Mobile Weekend

Jack's due to work in Oxford for the next few weeks so we tried out his driving route yesterday. After covering 30 miles in 40 minutes and marvelling at how 60mph (100kph) still relegated us to stay in the "slow" lane, we reached Oxford and, after a few minutes, his client site for the next few weeks. Pa, magugustuhan mo dito magmaneho. Relatively maganda ang kundisyon ng mga daan :) We really planned on having lunch in the city so we parked and proceeded on foot. Our feet eventually lead us to the pedestrianised city centre in search for some grub. I found a sign saying 'Covered Market' so we decided to check it out.

What a treasure!

Butcher Shop
One of the first stores we saw was a butcher shop. This one had several deer (yes, deer, Bambi) hanging on a hook: head and hooves are chopped off and innards extracted through a clean cut slicing the animal's stomach lengthwise. The animal still sported its coat and was freshly gutted judging from the small pool of blood on the floor. We assume it's waiting to be butchered. Amazing. The shop also sold other game: guinea fowl, partridge, mallard and other interesting birds. The shop also sold other meat such as rabbit and hare. P practically salivated! So we vowed to comeback and buy our fill of game. We had to because our fridge is still sadly packed with Asda supermarket meat.

Cheese Shop - Stinking Bishop
As we moved further along, the smelly of old sweaty socks brought joy to my heart. A cheese store! I wouldn't say I'm a connoisseur but I do like my cheese. Naku, Airyn, you'll love this shop. It was even selling cheese covered in mold! (Uh, Not today, thanks. Maybe never.) As I was deciding whether I wanted an Oxford Blue, I heard a man ask for the Stinking Bishop. I believe it is the favorite cheese of Wallace of Wallace and Gromit fame, thus making it celebrity cheese. Of course I had to have it! Our verdict: it's a split decision. Jack likes it, I don't. I find the flavor to be a little too strong plus it stunk up my bag!

Browns
On to the important business of lunch, we decided on Browns. I had my first ever Shepherds Pie which didn't appear to be any kind of pie at all, to my surprise. What I had was a bit of mushy minced meat dish but I liked the taste of it anyway. Over all, not bad.

Oxford's Covered Market is definitely worth a visit. Next time, I'm going to try one of the milkshake stores and Ben's cookies. Hm, cookies.. Gutom ako hehehe..

Another site

Peekvid update: It's not available for now. Some strange message saying they're going into beta. Wha-eva!

But this one, is totally here: www.meebo.com. No need to download any of the IM clients. This site handles 'em all. Check it out. Chat anytime, anywhere.

Again, courtesy of my beloved P.

The holy grail that is credit

I've been living in the UK for over a year now. I would say I'm in a pretty good position. I am employed and earn enough to rent a place of my own in the South East which is relatively close to the town centre and rail links to London. That's the reason why I can't believe I'm having such a hard time applying for a credit card! I have been turned down twice: one by Tesco (like their SM Supermarket here). The other by Lloyds TSB, my very own bank with whom I've been banking for over a year! They sure know how to foster customer loyalty.

I apologize for my morose tone but I've just received the decision letter for my appeal (yes, I am not above appealing) and got this:

Thank you for writing to me about your recent request for a Lloyds TSB credit card account. I have reviewed your application, taking your concerns and the additional information you sent us into consideration, but unfortunately I have not been able to reverse the original decision.

Now here's my favorite part:

Whilst I am in no way criticising the conduct of your current account, I regret that the information which you have sent us does not carry the weight we would need to overturn the credit scoring result.

Don't you just love British English? I'm sure Mr. Whats-his-face is a good guy and is just doing his job. Bless him, he also sent me a personalised letter rather than a 'We said you're rejected, oryt?!' computer-generated, no signature needed rubbish. However, while reading the letter, all I can think of is "I can't believe I got rejected..There are companies offering credit lines to criminals and bankrupts and I cannot get my bank to give a credit card. What is up?!?"


It would have been ok. I would have just felt indignant for a while and sadly continue to live on my cash-basis world, had Jack not been approved for a credit card by another bank. Ok, he had a token amount for a credit limit (£200), but I would have settled for £100! So I am now seriously thinking of switching banks because of this.

If you've never grovelled in your life and want to try it out, I suggest going to the UK and try to establish a banking relationship from scratch. You'll plead, beg, threaten then beg again.