Just when we needed a peaceful night.....

For the memorial service we'd booked to stay overnight in one of the budget motels near to Mum and sister's houses, there are several in the area.  We've stayed 1 or 2 nights in these type of motels quite a few times over the years - either visiting relatives or going to weddings or funerals, or the odd short break.  You get what you pay for - if you're looking just for somewhere cheap to shower and sleep for a night or two, and don't need luxury or even meals, necessarily (although some have a chain restaurant next door), they're absolutely fine.  We've never had a problem with any of them before, they're basic but functional, warm and clean, with basic toiletries and towels, very comfy large beds, tv and wifi and tea/coffee making facilities.  

We've not stayed in this particular one near to Mum's before.....we chose it because it takes dogs, whilst the one we normally stay in doesn't.  Normal check in time is 3pm, we paid extra for an early check in time of noon.  We arrived literally a couple of minutes before noon, and the problems started straight away with the very rude receptionist.  Instead of greeting us with a friendly welcome, she glared at us and said "You're not checking in are you?  Only you're very much too early!".

"Erm, yes we are checking in and no we're not too early, I'd hardly call 2 minutes 'very much too early' ", I replied.  She glared again and said "it's nowhere near 3 o'clock".  I pointed out that we'd paid for early check in.....at which point she glared some more and stated firmly that there was nothing on her screen.  I showed her the confirmation email and text on my phone.....she glared again, pressed a few buttons on her computer and huffed and puffed.  Finally, she admitted she could now see on screen that we had indeed paid for the early check in, but spat "they're supposed to tell me that when I come on shift!".  (Or you could just check on screen the details of who's arriving and when that day.....Too hard?).

To cap it all, she then announced "Well now I've got to go and see if your room is actually ready!!" and flounced off.  A couple of minutes later, she flounced back and said "No it's not!  NOW I'll have to find you ANOTHER room!".  

Carry on like that dear, please, I thought, I'm just in the mood for a fight 👿.  Although I restricted myself to just saying, extremely calmly considering the stressful mood I was in, bearing in mind we were going to my Mum's funeral service "Yes, you do that".  I think my 'if looks could kill' death stare got through to her, because she quickly calmed down and found us another room immediately.  No apology forthcoming though.  If people have a problem with being friendly and polite, then why work in a customer service industry?!

The room was fine, more than fine actually - granted, the fixtures and fittings were dated (the motel has been there for years), but it was large, clean, warm and comfortable, on the ground floor and not far from the entrance - handy with a dog.  

However, it was without a doubt the noisiest motel we've ever stayed in - thin walls with very poor noise insulation, and extremely noisy other guests.  The usual 'please keep the noise down' type notices in the hallways - well, either the guests were illiterate or they just didn't care.  Loud talking and laughing, TVs, people walking up and down the corridors talking loudly every few minutes and throughout the night....I felt like opening the room door and yelling 'just shut up for god's sake - and GO TO SLEEP!!!'.  Betty, who at home jumps up and runs to the front door woofing when she hears someone come to the door, was really taking her self-appointed guard dog role seriously in the motel room, leaping up off her bed and running to the door every few minutes, getting more and more anxious, even the calming lavender spray I'd taken with us didn't work.  Eventually, she wore herself out I think somewhere in the early hours of the morning and finally went to sleep, meaning we could too.  

But then around 5 am Sunday morning, a man in the room next door started a very loud phone conversation, which went on...and on....and on until about 06.30.  Why was it so important TO DO IT AT 05.00 ON A SUNDAY MORNING?!  And so bloody loudly?!  I just kept repeating to myself 'it's only one night, we'll be out of here in a few hours'.

When we checked out, husband complained to the (new) receptionist, who was as different to the check in one as it was possible to be....she was polite, friendly and extremely apologetic, she couldn't have been nicer.  She's given us a voucher for a free stay in the future.....doesn't have to be that motel, could be any location.  Which is fine by us, we could even go back to the same motel to visit family, we wouldn't necessarily have the same problems again and could ask for a room at the end of the corridor, for example, so hopefully wouldn't have so many people walking past.

It's a shame, though, after the long stressful day we'd had, we could have done with a good peaceful night's sleep, especially since husband had the long drive home afterwards.

We slept reasonably well last night as we were in our own bed - well, I didn't get out of bed until just after 5 am, which is good for me.  Betty is flaked out on the sofa, clearly still catching up on her sleep.  I just feel numb today, think it's going to take a while to get back to normal.  Betty's going to the groomers tomorrow, husband has hospital on Thursday for his big prostate test....other than that, we've got nothing on this week thank goodness, I really don't feel up to doing anything else.  There are ongoing family problems connected to Mum's death which are proving to be a massive headache, they're going to make things difficult for the foreseeable future.