So I've not written for ages for one reason or another. I'll summarise my health, for the record... I'm not improving but I'm steady. I'm at the stage where I can bear the sickness and dizziness if I look after myself and put some restraints on what I do. If I push myself I start to feel really shit again but at least I'm not as bad as I was back when I first fell ill and I'm not getting any worse... touch wood.

Anyway, there are a couple of things I'd like to chat about... The first is a gripe I have with the UK chain hotels. I'm currently staying in the "Express by Holiday Inn" in Stevenage. Whilst I'm away from home I've got nothing much better to do with my evenings than to work on the project I'm primarily in the office for.... But sacrificing my evenings in this manner requires a compromise. The compromise is a nice cold beer or four.

Whilst I sat with my £3 pint of Grolsh in the hotel bar, I figured I could put a couple of these on expenses if I were cheeky but it's a hideous price to pay and the bar isn't the best place to knuckle down for an evenings work. So I thought I could get some beers from Tesco and drink those... which is where my problem arises.

The beer in Tesco is not chilled and I want cold beer. Because the hotel chains in the UK really aren't all that great they don't supply fridges. Really... a hotel who's main trade is business travellers and no provisions for keeping drinks chilled, it's insane.

So I set my mind thinking and I can now present to you the "Kloopy DIY Hotel Chain Fridge"...

Step 1) All these sort of hotels have a supermarket nearby. Get checked in and dump your luggage and set out to find the shop. On arrival purchase the following items:

Step 2) Having aquired your "Value Washing Up Bowl" and "Ice Cubes" promtly return to your hotel room. Open the bag of ice and place in to the bowl. Using the bathroom tap fill the bowl to about 50% capacity.

Step 3) Place your warm beer from the isles of your chosen supermarket into the water. I can confirm that within about 10 minutes of completing this stage, your beer will be suitably cold for consumption.