'The Font' spends the night at a hotel near Edinburgh airport. Handy for an early morning trip to Marks and Spencers and close to the motorway that heads North. '' It looks so much nicer than the hotels at the terminal " I'm told .
The last flight is late; the aircraft parked at a distant stand usually reserved for Spanish charter flights. Buses to the terminal take an eternity to arrive. The rental car counter manned by a young lady talking to her boyfriend whilst painting her nails. Renting cars the least of her concerns. 'The Font' discovers the hotel is situated in a triangular no mans land between the motorway, the railroad and the ring road. There is no apparent means of getting to it. The rental Vauxhall Mokka X infotainment system is non-functioning and will only flash on the screen a message saying " Right rear tyre needs inflating ".
After twenty minutes spent driving round in the dark Angus is called and instructed to Google directions. This logical step is made more difficult by imprecision as to 'The Fonts' exact location. There are conversations of the '' I'm in a business park ". ' Which business park ? There must be a sign you can see ? ' variety. After an increasingly fractious hour an unlit entry road is found and hotel and guest are united by a patient navigator.
A Herbal Life sales conference has taken the place over. You know its a Herbal Life sales conference because everyone is wearing T-shirts that say so. The receptionist expresses surprise at 'The Fonts' arrival. Producing the printed reservation confirmation does little to dispel the surprise. The Night Duty manager is called. '' We weren't expecting anyone this late". It seems anything after eleven pm in Scotland is a time when good God fearing folk should be at home reading the Bible to their bairns. A room is eventually found. It is on the mezzanine by the lift and has both a double bed and an enormous sofa bed that's made up, has sharp metal corners and requires careful navigating round to get to the door.
The view from the hotel window at daybreak is of a KFC and a Krispy Kreme Donut outlet. There is blue sky in the distance but despite the strong wind a rain cloud seems to have stationed itself directly over the hotel. 'The Font' decides that it's best to skip the shopping and head off to the wee house as soon as possible.
'You'll be wanting on your way while it's still cool' says the receptionist . In fact the hotel seems to be on red alert ahead of temperatures that may hit the high teens. A notice in the room, written in a non-native form of English interspersed with emojis and a cavalier use of tenses, suggests ways of keeping cool.
A reminder why France can still bring a smile to your lips : https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/28/spider-man-of-paris-to-get-french-citizenship-after-rescuing-child
17 comments:
I saw the photo of the rescue yesterday but didn't click through to read the whole story. Nice! It's funny how an expression of simple sympathy and humanity can be so reassuring in these times (I'm not sure if I mean the hero or Macron, perhaps both.)
I seldom think of Scotland having a heatwave - but it is nice to see that the Novotel are preparing ahead.
Lovely view out the window.
I didn't get around to reading the story of the rescue, either, so I'm glad that the young man has been rewarded in the best possible way. He saved a life, and he has been given the chance of a new life.
What a wonderful start to 'The Font's' latest foray to the wee house -I hope things improve dramatically and all goes well for her !
On the downside, I assume that the standard of culinary excellence has dropped at the ROF?
Plummeted ! To make matters worse it's pouring with rain and the PONs are stir crazy being kept inside. When I say pouring with rain the next willage has been cut off because the road that skirts the edge of the ridge has been washed away.
Heatwave is of course A relative term. For the rest of the world we're talking about temperatures that match a brisk day at the end of October.
Both. Not many heads of state would take the time and interest to meet an illegal immigrant.
Hari om
Well the thing is, Angus... it hit 24'C here by the Hutch the ast three days. Had me nostalgic for the great down under. Ten degrees less than there of course, but as you said, it is relative!!! I too applaud the news of compassion. YAM xx
The Font seems to be a magnet for odd circumstances. She manages to come out well--after all, she did get a rental car and she did get a hotel room, despite employees' best efforts to thwart her.
As for Spiderman, the NYT says he is getting papers for legal residency (only 5 people got papers for special reasons last year and only 6 the year before), which is not being naturalized. However, la Depêche says that Macron invited the Malian hero to "start the naturalization process if you want." The video is breathtaking--in just 30 seconds he climbed the building and plucked the kid up like a doll.
Did you see the NYT article about the toll of years of austerity in the UK?
Perhaps we've got to an age where we find lifes 'circumstances' more and more entertaining or at least noteworthy. As for the NYT article it missed the point that government spending has continued to rise through the years of austerity. This might point to the nations problems being ones of politically determined resource allocation and a refusal to consider tax increases. Infrastructure crumbles but real estate tax hasn't gone up in 30 years.
24 degrees! The Novotel must have been like an oven. At 5 am this morning it certainly wasn't 24 in Edinburgh.
That rescue was AMAZING! Who has that kind of upper body strength?? Definitely a case of the right person being at the right place at the right time... You make it sound amusing after the fact, but that drive must have been awfully stressful; something similar happened to me in the rain, in a rental, in the dark in Providence, RI when I was passing through and it was scary :(
Thanks for the info on the airport Novotel, which I've now crossed off my list of possible places to stay if flying out of Edinburgh...
Still sunny and 'warm for Aberdeen' here on the East coast, now that this morning's haar has retreated.
Cheers, Gail.
I was doing well following your post until you said there was a Krispy Kreme in Scotland - I had no idea that the "sweet sugary goodness" that I've been fond of my entire life (being a southern girl) had gone international.
We've never been to one but now I know it's there ......
Came across this link which kind of reinforces the view that the UK's problem isn't austerity as the NYT would have it but bad allocation of government capital - http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2018/05/what_is_austeri.html
They must served warm - freshly made in the store, or a few seconds in the microwave, and yum!!
Imagine my surprise to discover that Krispy Kreme ( which I still haven't visited ) is owned by the Reimann family of Germany.
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