My memories of our "Short - to even Shorter - Holiday" are, in hindsight, funny; not so funny at the time. Parents of five children, we have only rarely had time away as a couple. In 2001 the oldest children were old enough, and willing, to take care of the youngest two while we went away for a short break to somewhere I had wanted to visit for some time - Hay-on-Wye. I admit to being a bookworm, with a husband not far behond. The bliss of the long drive to Hay, with no children wanting the toilet, or endlessly asking "Are we there yet?" We reached Hay,and easily found the B&B we had booked. The owners were very friendly, but admitted that they had only moved in the day before! They had bought the B&B a going concern, with us being their first visitors. We were shown our room, at the top of the large house. where we dumped our bags & went off book hunting. After an hour or so, & only 3 books bought, I began to feel achy & cold. I realised I probably had flu, so the next visit was not to a bookshop, but to a chemist to buy painkillers etc. We returned to the B&B and I climbed into bed fully clothed & shivering. My DH decided that we needed food, and a few other bits to get us through the night. He came back shortly with 2 large portions of cod & chips (he thought I might be feeling better). and cold drinks for me, & beers for him. 8 cans.Plus he had visited a pub while waiting for the fish & chips. I vaguely knew it was going to be a bad night - with DH's usual loud snoring magnified by alcohol, my flu, plus the radiators were off - and it was a cold February night. DH went off to ask hosts about heating, to find a note saying "Off out to celebrate, see you at breakfast." I had by then piled all available bedding & clothing on top of me (occssionally throwing it off when I had a heatedmoment). The smell of the food made me nauseous. DH ate both portions of f&c, & watched tv while drinking all the beer. I had taken more than medication to knock me out. I was awoken by banging (not that sort!),DH shouting HELP & using more colourful language. It was pitch black. I managed to get out of bed, putting the lamp on. DH had got out of bed wanting the toilet. looking for the door to the en suite. He couldn't find the light switch, so found the door to a large wardrobe rather than the en suite. With the light on he made his way to the en suite (he didn't make use of the wardrobe!)I climbed back into bed. I had barely put my head on the pillow when more swearing , & now the sound of running water. DH, when trying to turn off the tap, had pulled the top of the tap off. He was trying to stop the outflow with the one remaining towel (the rest were piled on me). I managed to put the top back on, & told DH don't use it again, use the other tap. Needless to say, in his inebriated state, he managed to do exactly the same an hour or two later. By morning I felt a little better, but not well enough to continue our holiday. We saw the hosts at breakfast, I could only eat half a slice of toast while husband had full English. We 'mentioned' the lack of heating, that there was a slight problem with the tap, & my flu. We told them that we would be returning home that day - very graciously they only charged for the one night - but then they hadn't climbed to the top of the house to our room before we left. We may return, I need another decade, or 2, to get over this time. I well remember the date, it was February 2001, as we drove home the outbreak of foot & mouth was headline news on the radio.
