Below are the 3 most recent journal entries recorded in Sebastian Morley's InsaneJournal:

Tuesday, November 15th, 2011
5:06 pm	An Ugly Restaurant is a Failing Restaurant An ugly restaurant is a failing restaurant. Price, value, location, service and, of course, the food are all areas which restaurateurs must optimise if they are to make back their (often considerable) investment. There isn’t a restaurant owner in the land who doesn’t work carefully to ensure their food is of the very best quality. They wouldn’t dream of opening their doors if they didn’t think their service was suitable for the area in which they were situated. It’s surprising, then, the number for whom restaurant interior design is only a secondary consideration. The food must be good and the price right, but it won’t matter if people don’t want to be IN your restaurant. Worse still is if the layout of your restaurant is such that it is not practical for an efficient operation. It won't be a pleasant place to be if waiting staff are constantly having to squeeze past diners or if one table has to put up with people queuing up next to them for the toilet. The first thing a restaurant interior designer will do when hired to design or redesign your restaurant is to consider the ergonomics of the place. This means to create a layout which is suitable for human use and allows (even encourages) efficient operation. Restaurants are commonly and necessarily located in prime retail locations, meaning that space is limited. Failure to adapt to this limited space can be disastrous. If waiting staff have to squeeze between tables or if they have to pass through the same gap in order to reach a number of tables, accidents are likely to happen. Staff could collide, guests might shift their chairs out suddenly, etc. Good, ergonomic restaurant interior design will ensure that the distance a waiter or waitress has to carry plates is as small as possible. In multi-layered restaurants, a good old fashioned dumb waiter prevents staff having to carry trays up and down stairs. Some restaurants - notably sushi restaurants - reduce the distance food has to be transported to the bare minimum by making the cooking area the focus of the restaurant. With many customers sat around the bars that surround the cooking area, cooking staff can pass plates directly to them. This also reduces costs, as fewer waiting staff are needed Restaurant interior designers can work with you whether you are building an entirely new set of premises, completely redesigning a newly leased property or just giving your old restaurant an overhaul. Each offers its own set of challenges and rewards, but that’s OK; compromises are terrible, but restrictions are wonderful. Restrictions tell a designer the size and shape of their canvas and what colour paints they have to use. It is the design that makes a great restaurant as much as the area in which you have to work; the Ivy is down a relatively minor side street and yet is one of London’s most exclusive places to dine. People like to feel they're eating somewhere special. Unless you want your restaurant to look like it is part of a chain, then its interior design has to have somethingt that marks it out as unique. In extreme cases, one can end up with restaurants such as New York’s famous BED (now closed), where diners ate reclined on four poster beds. More commonly, this can mean carefully thought out design choices which reflect some internally consistent thought. However large or small your restaurant, it has to be attractive. Food tastes better when people are enjoying themselves. Great design means yours isn’t just a great restaurant; it’s a destination. (Comment on this)
3:04 pm	Retain that Showroom Feel You can be proud of a new car. You can take pride in its soft leather seats, the shine of its paintwork and the gleaming alloys. Pity it never stays like that, eh? Let the kids, dog or - let’s face it - adults loose on your back seat and there’ll soon be spilt juice or coffee all over the place, muck around the mud flaps and grime around the edges of the windscreen. Unless you’re going to put your car in for a regular and pretty deep valet - and how much is that going to cost? - there’s not much you can really do about it. Only, now there is. Autoglym LifeShine creates a protective layer around the interior and exterior of your car. Not only will the process protect your car for the length of your ownership, it will also help it retain much of its value. We’ve all heard the truism that a car plummets in value the moment it leaves the showroom, but much of the vehicle’s resale value is based on its cosmetic condition. Autoglym protects against the myriad smudges, marks and stains that make a car appear old before its time. The Autoglym LifeShine process is available to 70% of the UK population. Fully trained technicians will travel to meet you and can carry out the protection process on site. Alternatively, you can travel to meet them at an authorised garage. The process is only currently available in the UK and Ireland through fully authorised ownerships, so you can rest assured that you are paying for a quality service. First, your car has to be prepared for the process. This means thoroughly cleaning the vehicle to remove any pre-existing dirt and tar spots to ensure the LifeShine has the securest possible application. This section of the treatment is most important on nearly new and used cars, as they are obviously more likely to have amassed some dirt. If necessary, any contaminants (e.g. engine oil) are removed with a clay bar and lubricants. The interior of the car is similarly cleaned and vacuumed, and any pre-existing stains or marks removed (we wouldn’t want to be locking in the very things we are trying to prevent). LifeShine provides your car’s paintwork with an invisible protective layer. As well as protecting your paintwork from even the harshest of weather - it offers protection against acid rain, and industrial fallout and dirt - the coating brightens your car’s shine. LifeShine is also water repellant. This makes cleaning easier, as fluids bead on the surface instead of sinking into upholstery (creating stains) or streaming off the bodywork in sheets. When used on car windows, it also ensures better visibility and greater safety in poor weather conditions. We all want to be proud of our car and that means keeping it looking as good as possible. Keep that paintwork shining for the lifetime of your ownership with Autoglym LifeShine. (Comment on this)
7:35 am	Protect Your Car Against Winter Weather It's always important to make sure that your car is well protected, but especially so during the winter months when it is exposed to road salts, frost and the occasional sunny warm spells which can serve only to bake all the muck onto your paintwork. It’s essential therefore that adequate protection is in place to form a barrier against these elements and to keep your car safe from the environmental onslaught. Road salting is a vitally important part of road safety, but it also has its drawbacks. The flying particles of grit can cause serious damage to the bodywork and chassis of your car, unless you take extra care and the right precautions. The interior of the car isn’t safe either, as muddy boots can bring all the salty, dirty slush inside and onto the carpets, mats and upholstery. You should protect the exterior of your car at the earliest opportunity and ideally before the cold weather sets in. That way, your car is prepared for the winter months. The correct choice of products will give years of protection without the need for repeated waxing and polishing on an ongoing basis. It’s also worth considering protection for the chassis of older cars. Under body and cavity rust proofing is definitely worth doing. When choosing how to protect your car for the winter, there are a range of different solutions available. Some solutions require ongoing polishing (e.g. Autoglym Lifeshine), some require only a certain amount of aftercare treatments (e.g. Diamondbrite), while others require no ongoing maintenance whatsoever (e.g. Supagard). Some of these products come with warranties and guarantees of performance, ranging from three years to the lifetime of your ownership of the treated vehicle. Metalmate offers specialist warranted alloy wheel protection. Alternatively, you could consider just polishing or waxing your car, but the effects will wear off over a relatively short period of time and will need to be repeated at least every three months. When it comes to protecting the chassis and cavities, consider getting your car treated with Waxoyl. It’s a dirty job and definitely one best left to the determined DIY motorist. But don’t fear; a number of Waxoyl treatment specialists exist. Such treatments are common with off road vehicles like Land Rovers and Range Rovers, imported vehicles, and classic cars. It is, however, still important to do the cavities of all vehicles. Water can often get trapped in cavities: especially in the door, where trapped water will often fail to drain properly. The treatment will typically last up to 5 years, depending on what car you are treating. Protecting your car paint, upholstery, alloys and chassis is all very well and good, but there are a number of other important factors you should consider in order to get to the spring; FLUIDS: For a start, remember to check the fluid levels regularly. That means the oil, antifreeze and screen wash. In particular, a regular oil change is the simplest and most important element to keeping your engine running properly. FUEL: Always make sure you have plenty of fuel in your car because you never know when you might get held up or have to take a diversion. If there is a long trip you regularly do on a single tank, fill up before returning: it’s always important to have a contingency plan. TYRES: Ensure all your tyres have sufficient tread left. In cold weather, it is worth considering installing good quality winter tyres. They are now proven to provide better grip and performance at temperatures below 6°C. VISIBILITY: Lights bulbs, wiper blades, de-misters, heated windows, etc all need to be in good working order if you are to ensure that you can see other cars properly and they can see you. BATTERY: With heaters, lights, de-misters and all the rest running, poor weather can mean you put a lot of demand on your car's battery. Make sure to have your battery tested, especially if it is more than 2 or 3 years old. A dead battery is one of the most common causes for cars failing to start during the winter. ESSENTIALS: It pays to be prepared! Bring a blanket, a light source such as a torch, food, water, a first aid kit and a de-icer. It’s also worth considering buying an Emergency Winter Survival kit. Ask an expert for a great car paint protection or vehicle paint protection. (Comment on this)