• New: added Polish translation, curtesy Jakub.
• Fixed: an issue in 1303 that ignored headings with the opening tag on the first line and the heading text on a new line. Thanks to richardsng for the quick discovery.

If you run into issues, or have suggestions, please make them at http://dublue.com/plugins/toc/

• New: option auto insert after the first heading. Thanks to @thelawnetwork for requesting it.
• New: allow headings to be excluded from the table of contents. This is available both globally under the advanced section of Settings > TOC+ and individually with the TOC shortcode. Check out the help material for examples. Thanks to the many of you that requested it.
• New: advanced option to lowercase all anchors. The default is off.
• New: advanced option to use hyphens rather than underscores in anchors. The default is off.
• New: shortcode to list all posts in alphabetical order grouped by first letter.
• New: added Slovak translation, curtesy Branco Radenovich.
• Add version numbers to CSS/JS files to better support setups that cache these files heavily for timely invalidation. Thanks to boxcarpress for the amendments.
• Add CSS class ‘contracted’ to #toc_container when the table of contents is hidden. Thanks to Sam for suggesting it.
• With smooth scroll enabled, do not use an offset if no admin bar is present and the offset value is default. This means that public users do not have the offset space at the top.
• New help material for developers under the help tab.
• Added API function: toc_get_index() lets you retrieve a table of contents to be placed within PHP. Check out the new developer help material for examples.
• Allow anchors to be filterable using toc_url_anchor_target to customise further through code. Check the new developer help material for an example. Thanks to Russell Heimlich for the tip.
• Adjust CSS and JS registration.
• Updated jQuery Smooth Scroll to 1.4.10.
• Fixed: When using the widget, addressed an issue where the index with special characters (such as ‘ and “) would not link to the correct spot within the content. Thanks to esandman for raising it.
• Fixed: Saving at Settings > TOC+ resets TOC+ widget options. Thanks to Chris for reporting it.

If you run into issues, or have suggestions, please make them at http://dublue.com/plugins/toc/

• New: allow %PAGE_TITLE% to be used in the TOC title.  Note that this also works in the widget title too.  When used, this variable will be replaced with the current page’s title.  Thanks to Peter for the request.
• New: new option to hide the TOC initially.  Thanks to Jonas, Jonathan, and Doc Germanicus for requesting it.
• New: added ability to customise visited TOC link colour.
• New: option to restrict generation to a URL path match.  For example, you can restrict to wiki pages that fall under http://domain/wiki/ by entering /wiki/ into the field.  The setting can be found in the advanced options.  Thanks to Tux and Justine Smithies for suggesting it.
• Make regular expressions less greedy.  That means you can have multiple headings on a single line whereas before you needed to ensure each heading was on their own line.  Thanks to drdamour for raising and providing a fix.
• Also make regular expressions match across multiple lines.  This means you can have your single heading split across many lines.
• Better accessibility: when using smooth scrolling, allow for focus to follow the target, eg tabbing through will continue from the content block you clicked through to.
• Better performance: as requested by a few, javascript files have been consolidated into one and both javascript and CSS files are now minified.
• ‘Auto’ is now the default width which means it’ll take up the needed amount of space up to 100%.  The previous default was a fixed width of 275px.
• Added the ability to exclude entire branches when using [sitemap_pages] and [sitemap_categories] using the exclude_tree attribute.  Thanks to Benny Powers for requesting it.
• Wrap index numbers around span tags to enable easier CSS customisation.  The spans are have two classes: toc_number and toc_depth_X where X is between 1 and 6.  Thanks to Matthias Krok for requesting it.
• Moved the ‘preserve theme bullets’ option into the advanced section.
• Updated and simplified the translation file.
• Fixed: [sitemap_categories] using the wrong label when none was specified.  Thanks to brandt-net for raising it.  The labels for both [sitemap_pages] and [sitemap_categories] may be removed in a future update as you can insert the title within your content.

If you run into issues, or have suggestions, please make them at http://dublue.com/plugins/toc/

After seeing him for the first time, he was the largest of the litter and the most energetic, playful and explorative.  It would seem that he was the alpha of the group, thoughts that were later reaffirmed as he dominated pillows, towels, ugg boots, etc.  Being a puppy, he has a knack for tasting and chewing everything: daffodils, rose bushes, branches, weeds, rocks, metal railings…

His formal name is Rivajazz Simba and he has potential for something big, but probably take after me and be a champion snorer.

And his pedigree:

• Sire: Montego Chandon On Ice (S: Ch Shogold Champagne On Ice, D: Ch Montego Absolute Bliss)
• Dam: Montego Star Dreamer (S: Ch Inniscroft Keep the Faith, D: Inniscroft Twinkle-Li’l-Star)

Simba was born on 30/7/12.  Young is slightly over 2 hours drive from Canberra but the drive was pleasant both there and back as we were lucky enough not to have any toilet accidents.

A map of the main spots I’ve been to on this trip can be found below.

View Ireland and England trip in a larger map

It seems like we timed our trip well.  In Dublin we had the tall ships, then we had them again in Liverpool.  We then had St Giles Fair in Oxford, the Ludlow Food Festival, and now we have the Thames Festival, paralympic closing ceremony, olympic parade, and Elizabeth Tower renaming in London.  People, people, everywhere.

If you’re going to London, I second a recommendation given to me to obtain an Oyster card which provides easy (and cheaper) access to public transport.  We started off on the tour buses but they took forever to complete the loop so ended up using the underground for all transport.  The system is great and is what Melbourne’s myki should be.

As we travelled around London, the many long years of studying English history (read: Monopoly) paid off as I could recognise the names and somewhat gauge the wealth of the area.  We didn’t spend too much time at Mayfair.

The food… quite average.  I tried the award winning Cornish pastie from the authentic Cornish pastie store on Oxford St and it was… average.  It had some chunky potatoes and not much taste, furthermore, they reheat your selection in the microwave losing the crunch you expect.  It reminded me of my experience with the fish and chips / mushy peas from the Lake District.  And you all were right, coffee really sucks here – even from Starbucks.

So in London, we have been to:

• London Eye
• Big Ben / Elizabeth Tower
• Houses of Parliament
• Westminster Abbey
• Tower of London
• London Aquarium
• London Bridge
• Tower Bridge
• St Paul’s Cathedral
• IMAX cinemas (largest in England)

And we’re planning to do either of the following if we can:

• Arsenal stadium tour
• Visit the land of time: Greenwich
• Cutty Sark
• Natural History Museum

So that’s probably it from me.  We’re flying out late tomorrow and I can’t wait for our 22 hour flight back.

For one year only, one of the museum’s exhibitions showcases 50 vehicles from the 007 Bond movies.  It is the single most largest collection in the world.

The most expensive car in the museum is worth about 8 million pounds and they still take it out to the races.

Stonehenge

On top of the fence surrounding the region, those that pay are restricted to a path that takes you around the wonder.  As shown on the sign, you cannot run up to the stones – or anywhere near it.

Batheaston

The Old Mill Hotel was our pit stop for the night for a long day at Bath tomorrow.  It did have a nice Italian restaurant though.

After checking in, our actual day in Liverpool was short and it didn’t help with the constant sprinkling.  There were some tallships in town and they too had their own special race.

Our hotel is in a great location, on the edge of the River Mersey and dead in the middle of Albert Dock which houses the main attractions.  Our window overlooks the Big Wheel.

For dinner, we went into the Spice Lounge in Albert Dock and it was a fantastic decision.  We had a butter and cheesie naan bread, boiled rice, Chicken Korma (left dish, pansy heat), Saag Aloo (spinach with potatoes, middle dish), and Chandni Chowk (lamb, medium heat, right dish).  We were fighting each other for the lamb dish and it was the perfect medium heatness.  The entire meal was fantastic so if you’re in the area, give it a try – we’ll surely be coming back again.

Day 2 (1 Sept)

We went to the World Museum which had exhibitions on Egypt, the Roman empire, dinosaurs, an aquarium, and a section on photography.  After which, we walked around St George’s Hall which used to house a court and gaol underneath.

For dinner, we went back to the Spice Lounge and ordered Murgh Tikka Karara for starters, Chandni Chowk (the same lamb dish), Chicken Chengizi (which was quite sweet), and Saag Paneer for veggies (spinach and cheese).

Day 3

This was a lazy day, went to the Museum of Liverpool where we learnt that Everton is regarded as the Queanbeyan of Liverpool.  Tom is in revolt for his favourite team.

We had to go to the Spice Lounge for our last meal with them.  It must have been our best curries ever.

View 599 Bus Tour in a larger map

The area is dog friendly as they allow them to come within shop buildings.  Many shop owners leave filled water bowls outside their stores for the four legged friends.

We got off at Bowness and did a lake cruise.  The birds eat food out of your hand – if you’re game enough. I went and got a cottage pie as I was still getting over what has become our morning routine, the English breakfast.

For dinner, we went to Lazy Daisys in Windermere as it had the most number of customers.  For entrees, we both got the soup of the day.  Tom had the Yorkshire Pudding and I thought I had ordered a fancy Haddock fish dish but it turned out to be basic fish and chips with mushy peas.  For dessert, Tom had the sticky toffee pudding with hot custard and I asked if they had any sticky date pudding not knowing that they were the same thing – she said no nonetheless so I got the icecream.

By the way, there have been floods displacing families to the western areas of Cumbria and it is now official, this summer has been the wettest since 1912.

It is a really nice area and for such a small town, it’s busy with a booming tourism.  I would definitely do a few walks here next time.

We weren’t sure what the speed limit was on the motorway so I went at around 60 mph thinking that was similar to our 100 km/h zones.  I was quickly overtaken by lorries, elderly, and two door hatches.  It turns out that the speed limit was 80 mph or 132 km/h.  Even at 80 mph, we were frequently overtaken.  This limit may have just recently been increased from 70 mph this year.

We first went onto Vindolanda which was a Roman fort off the wall.  The site had continued excavations occurring.  There was a nice museum at the bottom but it wasn’t Hadrian’s Wall so we continued onto The Housesteads.  The Housesteads housed about 800 soldiers and at its height and still has a good amount of the Wall left – enough to walk on.  If you have a dog, it would be a great track to walk them.

The dialects were amazing at Newcastle, as in bordering incomprehensible when spoken quickly.  As much as we liked it there, we were happy to come across people that we could understand a little better.

This shopping complex is massive.  Similar to Blanchardstown, it would seem like an entire suburb was devoted to all things commercial.  There was a Tesco which is a Kmart and Coles joined together spanning the length of four Tuggeranong Bunnings warehouses.

We purchased the cheapest GPS for 50 pounds and immediately settled our nerves.  If you’re driving in a foreign country, let alone city, make sure you use a GPS to help you along your way.

We also took the opportunity to grab a quick meal at McDonalds before heading into town.  I attribute the Maccas to my early crash for the day (fell asleep at 4:30pm until 6:30 the next morning).

Tom later had the munchies and went into a shop named “Fish n Chips” for their pinnacle dish.  Normally he can tolerate strange flavours where one would normally pass but he couldn’t complete it saying it was the worst fish and chips he ever had.

28 August

After our complimentary breakfast (which looks very similar to an Irish breakfast), we went in search of a currency exchange as we forgot to do it at the airport.  It turns out that you should avoid doing it at the airport as you get worse rates.  We were refused by the main banks (Barclays and HSBC) as we weren’t customers.  I exchanged all Euros except for the 500 Euro note as you need to provide your passport (your drivers license will not do), location of where you originally obtained the note, and your UK based phone number (or location of hotel you’re staying at). Maybe I’ll have better luck disposing the note at a casino.

We then hopped onto the red city tour buses and did a full loop of the city which took about an hour.  We ended up going into the Great North Museum which had exhibits on Egypt, Iraq, Dinosaurs, Greece, and animals.

For afternoon tea, we went through the gates of China Town and had a three course meal for 7.5 pounds.  Tom had the sweet corn soup and I had bbq spare ribs for entrees.  We then had curry chicken and crispy beef with rice and ended with some ice cream.

We later played three games of pool and let me say that there clearly was a better.  I’ll leave it there.

29 August

We checked out and went to the Discovery Museum and easily spent the next two hours there before having lunch and driving off to Hadrian’s Wall.