Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2013-06-03 21:54:14 - Graham Ellis
• Landlady's son doing chemistry Homework on the breakfast table
• The tinkling of piano keys as scales are practised, and trumpet practise
• Hot water that turn cold halfway through filling a bath
• The lace curtain that pops off its rail in the middle of the night
• Deciding what you want for breakfast the night before
• Having your toiletries all lined up and tidied during the day - hairbrush into pot etc rather than being left neatly on top of wash bag.
• Hearing activity in the room next to yours as if it's your room
• Last week's Daily Mail at breakfast
• 3 switches, all of which have to be "on", to get a bedside light
• A host who walks in to your bedroom at 8 a.m. without so much as a knock on the door
• Bath under a sloping roof - certainly can't stand upright in it
• Dressing table that's just big enough for a MacBook Air and an Ikea light
• Finches singing in their cage in the breakfast room all through breakfast
All charmingly quaint when staying with friends or at home, but on a business trip in a B&B, just a little bit too much like home. Had it really been like home - "come and join us in front of the BIG TV / we love having people in" - had any interest been shown, I think I would be more accepting of the above. As it is, I feel that I'm treading on eggshells in these people's nice home, and that I'm really here for that oldest of reasons for taking in a lodger - to give them a few more pennies. An information pack, offering an evening meal at £18.00 (or a jacket potato at £9.50) rather confirms that economic reality.