Um no offence intended to any of our ATC chaps/dolls as I am sure they are just following their own (sometimes misguided) procedures in this case but, I would have thought if the controller doesn't know what i mean when i say "visual" he/she should maybe go back and read a few books...
when i say 'visual' it means i can see the f*^king airport!
While i am whingeing and bleating like a pom at the cricket, the familiar "hurry up" and then 5 minutes later "now slow down" on descent is a bit annoying. I know ATC is trying to be helpful in giving us high speed descents as often as possible, but when they cancel speed after top of descent the whole profile changes and extra fuel is wasted regaining the new high speed profile i.e. to make a high speed descent as efficient as possible it needs to be given prior to top of descent. Having said that though, if it is combined with track shortening it can often work out that extra thrust is not needed. To further complicate the issue, track shortening is generally always welcome, but i am reluctant to accept a lot of track shortening close to the airport in less than good VMC e.g. after a 9 hour back-of-the-clock flight getting NEFER direct Rockdale at HORUS coming in to Rwy 16 in melbourne with even, say, scattered @ 2500 is something i will generally refuse.