2018 – Page 31

Review of The Highwayman Hotel

This review of The Highwayman Hotel originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

The Highwayman Hotel, 249 Banbury Rd, Kidlington OX5 1BF, United Kingdom.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

You know that episode of insert-any-sitcom-here where three friends (one goofy, one sarcastic, one comedic foil) decide that despite having no relevant experience they think that they can do something deceptively challenging, like for example… running a bar? Visiting The Highwayman the other weekend felt just. Like. That. Like a group of inept but fun-loving lads “winging it”.

And you know what? Somehow it works. The food was good (and great value), the service friendly and caring, the facilities fine. Unlike the characters of your seventh-favourite sitcom, these guys actually make it work and run a fab family pub. I’m not sure HOW they make it work, because from the outside they seem like a group of lovable oafs, not grounded publicans, but they do.

We’re looking forward to experiencing The Highwayman again, and not just in a “when it’s on Dave or Netflix” way. We’re committed, now, and we’re buying the box set.

Review of Bella Italia – Oxford

This review of Bella Italia - Oxford originally appeared on Google Maps. See more reviews by Dan.

Bella Italia - Oxford, 14-16 George St, Oxford OX1 2AF, United Kingdom.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Updated review: squeezed us in despite a lunchtime rush and provided great service. Great attention to the fact we had children with us. I retract my original review, below: this place really impressed us this weekend.

Original review: Uninspiring mushroom burger and slightly slow service. Others’ food looked good, though, and the slow service wouldn’t have been so much of an issue if we hadn’t had small children with us.

Dan Q found GLVJCWV0 Filton 4 (Elm Park)

This checkin to GLVJCWV0 Filton 4 (Elm Park) reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Great little cache! Took a break in my cross-country journey to park up and find the caches around this park and was especially pleased by this clever little hide. I was glad of the hint! TFTC.

Dan Q found GLVJCWVB Filton 2 (Community Garden Revived)

This checkin to GLVJCWVB Filton 2 (Community Garden Revived) reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Driving back from Exmoor to Oxfordshire I decided to “cut the corner” between the M5 and M4 to fit a little geocaching in. My first instinct as to where this was hidden (despite my GPSr telling me I was wrong) was unsurprisingly unsuccessful, but as soon as I trusted my kit I found the container instantly. As others have said, it’s quite remarkable that it’s still there considering the severe pollarding that’s clearly taken place recently! Tucked cache a few centimetres deeper into cover to help keep it from prying eyes. TFTC!

Dan Q found GLVJCNMT Almondsbury TB & Geocoin Hotel

This checkin to GLVJCNMT Almondsbury TB & Geocoin Hotel reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

An easy find and a nice break from driving up the M5. Neither TBT3E7 nor TB80HT8 were present at the cache: no trackables at all here right now! TFTC.

Dan Q found GLVJCG3E Church Micro #4577 Puriton – St Michael

This checkin to GLVJCG3E Church Micro #4577 Puriton - St Michael reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Pulled off the M5 on my way back to Oxfordshire from a holiday on Exmoor to find this cache. Unfortunately roadworks in Puriton made driving through require a diversion, so I pulled over at N 51°10.090 W002°58.710 opposite the Puriton Inn and enjoyed a springtime walk the rest of the way. Yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far but today was a far more normal temperature, which made for a lovely opportunity to explore the village as I made my way to the GZ. An easy find before a walk back through the church grounds: at first I feared that the gate at N51°10.225 W002°58.363 might be a fence and that there might be no entry to the church grounds from that angle, but I was luckily proven wrong and got to take a closer look at this heptocentenian tower before heading back to the motorway. TFTC.

Dan Q found GLVJCCYW Motorway Mayhem M5 J23

This checkin to GLVJCCYW Motorway Mayhem M5 J23 reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

A quick and easy find on a nice break from my journey up the M5. TFTC!

Dan Q couldn’t find GC4H0GY Church Micro #7122 Filton St Peters

This checkin to GC4H0GY Church Micro #7122 Filton St Peters reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

No luck here for me today.

Dan Q couldn’t find GC30H48 Elm Park

This checkin to GC30H48 Elm Park reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

No luck after a decent hunt. Suspect this one’s a goner. CO: want to take a look?

Dan Q couldn’t find GC5NBW6 Motorway Mayhem: M5 Junction 27

This checkin to GC5NBW6 Motorway Mayhem: M5 Junction 27 reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

No luck. An extended hunt ended when some muggles accused me of taking photos of them and went to ask the hotel staff to get me to leave (no idea if they would or could, but didn’t want to make a scene so went). If I come back this way I’ll CITO it to give me an excuse to be standing around!

Dan Q found GLVGGVEK Little Bridges # 769 Motor way Mayhem.

This checkin to GLVGGVEK Little Bridges # 769 Motor way Mayhem. reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Disregard my previous log; this cache is still accessible despite both ends of the bridge being fenced-off. Found while pacing about and considering jumping the fence to continue the hunt: turns out there’s no need! TFTC!

Dan Q couldn’t find GC68CQY Little Bridges # 769 Motor way Mayhem.

This checkin to GC68CQY Little Bridges # 769 Motor way Mayhem. reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Bridge is now inaccessible from either side – this photo was taken from the Southbound side of the carriageway but you can just about make out similar fencing in place at the other end. :-(

Dan Q archived GC591VV You Can’t Do It Alone!

This checkin to GC591VV You Can't Do It Alone! reflects a geocaching.com log entry. See more of Dan's cache logs.

Sorry it took so long to get out and remove this; life’s been in the way.

Precise Slice

This is a repost promoting content originally published elsewhere. See more things Dan's reposted.

http://buttersafe.com/2018/03/08/precise-slice/ (buttersafe.com)

Buttersafe

You can see the punchline coming from a mile away but it’s still awesome.

Digest for March 2018

Summary

This month I reminisced about that time Paul made and ate a Birmingham Egg (with help from Jon) and used doing so as a comment on Web siloisation and how it may be reducing diversity of “weird” content online. I also contemplated what recent observations about neural nets might mean for our understanding of child psychology and language development (in an only slightly tongue-in-cheek way).

Ruth, JTA, the kids and I took a snowsports holiday to the French alps, where I also found a handful of geocaches: GLV85XH3, GLV85X2Z, and GLV85W40.

And I reposted an XKCD comic about violin plots, a community of Javascript <canvas> programmers who try to get great effects into only 140 characters of code, and a fabulous vlog telling a story about an unusual first-time RPG participant.

Year: 2018