In the brief moments when I was back at the hotel, I noticed that the courtyard was used by businessmen for team-working. It was interesting to look down on them and wonder what they were doing.

You can also see towards the back of the photo that overall view was less than ideal!

Zooming in a little closer to the top left of the garden you might just be able to make out a seagull? A friend of his will feature in a later post…

Booking in was almost as chaotic as last year, but after a while a manager took charge and managed to speed up the booking process and get the queue down.  When I got to my room the door was open…  I found out from the housekeeper that it wasn’t quite ready for my arrival and she asked me if I could come back in 10 minutes.  This wasn’t an option as I had a meeting to get to and it would have made me late.  We agreed that I could get unpacked and that they would finish my room after I had left for the meeting.

The rooms are very nice and spacious. Unfortunately I was so busy I forgot to take my own photo, so you will have to make do with one from the Jurys Inn website.  The room I stayed in looked almost identical to the one above except that mine had a single bed in addition to the double bed.  When I turned the lights off at night I noticed that one of the spot lights was glowing pale green and casting an eerie green light over the room.  I persevered with it for a couple of nights but found it rather creepy and I had visions of aliens abducting me in the night.

I reported it to reception and had it replaced.  The helpful maintenance man who replaced the bulbs for me said that some other guests had complained of the same thing.  He replaced them with a slightly different type which he assured me wouldn’t were better and thankfully they turned off properly when I flicked the off switch.

I am still supposed to be on a diet so I won’t mention the delicious breakfasts