A lot of us use the web in our every day lives. We book holidays on it, we order our groceries, or we even apply for jobs on it. But the problem with the web is that it's dynamic. Why is that a problem I hear you say? When we buy things or read information about a product or service, we are being told information from the web site that we believe is what we get. But of course, that web site can change and we can lose all evidence of the previous information. Usually this is to fix an error that they were previously unaware of. I am a believer that a large company should be responsible for the mistakes that they put on their web site. Even if it is simply an acknowledgement that they made a mistake, rather than changing the rules and expect us to just like it.

Why do I mention this? I recently purchased a few X-Celerator tickets for Alton Towers which, at the time of buying I was led to believe it allowed priority access to all rides, with any number of goes on each ride.

However, a few days later the web site changed and only said, "one entry per ride". Having brought the most expensive ticket Alton Towers offer, expecting something that doesn't cost them any more money, I was a little frustrated that they could do something like this without explanation. So, from their web site, I rang the number listed and they simply said, "we don't deal with the web site here". Huh? Well who does, because their number was on the web site! So, under their instruction I emailed their team lead for clarification on *why* the web site changed, and who is accountable for the wrong information that I made my purchase over. There has been no response at the time of writing.

So, sure, I am ranting here, but it's a valid point. Large companies need to be able to talk to their customers who are affected by changes they make on their web site. The left hand needs to talk the right hand; not slap it in the face. As a customer, I do enjoy catching large companies out and making sure they hear my voice. If I didn't, I wouldn't be working for IBM since they changed the application deadline on the web site after I had started to fill in an application. If I hadn't printed out the original date from their web site (which was by pure chance), I would not be working for them. They changed the rules, and I got lucky I could prove what they had done. A reason why the dynamic web content isn't good for the little people.

But alas, I went to Alton Towers yesterday, equipped with my X-Celerator ticket. After pursuing the web site issues I had with them, I managed to get (by a good will gesture of Alton Towers staff), 4 additional goes on rides that we could choose. This was a nice result; despite still wanting to have them admit that, yes, they did change it and we were caught out by their mistake!

Issues aside, the trip to Alton Towers was fantastic! The weather was perfect and I got on soooo many rides. Here is a list of all the rides which I went on:

Spinball Whizzer, Oblivion, Submission, Enterprise, Hex, Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, Skyride, Rita Queen of Speed, Corkscrew, The Flume, River Rapids, Duel, Runaway Mine Train, Nemesis, Ripsaw, Air, Air, Nemesis and The Flume.

Yep, that's 19 rides in one day. Pretty good going! I guess my favourite ride is Air and the most intense was Ripsaw. Not because of the motion or speed, but because they spray freezing cold water in your face that felt like diving head first into a lake - especially when it goes up your nose!

All in all, I would easily spend the extra money on the X-Celerator tickets again. The longest queue time was about 10 minutes. Awesome!

That was a nice way to end my week long holiday. I did however squeeze in time to paint a picture before I pack up and head back South ready for starting the constant deadlines, progress reporting and overtime. It's nothing fancy, just this: