May Be in London

Monsieur Steven Vandamme, this one is for you too:

Travel

• Steven : Eurostar?
  - Nectar points for Eurostar
  - IBM Employee Rewards (UK) rewardgateway.co.uk
  - saynoto0870.co.uk - to get international number, instead of special rate number
• Alexis : Ryanair on 13 May into Stansted (from Pau) arriving 10.30
  Easybus to Baker St for roughly 12.30

Accommodation

Holiday Inn Regent's Park
Carburton St, London W1 W5EE

Eating Ideas

1. Lunch @ Belgo Restaurant (the one next to Covent Garden)

What's On

1. Graduation, Royal Albert Hall : Wednesday 11am onwards
2. London Design Museum - because it is simply far too interesting
   This is what will be on over the summer (Richard Rogers). He was involved in the Pompidou Centre (see image)
   Take a look at this online expo
   (Tate Modern too, and a walk along the South Bank of the Thames)
3. Thames Ferry-link to docklands?
4. Thursday evening : Southall for clothes : Sari : Marilyne with Nimisha (for wedding in Kenya)

Venture Capital & Wine

As budding entrepreneurs you are not doubt feeling dumbstruck by the exit of 3i from the early investment market!

The recent report by Lord Sainsbury, Race to the Top (pdf), refers to the need to make UK companies the best in the world, but many will now find it hard to get out of the starting blocks.

Fear not, public-money should be used instead (ft.com)! (edit: there is a new ft.com article on the topic that links with Nesta) no doubt Tanaka will come to the rescue too, although not necessarily through Design London (google-search "Nick Leon" if you don't know the story yet), but rather the Rajiv Ghandhi Centre - this centre seeks to help Indian companies step up to the plate (and may finally bridge the gap that spans across Imperial College departments). Unlocking the thought-process to take an fledgling idea from concept to market leadership is surely what this story is all about!

...just leaves me to ponder, would any of the folks at Tanaka Entrepreneurship have had the courage to support the novel wine-making developments in India? (read about it on ft.com) I would think that this story would make an excellent case for Marketing, Strategy (even Breakout Strategy!), Public Policy - and Entrepreneurship! (which course have I left out?) ;o)

Indians drink about 10ml of wine per capita each year
compared with 400ml in China and 50 litres in France

coffee art

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/88475/coffee_art/ - just needs to be saved for future reference!

delayed voice of the short-haul passenger

Following over 2 hour delay with Ryanair it might be useful to register a complaint. Then again, it might not... it might simply be a waste of time.

The delay was in part due to weather conditions (heavy winds), complimented by the need to replace a navigation device that had failed.

The process described online is as follows:

• Send snail-mail to specified address
• Include booking reference, flight details (date/route) and passenger names

For EU Cancellation and Delay Complaints
EU Passenger Compensation Dept
Ryanair Head Office
Dublin Airport
Co Dublin – Fax +353 1 8121230

I see that the low-fare airlines have ganged together to create an association... (elfaa.com) - although something tells me that I could get a lot more handy information from a consumer support organisation, or indeed from the Air Transport Portal of the European Commission

kwari : cash 'n shoot-em

So you think money cannot be made in the virtual worlds? some people are proving this view quite wrong, with first SecondLife millionaires... and now there is the first-person shooter game kwari.

Gives a new meaning to:

"You're Fired" - Alan Sugar

something related, yet different - to get in touch with your feminine side Mr Norgate : TeamEstrogen.com

something un-related : one with special mention for those who undertook the Tesco IMP project... you can now get a laptop encased in bamboo - perhaps suitable for you, Matt?

tech corner : ruby on eclipse

ibm-dev-works : ruby on eclipse

something different : ft.com subs