Self-Clearing vs. Self-Cleaning

Five hotels in two weeks! Phew. Why so many? Keep in mind that we didn't book much in advance. We got the phone call on Sunday and Monday we were on the plane. All of the hotels in Clacton and Holland-on-Sea were booked up. It was the end of the summer holiday and it is a seaside town plus they were having a big air-show that draws people from all over the country. We would have to stay in Colchester, at least until after the airshow.

We chose a Holiday Inn in Colchester. The hospital was in Colchester but we drove back to Holland-on-Sea each day to pick up Mark's stepmom so she wouldn't have to take the bus. (It's a special hospital bus. It's free but it makes one round of pickups in the morning and one round of dropoffs in the afternoon. You don't get to choose what time you want to go.) The 14 miles took nearly an hour each way by car - I can't imagine how long it took by bus - but I'm willing to assume it wasn't a particularly easy journey for an 84 year old woman with osteoporosis.

It was a nice enough room - adequate space, queen size bed, desk and dresser. Elevators. Free parking. Parking, although free could be a challenge. The spaces were small and we were never able to park in the same place twice. One evening we ended up parking on the far side of the building. We went through the door on that side only to hear "Excuse me! You can't use that door!"  Seems we were expected to walk three quarters of the way around the building, all the way back to the front door. (You were prevented walking the one quarter way around by a brick wall.) The hotel wasn't conveniently located - a lot of what seemed like unnecessary driving in order to get on the highway going the right direction. (Regardless of where you were going.) There was a restaurant in the hotel but the menu consisted of fish and chips, burgers, and pizza. Not the things we wanted to eat and there wasn't anyplace else in walking distance. We managed to find a nice place, The Shepherd, that was an easy drive and we ate there every evening. We did have breakfast in the hotel since it was included in the price. All of the tables had a little placard on them - "This is a self-clearing area. Please put your tray in the area provided." - or something like that. What they failed to realize is that "self-clearing" and "self-cleaning" are not the same. After someone has used the table, it's dirty. It needs to be wiped down. They shouldn't need me to tell them this.

Insignificant compared to what would happen later.