I watched Auf Wiedersehen Pet as I worked this afternoon. There were several scenes shot in hotels. I suddenly thought “I remember hotels like that”.
When did cheap common hotels become as good as they are?
I can remember one hotel I stayed in during 1996 – it taught me to always zip my suitcase closed at night if I didn’t want to bring cockroaches home.
I remember one hotel I stayed in back in 2003 – within 2 days the infection was showing up in my blood.
I remember staying at the Adelphi in Liverpool. They have me a posh suite. It was struggling to stay alive, but had some amazing reminders of the glory days. I was desperate to find a toilet, so I rushed into my bedroom and dropped my bags on the four poster, turned round to go back along the suite corridor to the toilet – only to discover the wood panelled wall had a matching door that I had trouble finding.
I can remember the weeks spent in caravans when I was younger, and the bed and breakfasts in places like Fleetwood.
Almost everywhere I go in the world these days is much better than the places I stayed in just 30 years ago.
It was one of those moments when I realised how big a change there has been in my life.
It may be that I have moved up a rung on the ladder, but I don’t think so. I think the world has moved up a rung on the ladder.
I find myself getting less and less sympathetic toward the middle class suffering we hear about.
And then Dad’s Army first episode came on tonight. Rationing was in place until 65 years ago (except petrol rationing which ended a few years later). Last year we were panicking because shops were imposing toilet paper rationing of 20 times the amount we needed.