I think Angie’s List has crossed the pond. It is a simple and effective concept – it gives you access to reviews and real experiences of services, from plumbing to leaf cleaning – to help you choose the best possible supplier. The big difference, I am sure, lies in the services covered. I just received a magazine which featured a really intriguing company. So what services did it highlight? Maybe a great mechanic, or perhaps a really effective lawyer. No. It covered “biohazard remediation” . What’s that you ask? It’s the decontamination of homes soiled by human waste, toxins,  tissue and body fluid associated with a decomposing body”.  Handy I’m sure.

The best part was the quote from a landlord who had used the services of this particular company: “You never would know there was a murder in that apartment.”

I just got back from a couple of weeks in Europe. BIG thanks to everyone who put me up and fed me. It was great to catch up with so many friends and to spend a tiny slice of life with so many of them. It just highlighted how fast time flies – the babies I saw last time are now toddling and talking and generally turning into human beings and someone rearranged the whole of Cambridge town centre in my absence. What was once so familiar has been playing musical chairs in my absence.

It ended up being a bit of a gastronomic tour (Oh how I miss good food) but of all the wonderful meals, the ones that most stuck in my mind were both very simple and somehow caricatures of nationality:

Afternoon tea at the Westminster Inn, London

Bavarian Breakfast overlooking the Rathaus in Munich