Guinness: Out of Stock

It is Saint Patrick's Day in less than a week and I haven't really prepared for it. But this post is sort of about Saint Paddy's. Last Sunday, we stopped briefly at the local Travelodge. The place was empty but for one staff member, we thought about staying for a quick drink and a snack, but we decided against it, because the one staff member there was pretty much ignoring us. But this sight caught my attention: they were out of Guinness. Even though the place was, like I said, empty. Just like the barrel, I guess. This is not good. The Travelodge is maybe the nearest drinking place. It's nothing fancy and I never actually drank there, but for a quick pint on St Paddy's, it would actually be perfect. I guess I will have to either go further, or buy myself a can. Still, this is a sorry sight.

Stopping at the Travelodge

 Yesterday, our family went to a walk. As we were on our way back home, we stopped at the local Travelodge. We had only seen it from the outside before. Wolfie wanted to stop to a hotel for a drink, for some reason he finds this very fancy and very exciting. Travelodge hotels are far from posh, in fact they are as functional and bland as hotels can get, devoid of any personality or atmosphere, but they still have a bar/bistro/restaurant. And sometimes, even a bland place can have its sort of charm, paradoxically because of its lack of it. Especially for a young child. I used to see it this way when I was a child, in any case, when the blandest café seemed so special just because it was a place to stop by. I suspect this is how Wolfie sees things. So we stopped there. There was nobody, except one staff member, a young person who might have been a dummy. She never once acknowledged us. In the end, we decided to walk back home and get a drink there. I felt guilty for Wolfie, as if I had let him down.

The local Travelodge

Some of our recent family walks lead us to the local Travelodge, which is of course closed due to the pandemic. The Travelodge was opened fairly recently, and I only saw it for the frist time last year. We never went in there, it is not in the nicest part of town, close to the business estate and right by the trainline and an ugly parking. It looks pretty bland. But looking at the empty resto-bar on ground floor, my wife and I we thought that we should go there for a drink and a bite when the lockdown is over. Not sure why we want that. Maybe because it's nearby-ish, maybe simply because it'll be a place we have not been in yet, even though it's local. Strange how our minds work in strange times.

I saw the local Travelodge

Before I start this post, a quick disclaimer: H.P. Lovecraft was born on this date and not on the 19th of August, as I mistakenly blogged yesterday. No idea how I made such error. I knew the exact date. Moral of the story: I need holidays. Talking of holidays, I saw last weekend the new local Travelodge. I blogged about it about a month ago. I did not go in it, just quickly had a look at the outside. It is further away from the train station than I thought, right by a business estate. Not the most picturesque setting for a hotel, but it is a Travelodge and thus the rooms will be cheap and it is still at a reasonable walking distance from the centre of town. I slept in a Travelodge once in my life. It was not the fanciest hotel, but I have seen far worse. At least the room was clean and comfortable. I kind of hope that the presence of this new Travelodge at a few minutes walk from our home will convince some friends to visit us.

The new hotel by the train station

I took this picture at the National Railway Museum in York, I am sharing it today because I love sharing pics from my favourite museum in the world and because it kind of goes well with this bit of good news: after years of waiting, we finally have a new hotel by the local train station. The last one dated back from the fifties or sixties and had been demolished a long time ago. The new one is a Travelodge, which means it's bland, but most likely comfy enough and relatively cheap. What it means for us specifically is that my parents and my wife's parents will have the choice of a a cheaper hotel that nevertheless has good standards, literally a walk away from the grandson. We might check it out this weekend.