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About me - Ian Usher

I lived in communes as a young hippy. Went on to study Welsh Language and Literature as a mature student at university. Then I lived in Greece and Portugal for 12 years as an English teacher.
Recently returned to the UK to settle into my 50s.

I am interested

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Food & Drink > Liquors & Spirits The best brands of cider
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Although there are a number of different brands of cider available, they would be very difficult to separate in terms of taste and overall quality. As far as draught cider is concerned there are about three or four main brands on offer. That is; Strongbow, Bulmers and Blackthorn as the most popular. There is also sometimes t... More..

Food & Drink > Restaurant Recommendations Interesting London restaurants
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Rodizio Rico, London W.1. or Carnage in Notting Hill.Well Westbourne Grove actually but what's a block or two among friends!The word carnage' has its roots in the Latin word Carne' meaning flesh and still means meat in most of the romance languages. The reason it is pertinent here is that this restaurant offers a veritable or... More..

Food & Drink > Recipes (Other) Recipes: Simple dishes for college students
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The test of a good student recipe is that you can buy the ingredients with the change on your bedside table and feed an army with the resulting meal. Corned Beef Hash satisfies all these requirements. It also hits all the right buttons as far as the appetite is concerned; Meat, potatoes, fat, salt, starch and above all taste.... More..

Hobbies & Games > Video Game Reviews Video game reviews: Industry Giant II (PC)
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This is a relatively old game, around four years old, but it has made its way to the discount racks and deserves another airing. You can pick it up for 4.99 at the usual suspects; Currys, Dixons and all electronics/computer shops points west! This review is for those with some knowledge of strategy games otherwise I may as we... More..

Arts & Humanities > Horror, Mystery & Suspense Book reviews: The Lighthouse, by P.D. James
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Don't get me wrong, I love P.D. James. If I'm going to read a whodunit, I can't think of a better author in that genre. Not one that's still alive anyway. Similarly, I love the middle classes, quite literally, since I've married a few in my time. However in this novel P.D. James' slip is showing, and that slip is heavily embr... More..

Entertainment > Album Reviews Album reviews: Pass In Time, by Beth orton
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Apart from anything with lite' written on it there is nothing that annoys me more than when a film or CD is labelled a woman's film' or a man's band' etc. Unfortunately it happens a lot, just like lite', and we just have to tolerate both bland presumptious phenomena. In that vein, a lot of people would tell you that Beth Orto... More..

Travel > Hotel Reviews Hotel reviews: Hotel Astoria Coimbra, Portugal
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The Hotel Astoria is situated in Coimbra, one of the four major cities of Portugal. The other three are Lisbon, Oporto and Braga, and the Portuguese (bless them!) have a little ditty to describe all four. They say, in between mouthfuls of roast suckling pig, that Braga prays, Oporto works, Coimbra studies and Lisbon plays'. F... More..

Hobbies & Games > Video Game Reviews Video game reviews: Spellforce - The Order of Dawn (PC)
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Call me a nerd if you want but after I've dried my eyes with my anorak sleeve I'll tell you that I get a lot of pleasure out of these Dungeons and Dragons' style RPG games. I've played an embarrassingly large number of these games and Spellforce Order of the Dawn' is undoubtedly one of the best, with some reservations that I ... More..

Computers & Technology > Telephones (Other) Cell phone reviews: Motorola V975
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This is more of an obituary than a review really since it is finally time to replace my good old Motorola V975. Even though I've only had the phone for 9 months it is already something of an antique. Nowadays many people change mobiles as often as they change their socks and a mobile that was quite swish a few months ago is n... More..

Entertainment > Album Reviews Album reviews: Unplugged and Unseated, by Rod Stewart
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It's hard for non-babyboomers to believe that Rod Stewart was a cutting-edge R&B troubadour in his time. He was though, and it wasn't until the early eighties that he really became a conversational embarrassment. What happened to the poor sod? LA basically, and too long a separation from Ronnie Wood. Jagger has Keith to keep ... More..

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