with the guard's sword, a clean cut just below his ribcage. Blood spills vivid across her sword's tarnished surface and she and her victim both stare in momentary wonder before she regains herself and kicks him smartly in the lower abdomen. This staggers him back and he falls away from her, relinquishing her weapon as he does and then she's swinging again, this time at a dagger-wielding opponent who is able to dance neatly around his newly deceased comrade and lash at her with more skill than she's expecting.
Her blow is not as graceful as the first; it's something that Carver would pull in a desperate bid to gain the upper hand on his opponent and it goes wide, completely missing its mark.
Fuck. The momentum of the strike twists her painfully to the left and leaves her momentarily exposed while she regains her footing. It only takes the one mistake and she grits her teeth as a stiletto bites at her shoulder, the slender shank of steel sliding easily into flesh and muscle and tearing a bit on the withdraw.
It stings. No, it screams and Wil hates how blood feels dripping down her back like thick sweat. Suddenly the night around her is oppressive and unendurable. With a mustering of strength, she yanks her sword back towards the man with her blood on his weapon and, when his jaw is caught, she urges the blade up, looking away before she can see exactly how much damage she's done.
She'd gotten used to flaying darkspawn after only a few days. People, though, would hopefully take a lifetime.
He is thrown away from her, useless and limp on the dock, and it's a few seconds before Wil realizes that they're all on the dock, black and crimson except for the bowman who is very much dead, but neither charred nor stabbed.
"You're on fire, Hawke," Sorrell is nothing if not matter of fact as he comes to her aid, patting at her thigh with his own blistered hands.
"Sorrell!" Wil stops him, the singed fabric mostly extinguished and he's in much worse condition than she is. "Maker's breath, that doesn't look good!"
And it didn't. The elf tries to play it off as Wil examines his hands, cringing as she does so at the angry flesh that is already swollen and mottled white and ash gray.
"This will help!" Bethany appears from beyond the edge of the fight, her place in the alcove abandoned to help her sister and their friend. In her hand is a bundle of elfroot leaves wrapped tightly around a soft bar of medicinal herbs that will ease some of Sorrell's immediate pain. "I hope I didn't hit you on accident!" Her expression is apologetic as she gently applies the herbal paste with the leaves, but Wil can see a frown creasing her forehead.
"No, no," Sorrell is emphatic on this point. "It was them, the man I was attacking was...flaming and it caught me quick, quicker than I thought it would. That's a good lesson to learn- I can't stab faster than fire burns."
"But it was my fire that did it," she's inconsolable on this point and Wil just shakes her head at Sorrell, communicating that Bethany is going to feel the sting of blame no matter what actually happened. "I don't know why we do things like this, Mina. They wouldn't have attacked so soon if you'd not looked like such an easy target."
"No, they would have left and brought even more men back with them," Wil pauses to assess her own injuries. Her tailbone aches, probably from falling against the crates and, her shoulder is growing stiff as the first of the drawn blood dries. "Better to fight six who assume we're not up to the challenge than ten or twelve who think we are. Fairer odds are…fairer."
Resignation clear in her voice, Bethany agrees. "I suppose you're right. It doesn't make it any easier, though. I liked this job better when it was all intimidating people and sticking forged notices down our knickers."
Wil can't help but laugh, even though she knows her sister means every word. Working with smugglers was never going to be easy for Bethany but, due to their success, Athenril was getting bigger jobs that she would only entrust to them. Going by the smoldering corpses around them, Wil decides tonight is a failure.
At least Bethany is unscathed.
"Maybe you should join me, Wil," Sorrell's burns are covered and he's regarding her with those eyes again, and her cheeks tingle with heat as she remembers their conversation from before the attack. It seems a strange place for her mind to go now, with her shoulder and the mess of bodies, but life is strange and he isn't unattractive in the slightest...
"Sorrell says there's a healer in the undercity, and he won't charge anything," Bethany is avoiding looking at her sister now. She's a touch unnerved by injuries, especially when they involve Wil, and if Sorrell is suggesting a healer, then there must be a lot of blood happening.
"It's not that bad, I promise. He only got me once," forcing a laugh, Wil kneels down next to one of the motionless thugs, carefully pulling at his garments in search of anything that might earn them some extra coin at the market. "Besides, someone has to stay with the cargo until it's time for the pick-up."
And it won't be you, Beth.
"I'll do it!" Sorrell's face pales under his enthusiasm and Wil crinkles her nose in silent refusal. She won't leave him alone, and she can't leave Bethany here without her. He knows this. "Ok, fine. It was worth a try. Promise me you'll have it looked at before I see you again, all right? I know how you are."
"That depends. Will I be seeing you soon?" She shifts to peer up at him through messy hair that is now plastered to her face with sweat and hopes that the eyes he thinks are pretty, and not sad, are all he sees.
"I...," a smile blooms across his face. "I hope so."
Another appreciative grin is all he receives in return. He must find it a satisfactory response because he shuffles backwards a few steps before he realizes he's about two inches from going into the bay, and then he turns away after one last, anticipative, look.
"Do you really like him, Mina?" Bethany joins her on the dock, her mouth pursed in disgust even as her fingers pluck expertly at the cloth sash their thug wore over his chestguard. Her efforts pay off in the form of a small iron dagger and two pewter rings tucked into the garment's folds. Wil decides to not answer her sister's question. She doesn't know if she really likes the violet-eyed elf or if she's just euphoric after battle and flattered by his attention. Besides, Bethany always worries about these things.
Fashioned into a makeshift sling, the front of Wil's tunic is already full of small trinkets. "Oooo, is that buckle real silver?" She cuts it off it's belt, ignoring how the sudden jerk as her knife breaks through the leather strap sends bolts of agony down her back. After wiping the blood on her sleeve, the shirt ruined anyway, she examines the slightly curved disc. It's engraved with eagles in flight circling a wyvern. The image means nothing to her, so it gets added to her collection for market. "We should be able to make a decent trade, even if it's not."
"Aren't we sad? Like crows or raccoons. Do you remember how Carver would trap them?" Bethany has moved on to the archer, who makes for a less gory task. "And how mad was Father?"
Wil remembers it well, the twine and twig cages Carver hid along a creek near their home. He lured the greedy fat raccoons in with shiny brass buttons he'd found on an old dress of mother's, one of the few she'd kept from her life as a noble in Kirkwall. Mother was less angry than Father'd been, perhaps because he felt guilty for stealing the life that dress represented. Whatever the reason, Carver had been forced to abandon his new hobby and tasked with replacing the stolen buttons with his own money. And his own hands.
"To think, we never would have known our brother was such a gifted seamstress had he not been caught," knees aching from being pressed to the dock, Wil abandons her search and makes her way back to the cargo, arranging her loot in a neat pile before returning to the corpse.
"Carver could have taken a job as a dressmaker's apprentice in Kirkwall!" There is laughter in Bethany's words, undercut as it is by the faintest ache of loss. "At the very least, he could be here to help with these bodies."
Wil has to agree that he'd come in handy. Corpses were cumbersome at the best of times, but after a fight and a few injuries, moving a perfectly average man was like juggling Qunari.
Or so Wil assumes. She doubts she'll ever get an opportunity to touch a Qunari, let alone juggle any, but they were around and huge so it seems an apt description of how very much rolling the six bodies over the edge of the dock is going to suck.
"Knowing Carver, he'd only handle the ones he killed himself," Wil catches one of her own victims by the shoulders and Bethany takes the feet. They move carefully in unison, as this one is nearly bisected and neither one was terribly keen on having to deal with anything that might fall out. "Or maybe he'd have been able to get a real job, with Aveline in the guard. Ok, on one...two...three!"
With practiced precision, the Hawke sisters swing the dead man out and into the water, the splash from his impact coating their boots in saltwater. They watch as he bobs on the surface, his midsection obscured by lapping waves; he might be taking a nap in the bay, peaceful beneath the moonlight.
I killed that man, the thought comes with a physical pain in her throat. I killed that man so that we could get into this Makerforsaken city and make a home for ourselves.
"One down, five to go," Bethany wipes her hands together, almost absentmindedly, and Wil realizes they are coated in blood.
"Why don't you go up closer to the front of the dock and watch for more thugs? The last thing I need is a surprise ambush."
"Are you sure? I could always set the rest on fire," her cheek twitches and Wil recognizes that catch, the one she'd learned to hide.
"Perish the thought, sister. The last thing we need is to attract cold hobos and the starving masses with an impromptu man roast," Wil begins to gather the next body and Bethany leaves in silence, because she knows.
The market buzzes around them, claustrophobic even though the sun has barely risen and certainly not high enough to break the walls of Lowtown. To Wil, the crush of bodies is a nightmare and she's convinced she will never see a bed again.
Bethany offers worried glances, but Wil insists that they unload everything before they return home. Leandra barely approves of her daughters' current "profession" as it is, if she knew they were supplementing their meager incomes by selling off the flotsam and jetsam that remained of those they bested, she might never let Bethany out of Gamlen's house again.
"That buckle got us four silver!" Bethany presses the coins into Wil's hand and she clutches them tightly even though it does everything to exacerbate the burning that has extended itself from her shoulder, to her waist, and along her arm to the fingertips.
"Maybe it'll cover the amputation! Heh," it's a feeble laugh that Wil hopes distracts from the rawness in her voice. "Although...you can't really amputate a shoulder. There's...vital things there, right? Things that are vital."
"Maker's breath, Mina," Bethany catches her sister's arm and begins to lead her towards the alley that cuts from the market to the tenement they've been begrudgingly calling home for the past eleven months. "Mother is going to kill me for letting you stay out like this."
"No," she pulls away from her sister's grasp and then flings the freed arm back around Bethany's shoulders, leaning against her for support. "Mother is going to kill me for letting you let me stay out like this."
"You're delirious."
"And right."
"That, too," cheeks reddening, Bethany looks vaguely uneasy. "I can al-"
"Hawke!" The voice catches both women off guard, although Wil doubts that it sends Bethany's stomach into a flurry the way it does hers.
"Sorrell!" Wil goes to face him and the whole of Kirkwall spins wildly around her.
She's saved from falling by two pairs of hands that steady her, then looked over by two sets of eyes, so very different from each other but both radiating vast amounts of concern.
"I knew you should have come with me!" Sorrell is pulling a small jar from a pouch on his belt and, even though his hands are bandaged, he isn't acting as if they'd been seriously burned not hours before. "You're lucky, though. I told the healer I had a friend who was too proud to abandon a job even after taking a knife to the back, and he gave me this."
He uncorks the jar and Wil is hit by the warm scent of medicinal herbs, honeysuckle, and the distinctive whiff of an afternoon recently scrubbed clean by a sudden summer storm.
"Odd," she obediently shrugs out of the thin cloak she'd worn to cover her bloodied tunic so that Bethany can get the mixture on. "I want to live in there."
"She's delirious," Bethany reasserts her earlier assessment, trying hard to not flinch at the sight of Wil's injury and failing in a miserable way. "Sorrell...I can't. Can you do this?"
"I cleaned it, at least," Wil frowns at her sister, but not at her sister. Sorrell wasn't exactly right in saying she was too proud to see a physician, but she was hesitant. She'd yet to meet a physician in Kirkwall that didn't dismiss her out of hand as nothing more than the worst kind of Lowtown thug- a Fereldan Lowtown thug. It was enough that she couldn't dispute their claims against her, she didn't have to suffer under their shoddy treatment because she of it.
Fortunately, Sorrell is able to handle a bit of gore and he works quickly, his hands so dexterous when they really should not be and Wil realizes why when poultice seeps into the wound and then seems to suck the pain that has settled in most everywhere right out of her body.
"Potent, isn't it?" Sorrell's finished, and he moves her shirt back to where it should be, his fingertips deliberately dragging along her throat as he does. Between him and the poultice, she's feeling less like falling over and more like... "I keep a room at the Loon. It's not too far from here."
He speaks in a rush, too fast and too low for Bethany to catch and his hand is lingering close to her and his eyes are impossibly beautiful, as is his hopeful smile when Wil nods, not quite willing to confirm aloud what they'd just agreed to.
"Let me take Bethany home first, maybe wash off...oh. Some of the blood and grit. The rest will just have to be bandaged."
"I can help with that," he nods towards Bethany. "I can walk you home. You live in that square, don't you? Near the bridge to the alienage."
"What?" This stops Wil and a frown creases her brow. How did he know where they lived? She certainly hadn't told him. "No. I...we just try to keep a low profile there. It's just easier that way. You would stand out."
"Would I?" He's startled by the shift in Wil's tone, and probably by the way she's positioned herself between him and Bethany, a subconscious response to threat. "I don't see how another poor elf that close to the alienage would catch anyone's eye...but if you would prefer."
For a second, Wil almost relents. Sorrell has never given her any indication that he cares one way or another about Bethany's magic, and he's been a solid partner on several difficult jobs. And handsome. He is that. And eyes. But there's still so much she doesn't know about him. Like how he got that scar, and why does he live in a tavern? She doesn't even know if he really likes her, or if he's just lonely, too. And if he does like her, he might be looking for more than she is prepared to give anyone and what if he retaliated by ratting them out to templars?
"I do prefer," she manages a bright smile, to soften the decision. "But I'll be there. Promise."
He nods, seemingly pacified by the compromise of expression and they take their separate paths home.
Home, where Leandra is exasperated by the state of their clothes, blood stains being so hard to get out, and she clucks over Wil's shoulder before remarking on the poultice.
"It smells nice," Leandra pushes Wil's hair out of her eyes, her mouth turning down at the corners in maternal disapproval of the messy way it's worn. "You should be more careful, Wilhelmina. One of these days, Bethany is going to try to save you and..."
"Did I bet money on that, Beth?" Wil makes eye contact with her sister, who has settled in an overstuffed chair in the corner. Bethany offers a quick shake of her head and it's obvious that she's trying not to laugh. "I should have. You're very predictable, Mother."
"You know I worry about my girls," tears mist Leandra's eyes and Wil feels the familiar ache of guilt and wishes she could just keep her mouth shut every now and again. "And with the dog and Gamlen in Starkhaven until next week, and I saw that templar…"
"What?" Wil and Bethany react in unison, Bethany flinging herself out of her chair and moving to the doorway that led to the back room. There is a small gap between their wall and the adjacent dwelling and they had decided when they first moved in that it would serve as her hiding place in the event that the Chantry ever came calling.
"Where and when, Mother," it takes Wil three strides to cross the room and bar the door. "And what does he look like?"
Leandra describes the man and Wil positions herself next to the door, which is where she'll remain, more or less, until Gamlen returns with Bello. Bethany tries to remind her about her promise to Sorrell, but Wil dismisses the idea with a scowl, even though she likes the way his face flickers in her mind at the sound of his name. He has a scar, and she'd not mind learning where it came from. Even if it was painful.
"He'll understand," Wil leans back and winces as her shoulder presses against the door frame. The poultice is no barrier spell; she'll still have to be careful until it's healed. "And if he doesn't, then he's an ass."
Bethany opens her mouth to apologize.
They are yours. Remember that always, and no matter what.
"I'd be the worst sister in the world if I wandered off for..." Wil rolls her eyes upward to cover for any awkwardness. "Besides, you're the only proof I have that I'm not completely terrible. I think even Mother would quit me if something happened to you."
"That's not true!" Leandra sounds genuinely hurt by this, so Wil refrains from suggesting another wager.
Instead she slips into readiness, waiting for the slightest scrape of activity in the hallway beyond the door, or for the scent of Chantry incense and sweat soaked undergarments to waft through the cracks in the door.
It's one things for the Templars to catch them out in the streets, or in the market. But this is their home, and mages aren't supposed to have homes and people they love that love them in return. It's like an affront to most templars, and enough of one to bring the law crashing down on the mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, who might have the audacity to want to see their family whole and no one imprisoned for an accident of birth.
Wil keeps her sword in front of her, balanced on its pommel, the blade pressed flat between her steady hands. Convinced of their safety, Leandra goes about her chores and Bethany prepares herself for bed. Normal routines for normal people, and one curious man in a metal suit could destroy it all.
Her second memory isn't of running, but of holding perfectly still.
She doesn't need to be still any longer. The man who'd asked her for directions to Gosport, his voice kind even echoing as it did from within his helmet, is on the ground by her feet, dead as the gutted hogs that hang from the market stalls on Saturdays, but her scalp still burns where his steel fingers had been buried in her hair and pulling, and her throat aches where he'd pressed the blade against it, not caring that it bit her flesh.
Blood streams hot all the way to her stomach but Father is trying to tell her that it's just a small scratch as he runs one rough fingertip along the place it hurts the most, her vision turning blue but no comfort seeps into her bones. Alarming, when normally blue meant comfort.
"Wilhelmina, stay with me," Father's hands go to her cheek. He holds her face and, although she knows they are his green eyes in front of her, there is something unfamiliar there that worries her enough to break her trance.
"Are you afraid, Mal?" She calls him by his grown-up name, because it seems right at this moment. The body besides her suddenly has more presence. "Are you sorry?"
"Yes," his hands abandon her cheeks and he cups the back of her head with one palm, gently, because he knows it must hurt. The other, trembling, draws across the spot on her throat again. "But not because I killed him."
"Because you did what he wanted you to do," she swallows back something acidic and sharp, remembering everything she'd been told about the men wrapped in metal and fine skirts of purple and gold. It comes with a flash of sunlight caught on a silver pendant- a thin-bladed sword consumed by white fire. That is the image she sees below her, only large and boldly worn in black on the man's chest. "You did what he wanted, but he wouldn't stop hurting me."
Father's nod is grave, his mouth tightening at the corners, and his eyes grow hard with resolution.
"He left me no choice," his voice is steady because he is speaking words not just to her, but into her. This is the lesson she must learn, even more than they are yours. "This is why we worry, and this is why we keep to ourselves. This is why we run, because there are men who would try to force their will upon another and hurt whoever they can to do so."
Even a little girl in a play-stained dress and worn leather boots.
"You were brave, Mina. I always knew you would be," Father stands and scoops her up, settling her against his chest and this time the blue light brings comfort and everything is almost right again.
Almost right because part of her is as lost as the dead templar they leave behind them- that part that strayed from the edge of the yard to speak to the man on the wooded path. She's young but she knows what she did was wrong. She also knows it's why dinner is eaten in tense silence and sleep is not found in a familiar bed but hours later than normal, bouncing between Bethany and Carver in the back of a borrowed wagon and on a road to someplace else. Father tells her it's all right because they're all together, but Wil sees it in his eyes.
And all she can do is learn from her mistake and swear to never let it happen again.


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Oven-Fried Chicken
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Windows 8 is edging toward 10 percent market share, but its predecessor still dominates the world of desktop operating systems.
According to November stats from Net Applications, Windows 8 had 6.66 percent of the global market, while the updated Windows 8.1 had 2.64 percent, for a total of 9.3 percent.
That's up ever so slightly from October, when Windows 8 stood at 9.25 percent of the market, with 7.53 percent of users on Windows 8 and 1.72 percent on Windows 8.1, which debuted mid-month.
Windows 7 is still the most popular OS at 46.64 percent, which is about the same market share it had last month. The aging Windows XP is holding strong at No. 2 with about 31 percent, followed by Windows 8.
Vista is sandwiched between Windows 8 and Windows 8.1, both of which top Apple's new OS Mavericks 10.9, which had 2.42 percent of the market in November.
When it comes to mobile OS share, though, Apple is the big winner. Its iOS captured 55.17 percent of mobile and tablet operating system share in November, followed by Android at 33.89 percent. Broken down by version, the iPad was No. 1 (32.57 percent), followed by iPhone (22.01 percent), and Android 4.1 (13.55 percent).
Net Applications also tracks browser share, and in November, Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 was most popular with 21.74 percent of the market. Rounding out the top five was IE10 (17.5 percent), Firefox 25 (10.43 percent), IE9 (9.25 percent), and Chrome 31 (6.77 percent).
Windows 8.1 Review
Fastest startup of any Windows version. Loads of included apps and utilities. More windowing options for new-style apps. Improved stock included apps, especially Mail. Much better help for getting started. More harmony between tiled Start screen and desktop. Boot to desktop. Start button always displays. Better browser with IE11.
Windows 8.1 sticks to Microsoft's strategy of delivering an operating system that's equally at home on tablets and full-power desktop PCs, but many of the flaws of Windows 8 have been fixed.
Coming just about a year after Windows 8's release, Windows 8.1 is a free upgrade through the Windows app store for existing Windows 8 users. It will be available to anyone else from the Microsoft Web Store, as a packaged DVD and on new PCs, laptops, and tablets, starting October 18. As with Windows 8, there's a standard and a Pro version, priced at $119.99 and 199.99 respectively. The Pro version adds business capabilities like disk encryption and network domain joining, and is required for those who want Windows Media home theater capability.
Improvements include a more consistent look between the desktop and mobile app interfaces, lock screen slideshow and notifications, better help to get people going with the new interface, the ability to boot to the desktop, a Start button, more windowing options for new-style mobile apps, and more settings in the new-style interface. The Windows app store gets a much-needed face-lift, and the default apps like Mail, Internet Explorer, Skype, Xbox Music and Video, and search also benefit from updates.
Start Button and Boot to Desktop
Two features that longtime Windows users cried out for after Windows 8's original release have made their way into Windows 8.1—the Start button and the ability to boot to the desktop, where standard Windows programs can run just as they have for the last few versions of the OS. The Start button Microsoft has included, however, isn't quite what the longtime users were hoping for, since it opens the new-style Start screen.
A Better Desktop PC, Too
In addition to these features, Windows 8.1 maintains Windows 8's improvements for hardcore desktop users: Much faster startup, improved battery life for laptops, better security (including Trusted Boot for UEFI systems), the File History automated backup and versioning utility, clearer task manager and file move dialogs, and the ability to mount disk image files as virtual drives, among other improvements. And to top it all off, Windows 8.1 actually has a smaller disk footprint than Windows 8.
More Powerful Search
When you invoke the Search charm and enter a query, nay, even before you enter it, you'll see significant changes in Windows 8.1. First, after typing just a couple letters, you'll see suggestions for apps, but also for popular web searches and more. Even before your query, you can change the scope of your search from Everywhere to Settings, Files, Web Images, and Web Videos. But the result page holds the biggest changes. If you search on any popular musician, you can play their top songs, watch their videos, and scroll through pages of website info. If you search on "Chicago," you'll see a Bing Map, the current weather for that city, and attractions.
Business and Security Improvements
Windows has a strong business case, with the ability for IT pros to manage huge numbers of machines, controlling their access to corporate resources. Windows 8.1 furthers the case, with better BYOD mobile controls and better security. With 8.1, Defender has been improved as has native VPN connectivity. An "auto-triggered" VPN option will automatically connect a remote Windows 8.1 client to a website or other work resource that's behind a company's firewall, for example.But I still don't see a leader among the built-in VPN options—Cisco.
A new Workplace networking option can grant mobile workers access to internal apps and websites. If an employee leaves the company, IT will be able to remove just the business assets, so the whole device doesn't have to be wiped. All this applies to Windows RT as well as x86-based PCs.
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Chapter FiveMature
Chapter five
Shed Some Light
Alice slept easily that night, exhaustion had won over her body, but when she had woken the following morning, she felt terrible. She hadn't heard from her grandparents since the past day, she was just learning all these dark secrets about her father, but was her mother as innocent as she thought, or had she been just as bad at fault as her father had been?
Alice sat up, and stared at the folder that lay on her desk, maybe she should read through the files... Maybe then she may feel a bit at peace, but could she truly feel good about the situation? Was there any light to shed on the situation? Or was it all dark, deceiving actions? Who knows what may happen, she thought to herself, but this is something she must do, she needed to know more. She needed to know what her parents went through, she needed closure...
Alice got out of bed, and slowly walked over to her desk. Her hair had been tumbling over her shoulders as she sat down, but she made no effort to move it away, her mind was on that folder, she was so terrified at the thought of looking through her father's personal life.
Slowly, she opened the folder, pictures, and files lay inside the folder. Hundreds of words were written on the files, words that would disgust anyone who read them. Alice hadn't noticed that she was crying until a tear dropped onto the page she had been reading.
How... she thought, why? Her father had put her mother in the hospital.
The file described the assault her father had landed on her mother, her father had beaten her mother until her mother could no longer move, deep wounds and bruises were found all over her body. Her mother had been in intense hospital care for nearly three months after that.
Why did her mother go back to her father after that, and not press charges on him? Why hadn't she left him, and moved on before it got worse? Hadn't she seen that he was only getting worse, and worse, and soon, it would completely consume whatever was left from the man she once loved?
Alice had seen enough, she knew too much for her mind to handle. Reading that was enough to make her hate her own father. She hated her father more then she could endure.
To her, he was a piece of trash, no matter what she heard now, even if it had been something good about her father, there was no way anyone could make her feel any better about it all.
But, she couldn't completely hate her father. It was partially her mother's fault, she could have left him, and none of this would have happened.
Alice stood up, but she had forgotten that she was still holding the folder, when she had realized it, she dropped the folder, and all the files lay strewn about all over her bedroom.
Alice quickly cleaned up the files, but one file caught her eye, it was of the day that her mother had gone missing,
Mother of two daughters goes missing, and father is left to care for them.
She had a twin! She didn't even know about! Alice read through the article rapidly searching for any location or idea of where her twin sister was...
Finally, she came across it, "twins get split up, one disappears, other in small town, Trenton." That's it! She had a twin sister in Trenton!!
She knew exactly where Trenton was, it was about an eight hour drive from her town. But, what's her sister's name? Would she know that Alice was her sister? Would they look anything a like? So many questions filled her mind, but she didn't care, she had a twin sister! That's all she cared about.


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Gas Monkey Garage T-Shirt
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The boys on Fast N Loud have been entertaining us for years, and now with this shirt, it's time for you to join the crew! You might not want to be a reality TV star, but you can be the star mechanic of your own garage with this licensed shirt. Whether you're a gearhead or just love cool cars, you'll love this shirt! (Softness Rating = 7/10)
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All reader reviews by Loving Annie
The Gallery @ The Connaught
There is a beautiful sunny, window walled room at the front of the hotel called The Gallery. Huge baskets of orchids are everywhere, and candles are scattered around in profusion on side tables at night.
George greets me with a smile, and ushers me into the room, offering me my choice of tables. There is a moss plant on each in a square pot.
Linen and sheer drapes decorate the windows. There are white tablecloths, and comfortable upholstered chairs. Genuine silverplate silver by Arthur Price is on the tables, and there are silver salt & pepper shakers, as well as a silver pepper grinder.
On a glass tray, there are seven different sealed miniature preserves. Honey, strawberry, raspberry, apricot, gooseberry and orange marmalade, with tiny silver spoons.
A silver basket lined with a napkin holds two delicious, warm and perfectly flaky large, freshly baked croissants.
There is a small glass pitcher of freshly squeezed orange juice, although it doesn't really taste like the orange juice does at home when I cut and squeeze it.
Pats of butter come in a lovely Wedgewood, white cream-and-gold china dish.
The two eggs over easy are perfectly cooked, as is the side of crispy bacon, and the plate is garnished with a pair of cooked cherry tomatoes.
Breakfast each morning is excellent, and the waiter remembers what I like.
I did not have an opportunity to try the hotel for lunch.
The Afternoon tea tray looked quite good.
I did try a Caesar salad one night after dinner elsewhere. Don't. Both the lettuce and the dressing were sub-par.
Sascha, the hostess manager, was very charming on my last night. We were discussing various restaurants, and she suggested that next time I am in town, she may be able to get me a reservation at Petrus for dinner :)
The chef gave me a lovely garnishment tray one evening with every imaginable fixing for some beluga caviar that I had brought in from Fortunm & Mason's, and it generously was on the house.
Loving Annie
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
It is a tiny restaurant, with perhaps six tables in the front, and six tables in the back.
Michael greets me, (he is the son of the owner) and kindly offers me a table by the window, although technically they are not open for lunch for another half hour.
Michael Buble's Feeling Good plays in the background, and I DO feel good :)
There are lovely lillies in a glass vase by the bar. Chinese paintings of the Emperor are on the walls, and there are Buddha figurines, dragons and vases on top of a cabinet.
The tablecloths are beige and white. Heavy off-white chopsticks rest on a delicate white china stand.
The lady behind the bar brings me hot tea, which she says is specially blended to go with the food, and does not need sweetening. (being a sugar junkie, I disagree, but do not ask again for sweetener.)
She follows this up with tiny bites of pickled cucumber (delicious), and salted pine nuts.
I watch deliveries being made, as there are hidden steps to a basement on the sidewalk. Crates of brown eggs, beans and fresh vegetables disappear and my stomach growls.
Michael comes over again to ask what I like to eat. There is no menu. Chicken, pork and vegetables, I tell him. Sour, hot and spicy...
Individual servings are brought. As I finish one, within two minutes, another appears.
Minced chicken in lettuce has a very fresh, light taste.
A century old egg is brought with pickled vegetables. The egg is, as expected, gray, almost black. I think it tastes gross, but pat myself on the back for being adventurous enough to try it.
(But after one bite I try to hide it under the vegetables so Michael will not know that I haven't finished it)
Crispy garlic beans are next, and they are wonderful. Spicy smoked chicken is equally good, and Michael comes to check and see if everything is to my liking.
Pork with tofu and shredded vegetables comes next, followed by plum & pork parcels in a sesame crusted wrapper. Everything is fresh and nothing is left over.
Taro chicken arrives, and after I have finished its savory goodness, I am stuffed, and cannot eat another bite.
(although Michael would have brought more had I been able to. No-one leaves his restaurant hungry.)
There are bites of toffee banana, apple and pumpkin for dessert.
I'll be back, and next time bring some friends. This was wonderful food, with attentive service.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Pied a Terre
The restaurant is very modern in appearance, with gray leather banquettes and a dark wood trim.
Being early, I am lucky, and they seat me up front, next to the windows of red, gray & clear shattered glass.
There are fashionable recessed halogen lights, but not enough of them to make reading the menu easy.
The serving plate is of speckled clear glass with a wide, curved up silver edge and a handpainted red sunflower on it. Ther are have glass water tumblers, and white linen tablecloths.
Very little English is spoken by the waiters, they mainly speak French.
A small plate of green olives is brought.
There will be an eight course meal tonight, and the menu has a notice that one pound (Two dollars at today's currency translation rates) is added to every bill and given to charity for Action Against Hunger.
There is stamped unsalted butter accompanying a bread basket of 5 choices. I have both the plain and the tomato, both freshly baked, delicous and light.
The amuse bouche consists of 4 bites of ??? I can't understand what the waiter says. They are also presented on a shattered glass plate in the shape of a small, raised rectangle.
a ragout of chick peas begins the meal, followed by avacado carpaccio, carmelized endive salad with watercress gelee, parpadelle pasta with camembert sauce & cucumber balls, and a puff pastry with mushroom & black truffle.
A cheese course is next.
The first dessert is a walnut passion fruit mousse. It is superb, creamy, just sweet enough, lovely. I wanted another...
Then comes a chocolate tart with macadmia nut mousse.
I end the meal with a delicious hot mint tea, and the waiter brings the final treat. 6 tiny bite desserts on a curved shattered glass tray.
The presentation at Pied a Terre is lovely, but on the whole, the food was tasteless - I would not eat here again, despite its Michelin 2 star rating.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 7 | Value for money 5
Windows face a busy street close to Harrod's department store. The long room has a wood floor, brown leather banquettes with mirors above them, soft yellow paint on the walls, and recessed halogen lights.
There are short double tablecloths, and the chairs and leather & wood.
Plain flatware and glasses and salt shaker. This is a place where the food matters and the decor is plain.
It is lunch-time on a Friday afternoon. The place fills up quickly, clearly with regulars, as the somewhat older, well-dressed couples are greeted by name.
Delicious french bread comes with a gold foil wrapped round of butter from Echire, France.
I have a wonderful spicy steak tartare, with small bottles of green and red tabasco provided if I want to kick it up yet another notch.
This is followed by an excellent cucumber salad garnished with minched chives, and dressed with a light vinaigrette.
These are filling enough that I decline to order an entree, although I wisely have enough room left for dessert, or pudding, as it is called here.
Creme caramel melts in my mouth, light and perfectly flavored.
I choose to finish with hot jasmine pearl tea, and it steeps in a glass pot. Tea is always leaves here, not a bag, which is a charming additional attention to detail.
The food was quite good. I want to go back another time and try more.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
The Square
It is an early Friday evening, just 6:30 p.m., and I get to the restaurant a few minutes before they are ready to seat guests.
A smiling blonde hostess offers a chair opposite the wooden bar, and brings me something to drink while I wait.
It is a modern yet soothing space, with a fresh spray of orchids and pussy willows reflected in the mirror. Cream colored faux-stone flooring inlaid with black marble is underfoot.
The dining room has perhaps twenty generously sized tables, nicely spaced apart. There is a dark herringbone wood floor, and the room will be fashionably noisy later on as well-heeled couples drift in to fill the space.
Recessed halogen lights provide light and leave a feeling of pristine space. They subtly set off cream colored side walls hung with abstract modern paintings, interspersed with dramatic framed beveled mirrors on the back wall.
Gilt silk curtains and sheer shades are by the windows. Decorated half screens cleverly block the sight of the cars passing by, while allowing a demure peek at the building across the street.
The heavy, floor length, gray, square pleated tablecloths are topped by white linen. Wooden upholstered armchairs are more comfortable than they look.
Pink rosebuds in a vase are discreetly placed on each table. The pepper grinder and salt shaker are polished silver. The 'charger' plate has a beautifully decorated modern design on it, flanked by Christofle silverware.
The serving staff is dressed formally in black, wearing ties, and they all seem to have french accents, which may be a prerequisite for a Michelin 2 star restaurant in town.
The sommelier shakes his head in polite dismay as I decline wine, and brings a bottle of Speyside Glenlivet still natural mineral water to the table.
Large rounds of both unsalted and salted butter are brought on glass teardrop shaped dishes. From among four types of warm freshly baked bread that are offered, I choose walnut-raisin (sweet enough to have at breakfast)and a sourdough baguette. Both are light in texture, a nice intimation of things to come.
An amuse bouche is brought, five cunningly shaped, delicious, light, just crunchy enough, morsels of intriguing flavors I cannot identify.
As usual, I am a finicky eater. I have called ahead and begged the Master Chef, Philip Howard, to indulge me. He graciously complies, and we agree on a tasting meal . Let the pleasure begin :)
Each course is brought on a silver platter, a lovely formal presentation of the goodness to follow.
(It is actually beyond good. Read on, and I must warn you that you will be drooling before you are through.)
The first course is white asparagus veloute with cauliflower.
The second course is Scottish smoked salmon offset by tiny potato rounds garnished with chives. The plainness of the potato is a perfect offset for the delicate saltiness of the fish.
The third course is large, fresh green asparagus tips, lightly garnished with Parmesan and watercress, and accompanied by a lightly poached egg cunningly set in a delicate pastry shell. The rich flavor of the egg is an excellent offset against the cool vegetable.
(At this point, I already want to marry the chef, but the waiter regretfully informs me that he already has a wife.)
The fourth course is a garden salad. A tiny, fresh mound of leek hearts, charlotte potatoes, swisschard, artichokes with pickled beetroot, microherbs and dandelion. I squeeze the juice of a half of a lemon over it, and am in heaven.
The fifth course is a single, large poached rock oyster holding in its shell a light curry veloute, coriander, mousseline, and a pomegranate, caper and raisin dressing.
The sixth course is hand rolled farfalle pasta with an emulsion of winter vegetables (cauliflower, onion and green beans) garnished with Parmesan in an amazingly delicious butter sauce.
Once again, the blend of flavors and textures are exquisite. I shamelessly use the rest of my baguette to soak up some of the sauce.
Someone approaches the table, and my hand tightens on my fork, ready to poke anyone who dares to touch the plate. Mine, I think, too delicious, unwilling to give up a single bite to an overly ready busboy. Instead, it is another party of three diners -their hands are safe :)
Steaming hot, fresh mint leaf tea arrives, leaves steeping in the now familiar glass pot. A light golden sugar is in a frosted glass bowl.
The first of a series of desserts is brought.
Vanilla yogurt like none I've ever had (no aftertaste) is layered in a shot glass with rhubarb compote and blood orange foam. Incredibly light, the sour mixes perfectly with the sweet. A donut hole, dusted lightly with cinnamon, again contrasts perfectly with the yogurt. Warm versus cool, airy versus creamy.
The there is the airiest of passion fruit souffles, dusted with powdered sugar. Lime ice cream brings just the right hint of tartness. A coconut dusted meringue adds a hint of texture to offset the light-as-air creaminess of the souffle
Incredibly, there is more, and another small plate is brought.
Chocolate covered orange sticks are the best I've ever tasted, with each flavor distinct and perfect. There are also tiny truffles of some sort, perhaps coffee.
I ask now for hot jasmine tea - it is also perfect. (I'm not overusing the word - it is accurate each and every time)
Then as a finale, 5 lollipops of fresh fruit gellee are served, orange, strawberry, apple, passion fruit and Turkish delight.
The bill comes, and for a meal this extrordinary, at 111 pounds inclusive of everything, it is very reasonable.
I ponder how soon I can return.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Overall rating
Food 10 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 10
Le Gavroche
I walk into a small entry hall and the hostess immediately takes my coat, as it has been raining outside.
She asks my name, and then a young man guides me downstairs into a large dark room with low ceilings. It is softly lit with recessed can and halogen lighting.
There are enormous arrangements of spring flowers in two wall niches, (gladiola, rubrum lillies, pussy willows and greens) and a large spray on white orchids graces the back of the room.
Upholstered chairs of red fabric trimmed with leather are gathered around round tables with 3/4 length tablecloths.
Everything carries the Le Gavroche logo, from the starter plate, to the silverware with a figure of a chef on the handles, to the black & gold paper that lines the plate of the amuse bouche.
A silver filigree holder keeps the bottled water cold. A cunning triple salt cellar holds regular salt, sea salt and wrapped toothpicks. There is also a small wooden pepper grinder.
A little 12" high golden oil lamp gleams on the table. A silver, three dimensional fish holds six knives, with decorated silver handles and blades.
It is mostly an older crowd in their 50's and 60's, and the assistant manager, Emmanuel tells me that half of them are regulars. By 7:15 p.m. the room is half-full, and the noise level is beginning to be high.
Waiters all have french accents, and are formally dressed in black. Before the restaurant gets busy, they tend to bustle around uselessly, or hover together in small groups, talking amongst themselves.
Salted and unsalted butter accompany the bread basket. I choose a wheat baguette from the five offerings. I only have one bite, as it is lukewarm and somewhat tough. The waiter never asks if I would like to try something different.
The sommelier is a woman, Celia, and she poorly conceals a sniff of disdain when I decline any wines with the meal.
An enormous silver bowl filled with iced varieties of white and pink champagne is brought to the table next to me, where the flower arrangement in the wall niche is so low it hits the gentleman in the head. Given the amount of money it costs here to have dinner, they should not have a table in that location.
Enrico is my waiter, and he explains each dish.
There is a four piece amuse bouche. Two artichoke hearts are hot and mouth-wateringly good, lightly battered and deep fried. Two cold quail eggs rest on a bed of celeriac remoulade and are garnished with paprika.
The first course is a warm spring green salad that consists of artichoke hearts, carrots, sweet onions, mushrooms, chestnuts, and the tinest of crispy croutons, dressed in a raspberry vinaigrette. It is excellent.
The second course is their signature dish. A twice baked cheese souffle in fresh cream is airy and delicious, very light in taste.
The third course is a soft polenta, whixh serves as a bed for a tempura of baby artichokes, red pepper coulis and herb olive oil. Wafer thin bread with a puree of black olives on one side and a mayonnaise of garlic & saffron on the other is sharp and unpleasant.
The fourth course is a vegetable cannelloni filled with ratatouille on a bed of good couscous, resting in butter sauce with a watercress coulis. (It is improved with a little lemon juice.)
This is followed by vegetables stuffed with vegetables, in an overly salty potato-truffle sauce. A baked tomato holds a julienned green vegetable. The spinach mousse with carrots is mushy. There are potatoes with sweet onions. Aubergine is somehow tough on the outside and too soft on the inside.
Overall, the presentation is pretty, but the vegetables themselves are tasteless.
The cheese board has 40 different varieties on it. I choose an incredibly creamy Conte from the french Pyrenees mountains, and a hard Cheran Mont D'Or. They are served with a crispy, thin, walnut-raisin bread, plum chutney, celery and quince jelly.
The first dessert is a fresh pineapple carpaccio with basil mint garnish and a touch of white rum underneath a creme de caramel donut. It is somehow heavy and overly sweet.
Tea of fresh mint leaves is fragrant and boiling hot, served in a delicate white china cup with the ever present chef logo on the side/ White sugar cubes and brown sugar cubes are brought in silver holders with a small silver spoon on a silver, doily-lined tray.
The last dessert is a petite bitter chocolate cake garnished with gold leaf, and a bitter chocolate sorbet. They are pure in flavor, and taste delicious when combined.
Different petite fours are brought as the final touch to complete the meal, an almond cake with rum that is nice, coconut macaroon, candied gooseberries and lace cookies.
Presentation on everything throughout the meal is dramatic and lovely, but tastes are all a little off, seeming to rely on an excess of ingredients. Only the first two courses, the cheese board and the second dessert are flawless; the remaining half of the dishes disappoint a little.
Le Gavroche may have been a London institution, but now it seems to be coasting on its former reputation. Unfortunately and despite having 2 michelin stars, Le Gavroche is merely a slightly better than adequate meal, and not worth the money
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Overall rating
Food 5 | Service 7 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 6
Restaurant Gordon Ramsay
Mhmmmm. Dinner was amazing !
The restaurant faces the street, with white flowers outside flanking the windows. A top hatted doorman opens the outside door, and then you pass through the second door, down a short hallway and into a small bar/reception area.
Immediately, the charm and stellar service begin. The entire Gordon Ramsay experience starts out with polish and panache, a precursor of a truly lovely dinner and evening.
The maitre d' greets me and ushers me into an intimate, carpeted room that appears to seat perhaps up to 50 guests.
Cream walls with a discreet edging of gilt, offset by equally tasteful mirrors subtly done.
Elaborate crown molding, silk and sheer shades on the windows, cunning small prism lamps on the walls, everything is soft, warm, intimate.
Double tablecloths on each table, 3 white rose buds in a silver vase, a glass oil lamp throws gentle light on the flowers.
There is a silver/gilt 'charger' plate on the table, the color of which harmonizes with the interior of the room. White bone china with rippling edges, and silverware heavy enough to feel real.
A refrigerated holder to keep your bottle of flat or sparkling water chilled. Lemon slices brought on a plate on the side. Already I am spoiled, and it just continues.
I think there were 4 different waiters just for my table alone. At least it felt that way - service is an art form here.
Plus a different waiter brought a selection of freshly baked sourdough, olive or wheat bread to the table. With stamped rounds of both salted and unsalted butter brought, each on a small silver plate with a butter knife.
The sommelier asked about my wine preferences. Not a flicker of dismay crossed his well trained face as I told him I'd just be drinking water :)
Everyone was so polite, helpful, solicitous. You can order a la carte, or they have different 8 course tasting menus.
I was in the mood for vegetables, so chef happily obliged... It is NOT Gordon Ramsay himself anymore.
An amuse bouche was brought, melt in your mouth avocado something in a tiny tuile. It was FABULOUS.
They kept replacing the silverware for each course. Quiet, pampering, this is an experience with a capital E.
Another amuse bouche - an individual, melt in your mouth ravioli in consomme with tiny diced vegetables, garnished with a nickel sized slice of black truffle.
Then a frisee of baby lettuce salad with artichoke heart, carrot, apple, and a truffle vinaigrette made me moan (quietly) with pleasure.
Asparagus risotto followed.
Every detail is perfect at this restaurant. It just doesn't get better.
Stuffed baby red peppers with ratatouille followed, with the thinnest of Pecorino shavings, basil puree and red pepper vinaigrette.
Dime sized potatoes that melted in my mouth. (I keep saying that, and it is true :)
Six tiny individual coils of onion rings as delicate as fishing wire garnish baby vegetables.
Broccolini, baby carrots, artichoke hearts, spinach, celery root and button mushrooms, each so fresh it tastes as though they were picked from a garden not an hour ago.
Exquisite jasmine tea was brewed for me at the table in a glass pot, where the tea was a flower bud that expanded in the water as it steeped.
And then, ohhhhhh yes, dessert. Or desserts, to be more accurate.
A small glass jar of creme brulee. But not just any ordinary creme brulee. The kind of creme brulee you'll remember for a long, long, long time.
So sinfully good, not too sweet, just a perfect blend of apple and pear, dusted with bittersweet chocolate on the top.
Then another dessert. An edible piece of art on a plate - a bitter chocolate and hazelnut cylinder, with ginger ice cream and blackberry granite.
Incredibly, more followed.
Pineapple and coconut 'soup' with chili syrup they had me drink through a glass straw. Silver dusted chocolate balls. White chocolate covered strawberry ice cream balls. Raspberry sorbet garnished with microfine chocolate stripes. Turkish delight lemon-flavored squares.
Somehow, I managed to try a bite of each :)
The attention to detail, the freshness of the ingredients, the presentation, the service, the atmosphere, all of it combine to make for an experience to last for a lifetime.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Overall rating
Food 8 | Service 10 | Atmosphere 10 | Value for money 8


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Pineapple Beach Club Antigua - All Inclusive - Adults Only
Select your stay dates to check availability
Pineapple Beach Club Antigua - All Inclusive - Adults Only
About the hotel
Property Location
With a stay at Pineapple Beach Club Antigua - All Inclusive - Adults Only in Willikies, you'll be on the beach and minutes from Long Bay and close to Devil's Bridge. This all-inclusive resort is within close proximity of Indian Town National Park and Brown's Bay Beach.
Make yourself at home in one of the 180 air-conditioned rooms featuring minibars and flat-screen televisions. Cable television is provided for your entertainment. Private bathrooms have complimentary toiletries and hair dryers. Conveniences include phones, as well as safes and coffee/tea makers.
Pamper yourself with a visit to the spa, which offers massages, body treatments, and facials. You're sure to appreciate the recreational amenities, which include 2 outdoor swimming pools, a nightclub, and outdoor tennis courts. Additional features at this resort include complimentary wireless Internet access, concierge services, and gift shops/newsstands.
This resort is all inclusive. Rates include meals and beverages at onsite dining establishments. Charges may be applied for dining at some restaurants, special dinners and dishes, some beverages, and other amenities.
Grab a bite at one of the resort's 5 restaurants, or stay in and take advantage of room service (during limited hours). Mingle with other guests at a complimentary reception, held daily. Relax with a refreshing drink at one of the 2 bars/lounges. A complimentary cooked-to-order breakfast is served daily.
Business, Other Amenities
Featured amenities include dry cleaning/laundry services, a 24-hour front desk, and a library. A roundtrip airport shuttle is provided for a surcharge (available on request), and free self parking is available onsite.
Hotel Facilities
- Smoke-free property
- Fitness facilities
- Total number of rooms - 180
- Dry cleaning/laundry service
- 24-hour front desk
- One meeting room
- Airport transportation (surcharge)
- Beach sun loungers
- Number of outdoor pools - 2
- Wedding services
- Hair salon
- Free WiFi
- Shopping on site
- Number of bars/lounges - 2
- Beach umbrellas
- Spa tub
- Free reception
- Beach towels
- Free breakfast
- Concierge services
- Library
- Tours/ticket assistance
- Terrace
- Spa treatment room(s)
- Number of restaurants - 5
- Nightclub
- Porter/bellhop
- Outdoor tennis courts - 2
- Safe-deposit box at front desk
- Snack bar/deli
- Spa services on site
- Garden
- Gift shops or newsstand
- Full-service spa
- Number of floors - 3
- Free self parking
Room Facilities
- In-room climate control (air conditioning)
- Cable TV service
- Coffee/tea maker
- Hair dryer
- Daily housekeeping
- Iron/ironing board
- Phone
- Blackout drapes/curtains
- Minibar
- In-room safe
- Private bathroom
- Ceiling fan
- Room service (limited hours)
- Air conditioning
- Free toiletries
- Flat-panel TV
Hotel Policy
Know Before You Go
- This property offers transfers from the airport (surcharges may apply). Guests must contact the property with arrival details before travel, using the contact information on the booking confirmation.
- Reservations are required for massage services and spa treatments. Reservations can be made by contacting the resort prior to arrival, using the contact information on the booking confirmation.
- Guests under 16 years old are not permitted at this adults-only property.
The following fees and deposits are charged by the property at time of service, check-in, or check-out.
- Airport shuttle fee: USD 40 per vehicle (one way)
- Rollaway bed fee: USD 20 per night
The above list may not be comprehensive. Fees and deposits may not include tax and are subject to change.Show all hotel policy Show less hotel policy