a room with a view…
And true to form after the undisputed fabulousness of my last London base a scant three weeks ago, the payback – as regular readers may remember, hotel-karma is a good friend of mine and the deceptively nicely-furnished and clean but otherwise utterly shambolic Edinburgh incall base which I have called home for the last three days would put Basil Fawlty to shame. Fortunately the punters of the city are a stoic and uncomplaining bunch, and after a slightly shaky start, I have made some lovely new friends, caught up with some old ones and spent a few hours exploring a different part of the city – yay!
Since I’m still in said hotel for the next ten hours or so (and in all fairness, using their free wifi which so far has worked perfectly well), it would be foolish to expand at this point, but suffice to say I have had enough of sub-Saharan temperatures in October, a total lack of any normal hotel facilities including (incredibly) a safe, a minibar/fridge, drawers and the constant traveller’s ever-present bête noire, available electric sockets – God forbid I may need to charge my BlackBerry, use this netbook and make tea at the same time. Oh, and housekeeping services; having eventually given up altogether and done the room myself two days in a row now with the help of the unattended linen trolleys (which admittedly would be a recommendation for some) I can safely say I will not be returning, and my March visit will be coordinated from elsewhere. Any-elsewhere, in fact. Those who know my Tripadvisor nick can expect a full and comprehensive breakdown, hopefully before I have one myself.
On to more pleasant matters, and the last ten days or so have allowed for minimal work and a much-needed rest at home, plus a couple of very nice lunch opportunities (picture above from the White Swan in Pickering – recommended). I have cooked, pottered, hibernated and (OK) worked a bit and left for Scotland on Sunday fully refreshed and desirably organised (until the first train ran late, I missed my pre-booked connection at York and it all started degenerating from there on). Fast forward to this evening and things have improved markedly, but Belfast beckons and hopefully even a decent night’s sleep! The rest of the week away awaits as of tomorrow, and I am trying hard not to think about Flybe…
A brief missive for now then – more later. There are a handful of Belfast appointments left but not many, and I can’t wait – as ever, email to book and I’ll post more soon-as.
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October 27th, 2011 at 8:25 pm
Hey Missus you must give me the heads up on where not to book in sunny Edinburgh. You’ll have a ball in Belfast, if you need anyone to translate you know where I am. :D xx
October 27th, 2011 at 10:52 pm
I surely will – mail on its way soon. To be fair it did have a view, only the view was shit.
I love Belfast! It’s timewaster central, but they’re so inept they’re not hard to spot, and I have four double sockets and a single *sighs contentedly*. Have not long had a massive Chinese on Botanic for under twenty quid too :D.