A good, lively bustling breakfast room at the Premier Inn in Nottingham this morning. I admire Duncan's introduction and interaction with customers - noting that he took special care to go back and look after a gentleman who was on his known, clearly new to the culture, and could (and did) benefit from an extra little bit of TLC. The croissants were fresh, there was plenty of coffee on tap, and a kitchen order was taken well - not smartly, but in reasonable time.

And I waited.

Breakfasts came out and staff appeared comfortably busy but, looking around, a lot of unserved tables. Emma came around to clear some plates, and - unusually for me - I asked if breakfast would be with me soon; she scurried off into the kitchen and came back to say that they cook it fresh, and I was now top of the stack. When I inquired if it generally took as long, she admitted that had a rush at in the kitchen, and one one chef instead of the two booked.

Top of the stack I may have been, but several other brekkies came out before mine, eventually, appeared while I hot steadily more antsy, and when I did get it, I felt cheated that I really didn't have the proper time to enjoy it.

Time can be of the essence in the morning, and the best of service and the best of intents ruined by just one slip up such as this timing. And I wasn't being awkward - I had a train to catch, and phoning up the station and asking them to hold the train for me was NOT an option.
(written 2008-01-31, updated 2008-02-02)

 M401 - Well House Manor - Seeing how others do it
  [3368] Well House Manor hotel, Melksham - recommended to you by our customers - (2011-07-23)
  [3333] Honesty and a friendly welcome goes a long way - (2011-06-25)
  [3054] Longhope Hotel - (2010-11-16)
  [2911] Feeding the Grockles - (2010-08-09)
  [2885] Twenty Questions - (2010-07-24)
  [2502] Monday night, Tuesday night - (2009-11-13)
  [2441] Not your cup of tea? - (2009-10-08)
  [2413] Sanity checking the price, and selling up to increase income - (2009-09-21)
  [2311] Floor to ceiling - (2009-07-30)
  [2308] A new place in pictures - (2009-07-28)
  [2127] Call in the professionals! - (2009-04-12)
  [2105] Hire Car, from Atlanta Airport - (2009-03-27)
  [2007] Launch of Melksham Food and Drink Festival - (2009-01-24)
  [1915] Quietly putting prices up - (2008-12-02)
  [1758] Lindors Hotel, near St. Briavels, Wye Valley - (2008-08-18)
  [1672] The Composting Cone Challenge - (2008-06-10)
  [1597] Comparing hotels - as a guest and from the proprietors view - (2008-04-01)
  [1547] New bathing idea for hotels from Hotelympia - (2008-02-20)
  [1458] The wrong way to put up prices - (2007-12-05)
  [1454] From Sunday to Monday, from Melksham to the Balkans - (2007-12-03)
  [1413] The little gestures that can really count - (2007-10-27)
  [1406] Away or home - which do I prefer? - (2007-10-25)
  [1374] Maidenhead Coffee Challenge - (2007-10-02)
  [1356] Crystal Ball - How long do I need to be online? - (2007-09-18)
  [1354] Match the Bedroom to the Hotel - (2007-09-17)
  [1347] Wireless Internet Access at hotels - an update and some pitfalls - (2007-09-12)
  [1333] Kasteel Elsloo - Michelin rated hotel. - (2007-09-05)
  [1301] Plastic or China - (2007-08-12)
  [1287] Work and play at Well House Manor - Football and Shell Shortcuts - (2007-08-02)
  [1205] Arrival and Departure experiences - another hotel - (2007-05-26)
  [1091] The Psyche is all wrong. - (2007-02-24)
  [1026] The Wheatsheaf 2, The Bell 0 - (2007-01-09)
  [1011] Well House Manor and Beechfield House, Hotels, Melksham - (2006-12-29)
  [966] CSL, KISS and RTFM - (2006-12-05)
  [736] New Tape Librarian - (2006-05-28)
  [714] Room for Octopuses - (2006-05-08)
  [699] Extremes costs of getting on line - (2006-04-25)
  [693] The on line booking experience - (2006-04-21)
  [619] If its Sunday, it must be the Norland - (2006-02-23)
  [514] Crazy Day-sies - (2005-12-02)
  [17] Differing tastes - (2004-08-17)

Back to Nottingham - just text!

Previous and next or Horse's mouth home

Forward to Carers at work - court case changes

Tcl - learning how to use namespaces, packages and libraries together
Object Oriented Tcl
Selecting file names in a shell - one word or another
Carers at work - court case changes
Just one thing let the service down - but that is my memory
Nottingham - just text!
Ive just received an email from myself. Should I be worried?
Paging Martin Noke, who petitions for more trains from Trowbridge to Swindon
Evening drive across the roof of Wiltshire
Terms and Conditions - Hotel, England - plain English