What happens when you get a group of Qypers together and give them a glass of wine? Well, the results aren’t as chaotic as you’d imagine. Following a discussion on the group La Dolce Vita about Italian wine, Amethyst took the task of organising a wine tasting for all of us.

This was a brilliant idea! We all skipped off to Norbiton (no, Siany didn’t know where it was either, right next to Kingston as it turns out). Wined Up Here was our destination of choice and we were treated very well indeed.

Siany isn’t sure if she knows any more about wine, although she does know that she rather likes Sicilian wine - handy as she’ll be there next week instead of writing the Qype blog. There was lots of oooohs and aaaaahs and then after a few more glasses some giggles and hiccups and a rather fun evening was had by all. You can review the event here. We had a great time finding out about all the different wines and there was some great food as well (and also amazing olive oil!). Charlotte really knows her stuff and was very helpful indeed.

Now the Qype events page is set up, it’s even easier for you all to set up your own events without having to wait for the monthly Qype party. Just make sure you take some photos and tell Siany about it so she can put your photos us here.

Special thanks again to Amethyst and also Charlotte at Wined Up Here.

Tags: drunk, events, la dolce vita, party, wine, yum

Where on earth did Barty come from? She’s appeared as if from nowhere and within a week has a whole load of Qype points to her name! She might be the fastest person to whoosh her way to Insider status. Hooray!

If you didn’t meet her at the party, Siany learnt many things about her. Including the fact that she made the mistake of thinking a ‘Martini and Lemonade’ was the same as a Martini cocktail. Siany would laugh but she thought the same thing until a few years back. Here’s some stuff she shared with Siany when her hangover had gone…

Tell us more about you.
My name is Jessica, I’m 17, and I work in London (in the same office as Qype UK, incidentally).
I’ve lived in London for most of my life, with a brief few years in Surrey to finish High School before I moved back to London and started working. I’ve been working for moveme.com for 2 years now, as Marketing Assistant/Copywriter.

My favourite things in life are: socialising, surfing the web and chilling out on the sofa with my boyfriend.

What do you enjoy most about Qyping?
I’m really into the whole social networking / meeting people online thing, and I love the fact that Qype has a perfect balance of an interesting, informative part and a large social networking base.
I also love reading other people’s opinions, and knowing that other people are reading and (most importantly) liking mine too. It’s very rewarding.

What makes you happy about the places you review?
I like feeling that I’m giving something back to the good places by spreading the word and hopefully driving other people there; getting positive feedback about my reviews makes me very happy. It’s also sweet vengeance on the bad places when you can leave them a stinking review.

What annoys you the most?
Qype-wise? I’m not sure I’ve found much that annoys me yet… bad writers I find annoying in general and I’m sure I will come across some of them soon. I really have no time to read bad spelling/ grammar/ writing in general - what’s the point in that?

Generally, I get ridiculously annoyed by commuters, people who walk slowly whom I can’t get past, and people who don’t speak properly. Innit.

What was the place you wanted to keep a secret?
Candy Cakes, in Covent Garden. On the one hand it’s a wonderful place and I want everyone to share my joy of biting into a bright pink, giant cupcake. On the other hand, it gets busy enough as it is and I hate queueing for good food… that’s like mental torture!

How can people write better reviews?
Make them at least five sentences long, so you can detail what you did or didn’t like about the service, the product, the décor, everything. If it’s too short then it’s not informative and information is what Qype is about! I would say ‘good grammar, good spelling’ for whatever language you write in, but I suspect I’ve covered those points already.

Anything else you wanna say?
It’s all I think about at the moment, so I have to say: I’m really looking forward to my 18th Birthday in July, and seeing my best mates Ana and Amber from Germany and Seattle - it’s going to be the best experience of the year and, of course, I promise to review any venues I attend on that brilliant day!

You can read her reviews here. Give her even more points!

Tags: Add new tag, Barty, Candy cakes, drunk, hangover, party, reviews, sober