nirvana (plan b)…
Well after all that (predictably pre-drafted on Thursday evening and auto-published in the name of common sense) it turned out that sadly the R&R, for the first time in five years or so, was not forthcoming on this occasion thanks in no small part to Champney’s executive decision somewhere along the line to replace whatever was responsible for providing their wifi service with a boiled potato (probably).
This was bad enough on its own, but when exacerbated by a complete and blanket lack of any peace and quiet anywhere on the premises outwith the wifi connection (anybody fancy being shut in a building in the middle of nowhere with loud-voiced strangers who talk incessantly about nothing in particular apparently to fill up the silence which is the whole point of being there in the first place? No?) all was irrevocably lost. Even holing up in my room like a fugitive in my quest for a noise free zone didn’t help once the cleaners started slamming doors just to the right of my bed (and continuing their conversation throughout, despite eventually being at opposite ends of the corridor said room was in the middle of) and I finally threw in the towel when the window cleaner started crashing about at the window to the left – if it sounds like a bad joke, be assured, it also felt like one.
Take all that and raise it an almost total lack of any mobile signal so even my back up O2 portable hotspot was completely useless and we, or at least I have a problem, although fortunately one which like so many others was easily solvable by bursting into tears of incandescent fury and frustration in the privacy of the toilet before composing oneself, mentally waving goodbye to the cash and rapidly bogging off home for hot chocolate and Netflix. I can paint my own bloody toenails anyway.
I should probably point out that I can manage, if admittedly not very well or for very long, without The Internet provided I know about it beforehand (in much the same way as I can manage quite happily without TV, newspapers and more than happily without the telephone), but to promise and then fail to deliver is, like any other goalpost-moving, not cricket. Thankfully three days on and after some real, bona fide relaxing at home in my bunny slippers with Mackie’s ice cream, American Horror Story and appropriately silent fishes I am well and truly bright eyed, bushy tailed and resolutely back on form. And I even got the freezer defrosted!
Preparations for Christmas are well underway with the shopping, incredibly, nearly all done (including personalised cards from Scribbler, who have taken up residence on the Quidco Unlock 50 Quid special offer page) and present wrapping will commence at a leisurely pace soon if for no reason other than to get it out if the way. For a very pleasant change and because for once I don’t have a couple of week-long trips to pack for followed by half a dozen trains and planes to catch between now and the day, I might even leave it for a week or two – yay! I’m not quite sure how festive the flat will wind up, but I’ll think of something.
Anyway, all systems go here until Wednesday 17th – new photos and the Christmas Hours page on the way too!
More soon…
Subscribe to blog feed.
About the Author: