As I was unlocking the door to my house, I heard a faint beep and thought the carbon monoxide detector must have run out of battery.

I walked through the door and smelt a faint, unpleasant smell, but dismissed it in my rush to get to the detector to switch it off. Struggling to get the battery out of the detector I finally realised that the detector only switches to battery when the mains power is off, and if the mains power is off, the freezer must be off too.

Not knowing at which point during my two week absence the power went, I opened the freezer and was hit by the most horrible, life-changing smell of rotten meat. The worst smell came from a pack of prawns and even though I quickly closed the freezer again, that smell haunted the entire house for two days, before we managed to get rid of it.

We emptied the freezer and cleaned and deodorised it 5 times before we managed to get rid of most of the smell. A slight smell is still lingering in the freezer itself, but we’ll give it a week to disappear, before we start shopping around for a new freezer.

If there’s a lesson for me to learn here, I guess it is threefold:

• Never, ever leave prawns in the freezer when I go on holiday.
• If I find myself in a similar situation again, disconnect the freezer and wheel it outside, before I open it.
• Consider having someone look after the house the next time I go on holiday.

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The letter was addressed to Richard Branson and it is just too funny to be missed:  Virgin: the world’s best passenger complaint letter?

While The Metros may sound like an April Fools’ Day joke to some, a Metro Award is awarded by the metro industry as “[...] recognition of the urban rail industry’s achievements and contributions to the forward development of the industry.”

Copenhagen Metro is just over 5 years old and was up against much older and larger finalist such as London Underground and Metro de Madrid.

It is of course good to know that industry people think highly of the Danish system, however for travellers it is even better news that 98% of Copenhagen Metro’s passengers are either “satiesfied or very satisfied” with the service according to a customer survey carried out by Copenhagen Metro.

External Links:

Copenhagen Metro announcement (in Danish)

List of Metro Awards 2008 winners

MOO is currently running an Egg Hunt where you have to find Easter Eggs disguised as Mexican wrestlers. If you haven’t joined the hunt yet, you really should – it’s great fun and there are prizes to be won.

At the moment the eggs are hidden online or in products, but from 8 March MOO Eggs can also be found in the Great Outdoors (MOO’s words, not mine), i.e. MOO Egg stickers hidden in various places world-wide.

It’s free to join and MOO publishes daily clues on their blog.

All rules are explained on the MOO Egg Hunt website, and you can prepare for the “Great Outdoors” hunt at the MOO Egg Hunt Flickr group.

The online Egg Hunt finishes on 15 March and the Great Outdoors Egg Hunt on 16 March.

People are quick to find the eggs though, so keep on your toes and good luck!

External Links:

MOO Egg Hunt website

MOO blog

MOO Egg Hunt Flickr group

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