Is your glass half full?

I was a half full person until I retired but now I have downsized my aspirations 'my cup runneth over' (to mix a metaphor!)

I have never stayed at a Premier Inn. For this weekend's Glasgow meet I thought it would be nicer to stay somewhere that is not part of a chain so I get a little bit more feel for the city. I love hotels too – if only I had the money, I'd live in them forever. My glass is now completely empty, so I must abandon my computer and hit the fridge. You see, if I lived in a hotel, I'd just have to summon a waiter. Where is Mr absent when you need him?

French non-chain hotels are interesting. When I was driving up from Perpignan to Calais I use to stop in different historic towns and look for an ancient looking hotel. The best I found was in Troyes - it was an original 15C building. The floorboards creaked and the lavatory appeared to be part of the original plumbing. The owner made Basil Fawlty look like the Dalai Lama.
Another time I crossed from Spain into France in a blizzard and ended up in Pau at 9 p.m., exhausted, cold, hungry and red-eyed. I saw a sign for the Hotel Bristol and found the last place in the car park. The man on duty said they had only a very small room, but I was desperate. It had a shower cubicle in the middle of the floor and a macerator lavatory that made a very loud noise when flushed. The restaurant had stopped serving, but he brought me a baguette and lots of ham and cheese and a mug of hot chocolate. It was like nectar and ambrosia.
When I am in a hurry, I sometimes use chain hotels that are so impersonal you never see a member of staff - you book in with your credit card and you help yourself to a continental breakfast. The rooms are OK but they have a very small 'pod' shower room. They are cheap and convenient but nowhere near as much fun.

When Mr absent and I were having a bad time with each other because we were stressed out of our minds looking after my elderly Mum, we decamped a couple of times to the Kensington Hilton (which is in Shepherds Bush, not Kensington – ho! ho!). A night of pretending our lives were trouble-free and a bit of affection, followed by smoked salmon sandwiches and Champagne at two o'clock in the morning made us laugh and put everything back into perspective. But it cost … Loved it though. Started out glass completely empty and went home glass bubbling over it was so full, so worth it for us and my Mum.

My sister and I have found some 'interesting' hotels when we've been on our jaunts on the Continent. The one in Seville was 'characterful'. The breakfast room was tiled with ceramic representations of all aspects of Sevillan life. It was irresistible, even if the breakfast wasn't. In Paris, the Grand Hotel Jeanne d'Arc was a barefaced misnomer! A strange B&B in Venice had terrible breakfasts but was within a hop and a skip of St Marks Square. In Spain, having gone for the cheapest in Granada and Seville, I decided that we would at least have some luxury on our last night and got us a good deal at the Malaga Parador - lovely!

notso and ariadne brilliant news for you with your GC exam results,how proud you must be feeling.,and apologies to anyone who I have missed who is celebrating exam results for their GC and I haven't mentioned you.
nfk sorry about your ankle ...hope it soon heals and not too painful....put more water with it next time

Gracesmum...during this visit to Glasgow, we'll be in the new-ish Prem Inn George Street. When we were both working and earning, we stayed a few nights [never a full week in nearly 25 years] in some beautiful hotels in lovely settings. Our favourite is situated near Invergordan. Very happy memories of times spent there.

I think I'm a half full glass kind of nan, but like so many folks will plummit rapidly after a call to my mother - aged 90. Picked her up the other day to take her on a visit to see her recently admitted to a nursing home 93 year old brother ,who managed to out-moan her.
On arriving at her bungalow she proceeded to play hockey with her shoes around her bedroom, which she had warming on a sunny windowsill whilst hurling obscenities at her always cold feet. She had a furious time phoning to place a guarantee for her new TV( "Is it alright ,it sort of talks at you ?"), bemoaning the fact that they are always Chinese! It's only the grandkids that keep me laughing, and we did a lot of that from the top of a double-decker bus the other evening.

Kitty yes, you should be very proud. Sorry this is belated but I have been very busy.

Greatnan I wonder if that was the same hotel in Troyes that we stayed in, it certainly sounds it.

The French are very good at stopover hotels for when you just want a bed and a shower on your way somewhere. Double bed with bunk over and a cheap and cheerful breakfast. We used them a lot on our way to and from family hols in the south.

It was in a tiny back street, Alison, with a wooden verandah overhanging the pavement.
I used to use those B & B hotels when I was bringing the younger children to stay with me in France - they loved the idea of the bunk over the bed. Very good value, too.
UK hotels are hideously expensive compared to France.

Well it certainly sounds like the same place. I agree that the stopover hotels here are very pricey compared to France and think that some of the chains have opened here but are not as cheap as in France. Do we pay our staff more?

Today my cup is more than full, it is overflowing! By teatime the whole family will be here, together, 3 DSs, 2 DiLs, 1 fiancee and 2 Dss. I couldn't be happier if I had won the lottery!

Some are already here, the rest arrive later and then the first to go leave tomorrow lunchtime but for a shot time we will all be together.

Oh and the sun is shining for us too.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend, Alison. Sunshine as well - you lucky thing!

The sun was shining here today too Alison, what could be nicer, a sunny day and time with family. D2, GS4 and GD9 months and I were watching my SIL play football, his team won and so are to be in the final in a fortnight. I will be glad to have a break from football until next year though, it is not my thing.

I've dd and dgd staying. They're escaping from gloss paint fumes!
I've just had to play 'hunt the iPad' as dd had hidden it out of reach, then gone shopping without telling me!

I love Parador hotels - not cheap though, even with the big discount for being elderly!
We stayed in a logis on our way to the south of France once, where the owner's wife had just left him. It was totally deserted when we arrived so we looked in the book, helped ourselves to the key and had a look at the room. We decided it would just about do (it was very hot and on a very busy day for holiday travel) and waited patiently until he arrived about an hour later. The hotel was deserted in the morning, but he eventually turned up with the breakfast bread at about 9am. I also remember one which was below a ruined chateau and had used rocks from it to hold up the bed. The water from the bidet ran along the gutter and down into the yard just where the dirty dishes were stacked.
BTW I am definitely glass half full, except in January and February...

When I was looking for my flat,two years ago, I stayed in an English-run B and B near Lake Annecy. I had booked for half board because I don't drink and drive and I like a glass of wine with my dinner. It was in quite a remote spot. The first day and evening were O.K but I was astonished on the second morning to find a card from the owners saying they were going to visit their daughter in Italy and I should just help myself to any food I wanted. I didn't want to help myself - I had just spent 18 months running myself ragged looking after my daughter and her three very messy adult children. I wanted to be waited on and pampered! I left the correct amount for the time I had spent there and went and found a wonderful French hotel.

I am just dying to know , cannot contain my curiosity any longer , what does btw mean ? answers on a post card , or if not just post on here .

Thanks Anagram and Faye I hope you are enjoying the fun Jeni

It is so rare for us all to get together at the same time that this is a very special day for us all.

By the way Nonu it means 'by the way'

Thank you Kittylester , I am happy now , hate being out of the loop .

If you look under "Acronyms" on the menu bar you will find most of them Nonu. They still haven't added AFAIK (as far as I know) yet, though!

Thnks Mamie {grin]

Or BOBL, best of British luck!

LOL , I will have to find a suitable post to use that one ,