A chilly start to the day. Angus refuses to pay $55 for breakfast in the hotel ( plus 20% suggested gratuity ) and heads off to Starbucks. He orders a double espresso with extra hot water and a splash of milk. Add in a ham and egg croissant and it's $8. He doesn't run the risk of being seated next to any of the Manhattanites. Small talk avoided.
Time to pick up the bag and head off to the airport. On the other side of the road yet another new hotel is being built. Who's going to staff them after Brexit ?
In the hotel lobby the young woman is back at work setting up more of her adventurous floral arrangements. Angus knows less than nothing about floral arrangements but these have a certain 'unstructured' look . This is another way of saying no expense spared. There must be at least twenty of them scattered in alcoves and corridors. Keeping them fresh must be a Sisyphean task.
At Toulouse airport 'The Font' and the PONs are waiting in the short stay car park. They had been waiting in the arrivals hall but Sophie was not impressed by the four young flak jacketed soldiers who attempted to talk to her.
There is something rather wonderful about four kids in Kansas uncovering this story about a remarkable woman .
https://irenasendler.org/facts-about-irena/
9 comments:
Its not just London hotels that will be short of staff post-Brexit. Already the decrease in numbers of willing workers from Eastern Europe is causing problems in the Highlands.
So the Americans asked you to come to London to talk to them and wouldn't buy you breakfast? Cheapies, but your solution is good. The $55 breakfast is probably that expensive to help defray the cost of flower arrangements.
Still hoping for the day you post video of the dynamic duo operating the electronic doors at Toulouse airport.
$55?!?!? or €? or £? Expensive in any currency. That would buy two prix fixe dinners (entrée, plat, cheese, dessert, very very nice) at my favorite restaurant here. Maybe they served caviar.
Looking at that flower arrangement - as you say must cost a fortune as tulips seldom stand so erect for long. Caviar for breakfast - yuck!! Glad that you had a quick visit. Pricey breakfast.
Breakfast used to be a loss leader but hotels have become wise to the fact that 1) their clientele are unlikely to go elsewhere and 2) many business folk have worked out that to arrange a $55 breakfast meeting is cheaper than lunch. The worst I've come across is $85 ( plus gratuity ) at a hotel on the Upper West side.
Nothing beats a "heart-stopping breakfast" at Denny's, right Angus?
Oh to be in America. Nothing can match the cholesterol high of a Dennys Pacific Beach breakfast unless it's the start of day special at the IHOP on I-395.
Thank you for the reminder of Irena's heroic and wonderful work.
I remember watching the movie about Irena - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1010278/ -
Hadn't heard of her prior to that.
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