something a little different

Hi everyone, since I last posted on here I have picked up some other hobbies, one of them is playing MMO games, mainly Star Trek Online and also Star Wars the Old Republic, In this post I will be showing you my main character in Star Trek Online.

Today I will be showing you one of my many characters and their ships in Star Trek Online.

This is an image of the first character I have, this is also the login screen sans interface controls, in this image you can also see the fearsome looking ship I command, the Catian Atrox Carrier. I will include my description of this beautiful fighting machine later in the blog post. This ship can be bought from the Zen store for around £25/€29/$39. 

I have also included an image of the Bridge which in star trek for carriers is huge, the image below and on the left is a view from the captain's chair or the big chair, while the image on the right is a view from the viewing screen at the front of the bridge looking back towards the big chair and beyond. I have also included an image of my captain, as this was my very first character its face is modeled as close to me as I can get, the armor is a set I spent a long time playing the game so I could get it 

 Next up is a look at the ship from inside Starbase 001 more commonly known as Earth Spacedock

following on from that is a look at some of the fighter compliment I carry aboard the port (left) and starboard (right) hangars.

First up is an image of some fighter jets already launched with another one about to be catapulted out the starboard hangar

 following on from this we have the other set of fighters, or more accurately shuttles, made famous in my eyes by Star Trek Deep Space nine which in game terms is over 60 years into the future, realistically from today in 2013 that's nearly 400 years from now. These blast from the hangars in pairs rather than wings of 3 so instead of 12 jets you only get 8 of these, this is substantial when fighting the Borg, which is what I and my pilots of the jets and shuttles usually do.

Finally to round up the fighter compliment section, here is a screenshot of the majority of the shuttles escorting me while I have asked my Trill Science officer Yanis to “hit the kill switch” on board ship, only maintaining the essential systems, this is useful against any enemy as they cannot detect you.

It is only rivaled by the cloaking devices of the federation ships, Tactical Escort Retrofit, the most famous in my eyes are the U.S.S. Defiant and U.S.S. Sáo Paulo (later Defiant), introduced in the Star Trek Deep Space Nine episodes The Search Part 1 & Dogs of War respectively.  Also the Galaxy X which is the version of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D from the Next Generation episode All Good Things that Adm. William Riker commands.

That concludes the blog post, in the future I will do other posts on my other ships and characters

New Content

Hi all sorry I haven't been blogging for a long time but real life kinda got in the way, I now have more free time though as my GCSE's, A-Levels, and 1st year of HND are now complete. I will be updating regularly with reviews as I have been doing along with various things from my other hobbies like the MMO games I play

An outing to Waterville

Waterville was supposedly Charlie Chaplin's favourite holiday spot and his statue is there in bronze on the sea front for all to have their photo's taken along side. It was quite a blowy day when we visited but at least it was dry. We had a short walk from the car park and looked for somewhere with easy wheelchair access for lunch. we decided on the Bay View Hotel, which was easily accessible . Inside was a little drab , but it seemed quite well frequented.

We ordered from the menu and from the specials board too. Two of our party had fish and chips thinking it should be good in a coastal setting the menu said a portion of cod and a portion of haddock., One of our party asked for just cod which the waitress said was fine but not what he got , he still got one of each, and the portions were quite small a bit like large fish finger size and the batter was tasteless.The chips did appear to be home made and were good but there was no option of mushy peas or any other side order.

Another of our party also had fish from the specials board, Hake with potatoes and ratatouille,the hake was over cooked and dry but the vegetables were nice. another  had another special, tiger prawns in garlic wine and cream sauce with chili and peppers. The prawns were over cooked and hard and the sauce was totally non-descript taste wise with no heat in the chilli's.

The final member of our party had what according to the menu was a BRAZIL burger so was expecting something with spice and a bit exotic. It was obviously a spelling error as the burger was tasteless but smelt of basil. there were some onion rings to accompany the burger and the comment was they were the best part of the meal.

Sorry no pictures this time.

Thunderstone House-Elgin town centre

Hello today I will be reviewing the Thunderstone House which is located in Elgin Scotland. The pub is situated up an alley and if we hadn't been given directions and then asked where to find T.K.Max we may not have actually found the place. The pub was quaint,rustic but clean. surprisingly empty , more so after tasting the food. The menu wasn't huge but had a wide variety of meals and enough for all tastes and appetite sizes. We didn't realise that all meals came with chips and a choice of vegetable of the day or salad.

OK on to the food we sampled, all the members of our party had the £4.95 meal deal which included the soup of the day which alone was around £2,the day we visited it was tattie (potato), leek and Stilton.

The soup was rich and creamy and all the flavours were identifiable and none were overpowering of the others. It really did taste homemade.

 The only thing that could have improved this dish would have been perhaps some crunchy croutons or a crusty cob and butter.

The first member of our party had macaroni, he said that it didn’t have enough bite and the pasta was a bit overcooked unlike that he was used to having at home but the cheese sauce was flavoursome.Over all very filling though presentation wise it didn't look very appealing and the comment at the table on first sight was it looked a bit like vomit on the plate.

 
The 2nd member of our party had Chili,which on the menu said it was very spicy. The party member said she was pleasantly surprised that it did have some heat to it unlike many you get when eating out and it was warming and that it was the only chili that she had, had at a restaurant that had a nice kick. The party member was happy she had had salad and was offered condiments but there was no salad cream available only mayonnaise sachets.The party member did leave some chips but these too did appear homemade as were not all uniform in size.

The 3rd member of our party had Steak and Ale pie,again with a pile of chips. He said that the meat was so tender it tasted like home-made unlike the hard meat you often get in pies. The pastry crust was light and crisp and there was plenty of meat and the gravy/sauce was rich and substantially thick and coated the meat well.

The service staff were pleasant and helpful offering to move tables and chairs for easy access and staff could be seen taking their break at the bar and eating the food served in the pub too.

There were disabled toilet facilities but as the building dates back to 15th century it has obviously just been adapted and was fairly difficult for me to access, as my carer had to hold the door open while I reversed in and side transferred to the toilet, luckily my chair has arms that can lift and fall backwards allowing for easy transfers. Not something you could easily do independently.

Overall if you are in Elgin and in need of some filling and acceptably tasty food well worth a visit in my opinion. 

Well that concludes this review. Please feel free to leave any comments and thanks for popping by.

Mac's the high street Kilarney

Have to say don't have any photos of our meals at this place as we only decided to go for lunch after a walk around town and as it was quite cold and wet we all decided it was time for a warm lunch, well at least somewhere that looked warm. The front of the restaurant on this precinct doesn't look very big but as you walk to the back it opens up and there are plenty of tables though it was still quite busy. It reminded me of the old restaurants with waitress service but sounded and had the air of a cafeteria too. It was clean and airy. The toilets were to the back and though there was disabled toilets they were within the ladies and gents respectfully so no mixed sex helpers. There was little wheel chair turning space in the toilets as the doors opened inwards and to get to the toilet you have to do a side transfer.

The food was adequate,one of our party had fish and chips which had a nice beer batter fish,loads of quite dry chips and was served in a paper bag on a plate. There was a side order of mushy peas but for the amount no more than a spoonful they may as well have not bothered.

Another of our party had soup which was said to taste like homemade and quite nice and tasty.

Others had Irish stew which though nice lacked seasoning and was bland, goujon chicken tika wraps with chips , the chips again dry but the wraps flavoursome and a Mac's  house salad which contained loads of lettuce despite saying a variety of ingredients including avocado, which was sparse in quantity and what there was was very under ripe.

Other parts of Kilarney-
The outlet centre is quite small though seems quite busy, and at least dry, with a reasonable car park . The disabled toilets are on the upper level accessed via a lift and is a nightmare to use. The door opens inward and to access I had to remove both my foot panels and get up to the wall to close the door not something I could have done unaided. I then had to side transfer to the toilet and to exit had to reverse out backwards.

The Spaniard Inn, Kinsale,Ireland

We visited this restaurant after reading reviews in a tourist book and thought it might be worth a visit. We actually walked there from the harbour of Kinsale which was actually hard work as it was all up a very steep hill and I needed a lot of assistance to get there. We didn't know if there was a car park and after visiting there is minimal on road parking. Not somewhere to go unless you are feeling lucky or very strong.

The restaurant is on 2 levels though downstairs was closed so we again ate in the bar. The bar was access by a ramp and the barmaid who was there was very helpful in accommodating us, moving chairs and tables to make access easy. The table was a nice height but not much room to get under but I managed.

Our meal took a little while to arrive even though the bar was empty, well the level we were on as I couldn't get downstairs that may have been busier, though with the down pour of rain and being a fair walk from the harbour I think this is doubtful.

The two men of our party had sirloin steak, and both asked for it to be cooked differently. When it arrived both had exactly what they had asked for and said it was very tasty and tender too.It was served with pepper sauce which was quite a strong flavour, so don't have this if you don't like pepper!

I had thai fish cakes which were full of flavour and quite filling.

Our other two party members also had fish based meals, one had a smoked salmon platter which again was filling and flavourful.The other had west cork crab salad. The presentation was a little unusual and not what any of us expected but it was tasty and filling especially with the bread.

The toilets.

To access the toilets again you had to go outside must be the thing in this part of Ireland. They looked a bit like old storage sheds that had been converted and were far from spectacular, bolt fastenings were hanging from the doors and didn't open fully for entrance and exit in the ladies. Dad just said they were small and unkempt. There didn't appear to be a disabled toilet outside and there would be no way to get into either gents or ladies with any kind of aid. I don't know if there were disabled facilities elsewhere in the building but I didn't see any and had to wait to go to the next public loo we found back in Kinsale.

Kate Kearney's Cottage at the Gap of Dunloe Ireland

I visited Kate Kearney's cottage at the start of the Gap of Dunloe in July 2010, not in the school holidays but still quite busy with a couple of coaches. The car park isn't very big and we didn't find a disabled parking spot , not that we could see anyway. The restaurant and pub  is entered via the shop and we ate in the pub as the restaurant wasn't open at that time. The restaurant looked very nice and a stark contrast in decor to the pub, which was quite dark in decor. There is alot of dark wood and the floor was dark wood too which was a little sticky. There was a large open fire that was lit, July was quite cold and wet , and you could smell this throughout the pub. It was quite hard to maneuver through to somewhere to sit in my wheelchair and to find somewhere that could accommodate all 5 in our party. We sat in a corner with 2 tables. The chairs weren't particularly comfy so the rest of my party told me and the table wasn't a comfortable height to eat from, too high for the sofa seat and too low for me in my chair.


To order you went to the bar with a table number and paid. There were packet condiments on the table along with beer mats for drinks, well it is a pub.


The meals didn't take too long to arrive and our party had a variety from the menu.

Two had bacon and cabbage which came with mash and parsley sauce. The meat was very tender but for those without a huge appetite there was too much potato, though it was nice and one said it needed more sauce.

One of our party had the salmon which it is reported was cooked perfectly, a good portion and not dry at all. This party member asked for salad rather than vegetables and the salad was again a substantial portion with a good mix of salad ingredients.

Our 4th party member had sirloin steak 10oz and requested it to be cooked medium to well done which was exactly as it came and he said it was still tasty and tender.This came with pepper sauce which was definitely in need of seeing a bit more pepper.

Our final member of the party opted for roast lamb.Again the portion size was not for the faint hearted and it came with 'some of the nicest  carrots I've had in a long time' to quote that person. That's quite something as they are not a vegetable person.


Desserts, well only 2 of our party were up to that challenge, one had apple pie which was nice and not too sweet. It was served with a garnish of physallis though which would have been better on the other dessert sampled the chocolate fudge cake.

The fudge cake was very, very chocolaty and the chocolate sauce it was served with made it quite cloggy to eat. The cake on its own was light. I felt it would have been better served with some ice cream or cream to lighten the overall very rich dessert.


Some of our other party members finished their meal with a cup of tea which was served with generous helpings of milk.




The toilets.


At the time of our visit as I said it was raining alot and the gents toilets were accessed by going outside from the pub restaurant. Both the ladies and gents were ok but appearance was run down though they weren't smelly. The disabled toilet was fairly easy to get to though I required help to get through the access door. The toilet itself was quite small and once the wheelchair was in I had to transfer to the toilet on an angle and come out of the toilet backwards. Not easy as the ladies toilets were in close proximity and I couldn't see if I would hit anyone with the door.


All in all, a very friendly place, staff not overly helpful and toilets clean but a definite challenge. Good place for local cultural atmosphere providing there are no coach loads of have to say mostly Americans .

Food if you are hungry and want some good comfort food a good place to eat, but don't wear your best shoes.

RE: Card for my Dad

thanks everyone for choosing me as your winner and giving me all the nice comments, Ive only got one more exam to go finally. Funnily enough one of my friends on facebook set their status as 'i think we're all in need of a MASSIVE party for when we finish exams' I commented on it then heres the funny thing, that same friend puts 'party at yours then? SATURDAY AT 7 IT IS :)' and I was like No what gave you that idea. Anyway those are some of the amusing things that are on my facebook news feed at the moment. Thanks again for all the comments, thought some of you would find it funny I know my mum won't though

Card for my Dad

Mum said I had to make my own card for Dad this year, something about it being a distraction from my revision. Thank God I only have 2 exams left though I really can't be bothered with them at all. Mum said I'd got to get my card done today and do some maths revision for the exam on monday, boring additional maths. I agreed to do my card only as it stops her nagging me about maths revision, and I've had her running up and down to her craft room getting me stuff and changing my mind so as I don't have to do more maths. Now I'm putting this post here and have pinched her note book so I can enter some challenges, I can see I might have to ask for some more help, but hey it's better than maths revision.

I said I wanted to enter into some challenges for father's day. I don't do arty craft normally as it's just too slow and messy computer games are more me but I'm quite pleased with this and I didn't smudge too much but my hands kept shaking when I was colouring. I don't like colouring much as my cerebral palsy makes it hard to keep in the lines and then I get cross and hate being disabled. Mum really hates my colour scheme and kept trying to suggest other colour but I like bright colours especially ones that wind mum up. I asked her to put the picture on too and she can do the link thinks for the challenges. I'm only doing this cos when mum put my card up for Granddad I got some nice comments and mum said that wasn't fair so she wouldn't do it again, I could do it on my blog so I am. Only joking mum, and thanks if you read this.

Challenges;-
The corrosive challenge- layout
Raise the bar-what a special guy
Creative inspirations- for the boys
A crafty little place- one for the boys
Incy wincy- one for the guys
cupcake craft- one for the boys
craftycardmakers- cards for men
Pear tree designs- fathers day
magical crafts fortnightly challenge-fathers day
crafty ho's -think bright
totally gorjuss-card for a male



I can't believe mum found me so many challenges to enter, she can have her book back now. Wonder if I'll win anything?

Welcome to Critic on wheels...

...the restaurant review site with a difference. I look at it from the point of view of someone who uses a wheelchair to get around, as well as how good the food and service are, whether I think it was value for money, atmosphere and ambience and of course how wheelchair friendly they are.